In their new book, Surviving God: A New Vision of God Through the Eyes of Sexual Abuse Survivors, Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Susan Shaw offer a feminist and intersectional understanding of God that challenges traditional ways of Christian thinking.
Kim and Shaw deconstruct patriarchal understandings of God as masculine and violent, replacing this male-centered God with one informed by the stories of sexual abuse survivors.
Surviving God is filled with testimonies and poems written by survivors of sexual abuse, carefully placed within a robust cultural, theological and scriptural analysis of the systems and frameworks churches use to perpetuate and justify stories alike. They share survivors’ thoughts on how the church’s response, or lack thereof, deeply impacted their ability to heal psychologically and spiritually, and present ways Christian theology can bear a healthier and more responsible image of God.
“Crucifixion,” painting by Ed Knippers
One of those abuse survivors, Kim and Shaw explain, is Jesus himself.
In chapter 8, “Jesus the Survivor,” the authors address a historical reality not included in the Scriptures: Jesus was likely sexually abused by the Romans prior to his crucifixion.
Considering the context of the Roman Empire, Kim and Shaw remind readers that Jesus’ crucifixion was a punishment intended to maintain control over the empire’s conquered people. One way the Roman Empire achieved this control was by utilizing violent fear tactics, which were designed to publicly humiliate and shame the dissenter being punished. And one of these tactics was sexual abuse.
They cite historical evidence from war stories of colonizers, like the Romans, enforcing acts of sexual humiliation and assault to subjugate and control the people they were trying to conquer, as to physically impose their power and dominance. After areas were colonized, these same strategies continued to be used as weapons against the conquered people to keep them under control, for fear of experiencing this violence.
This detail, Kim and Shaw explain, was likely omitted from the Scriptures because it was too horrific for Bible writers to wrestle with. The thought of Jesus the deity being sexually humiliated was hard to talk about when trying to tell the story of the powerful Son of God who defeated death.
Yet, this historical reality sheds light on an experience of suffering and pain Jesus likely endured that survivors of sexual violence can relate to.
“The passion narrative, then, is … a story depicting unfair violence and injustice imposed upon Jesus because he was a threat to the empire.”
Acknowledging his assault, they theologize, is important for survivors because it “further identifies Jesus with those of us without patriarchal power” such as women, BIPOC and the LGBTQ community. The passion narrative, then, is not an event planned by a violent God who demands the suffering and humiliation of Jesus for the atonement of sin. Rather, it is a story depicting unfair violence and injustice imposed upon Jesus because he was a threat to the empire.
It is a story of pain and suffering. But it is also a story that ends in resurrection.
The Jesus who endured humiliation, abuse and death is the same Jesus for whom God demands justice and the same Jesus God resurrects from the dead.
He is a survivor.
And the story of Jesus the survivor acknowledges the injustice of sexual abuse while also providing affirmation that it is God’s desire for survivors to resurrect from their pain and suffering into a new life of healing and joy.
Although this chapter is especially thought-provoking during the Easter season, Shaw and Kim wrestle with a variety of difficult and risky topics throughout their book and present a theological framework in which God suffers, grieves, struggles and heals with survivors.
It is, in perhaps an unexpected way, a story of hope for this Holy Week.
Mallory Challis
Mallory Challis is a master of divinity student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She is a former BNG Clemons Fellow.
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