The Legacy of Spiritual Abuse

As a child abuse and neglect therapist, I do battle daily with Christians enamored of the Old Testament phrase “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” No matter how far I stretch my imagination, it does not stretch far enough to include the image of a cool dude like Jesus taking a rod to a kid.

—Chris Crutcher

In the same way that sexual abuse can be devastating because it leaves the child no safe physical space to go to heal from the trauma, spiritual abuse denies the victim any soul-based solace.

On this episode we will be discussing what Spiritual abuse looks like, how it used, and the long term ramifications it1 is has the victims of said abuse.