“This is a powerful book that will forever alter one’s reading of the biblical crucifixion narratives.”
“Few ... could read and remain unconvinced: the church simply must reckon with the sexual violence of Jesus’s crucifixion if it ever hopes to reckon with its own history of sexual violence. This is a book of critical and timely relevance.”
This book examines crucifixion as a form of torture, an instrument of state terror, and an opportunity for sexual abuse. It reads recent accounts of torture alongside the presentation of crucifixion in the New Testament and other Greek and Roman sources.
Outlining my reasons for viewing Jesus as a victim of sexual abuse, I examine why this unsettling aspect of the narrative has remained ‘hidden in plain sight’ for so long and why acknowledging it matters for the church.
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About the author
David is the Howard Paterson Chair Professor of Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand. His work has focussed on liberation theologies, theologies of reconciliation, and the cross. His research has pioneered the study of crucifixion as a form of torture, an instrument of state terror, and an opportunity for sexualised violence. He also writes on how churches can make better responses to spiritual and sexual abuses. Read more
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David Tombs, ‘Jon Sobrino and “The Crucified People’, Religions (2023) Open access
David Tombs, Latin American Liberation Theology (Brill 2002). Open access.
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‘A Public Theology and Reconciliation’ (Brill 2017). Open access.
‘The Meaning of Reconciliation’ (Corrymeela 2012). Public access.
Explorations in Reconciliation: New Directions in Theology (Ashgate 2006). Open access.
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‘Alone and Naked: Reading the Torture of Jesus alongside the Torture of Miriam Leitão’, International Journal of Public Theology (2023) Open access.
The Crucifixion of Jesus: Torture, Sexual Abuse, and the Scandal of the Cross (Routledge, 2023). Open access.
When Did We See You Naked?’: Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse (SCM 2021). More info.
David Tombs, Crucifixion and Sexual Abuse (2019) Open access. English. Spanish. French. German. Brazilian Portuguese.
David Tombs, ‘Crucifixion, State Terror, and Sexual Abuse’, (1999). Open access.
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Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Discipline, Obedience and Abuse in the Sodalitium, (2023). More info.
Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Obeying God’s Plan? The Spiritual Abuse of Nuns’ (2023). Open access.
Rocío Figueroa y David Tombs, “El abuso espiritual de religiosas. Caso de estudio: Siervas del Plan de Dios”, (2022) Open access.
Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Living in Obedience and Suffering in Silence: The Shattered Faith of Nuns Abused by Priests’ (2022). Full text.
Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Seeing His Innocence, I See My Innocence’, (2021). Full text.
Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Viendo su Inocencia veo mi Inocencia’ (2021). More info.
Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs., ‘Recognising Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse. Responses from Sodalicio Survivors in Peru’, (2020). Open access.
Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, Listening to Male survivors of Church Sexual Abuse: Voices of Sodalicio Survivors in Peru (2016). Open access.
Rocío Figueroa Alvear and David Tombs. Escuchando a sobrevivientes masculinos de abuso sexual en la Iglesia: Voces de sobrevivientes de abusos del Sodalicio en el Perú (2016). Open access.