Spiritual Abuse 2.0

One of the expressions being used in church conversations today is “spiritual” abuse, which is a species of power abuse. It’s real. There are not only problems with definition and foundations but some are in fact disputing the viability of spiritual abuse entirely. That position of thinking “spiritual” abuse is a faulty category will eventually be defeated. In the process of some criticism, however, light is being shed on defining spiritual abuse.

Just this week a friend wrote to ask if I had a resource one could read in order to understand what spiritual abuse is. The standard study is by Lisa Oakley and with Justin Humphreys a book was produced that sketches studies about power and spiritual abuse. I pointed to their definition here:

Spiritual abuse is a form of emotional and psychological abuse. It is characterized by a systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour in a religious context Spiritual abuse can have a deeply damaging impact on those who experience it. This abuse may include: manipulation and exploitation, enforced accountability, censorship of decision making, requirements for secrecy and silence, coercion to conform, [inability to ask questions] control through the use of sacred texts or teaching, requirement of obedience to the abuser, the suggestion that the abuser has a ‘divine’ position, isolation as a means of punishment, and superiority and elitism.

There are three basic elements to spiritual abuse:

(1) the asymmetry in power between a person with some kind of spiritual authority and another person;

(2) it is most noticeable when there is a pattern of abuse though a single case can constitute spiritual abuse, and at times spiritual abuse penetrates a culture so much it becomes systemic;

(3) and behaviors by that spiritual authority that psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually wound a person.

As is the case with terms like “narcissism” and “insecure” and “powermonger,” the term “spiritual abuse” can be a power play for some. These terms all deserve use. But, too, they need careful, accurate use. Some use such terms to gain attention for their concern. So, not all criticisms of someone for spiritual abuse are sustainable. Sometimes a person can be wounded because someone disagrees or because someone has pointed out a fault in a person. I grade papers and some students are wounded by observations that something in their work is below standard, or insufficiently supported, or that their footnotes need lots of work. As not all wounds are spiritual, so not all abuses are spiritual. Some are. We are not concerned today with documenting actual examples but with defining it.

A recent book in the UK series called “Grove Pastoral” by Amy White, called Towards a Theological Definition of Spiritual Abuse: Ezekiel 34 and the Use of Pastoral Power. (I wish a USA publisher would partner with these Grove book(lets) because I have found a number of them very helpful.)

The essence of Amy White’s work, which comes from her master’s thesis, is to offer a slight revision of the work of Oakley. She does this in two ways: by examining Ezekiel 34 in context to offer a biblical portrait of spiritual abuse, and thus to supplement the definition of Oakley, which is rooted in social sciences more than theology or Bible.

I want to have a conversation today about Ezekiel 34. Some passages ought to be the first stop for all discussions of a given topic. For instance, no one should talk about the Bible’s view of marriage without a careful study of the Song of Solomon, though most books about marriage somehow avoid the passage. No one should write up a theology of Scripture without carefully exploring Psalm 119, though most do ignore it (footnotes deleted). And no one should be talking about a theological, biblical view of spiritual abuse without examining Ezekiel 34. This passage is the Bible’s most important (by far) passage on power abuse by covenant leaders in Israel, and the kind of abuse in the passage can be classified as spiritual abuse.

You may be surprised how “relevant” and “modern” and “observant” Ezekiel’s words are here. What is said here maps quite well on what we hear today.

So my assignment question: What are the marks of spiritual abuse in this passage? As much as possible, please include the chp and verse for each of your observations. (Your observations may well extend beyond what is seen above in Oakley.)

Here is Ezekiel 34 in the NIV 2011:

Ezek. 34:1  The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

Ezek. 34:7  “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

Ezek. 34:11  “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

Ezek. 34:17  “‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

Ezek. 34:20  “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

Ezek. 34:25  “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. 26 I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing.  I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ”