Church responses to spiritual and sexual abuses

  • David Tombs, ‘A Closed Space: The Ten Women Shut Up by David’ in Juliana Claassens, Sithembiso Zwane and Gerald West (eds), Claiming Space in the Bible and Beyond Exploring the Intersection of Gender, Sexuality, and Economic Realities (2026). Otago archive.

    Miryam Clough et al., ‘Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence, and Judeophobia in Text and Church’ in Barbara Thiede (ed), Rape Culture and the Bible: Scholars Reflect (2026). Open access.

    Emily Colgan and David Tombs, ‘Christianity: Accompanying Survivors of Sexual Harm: Responses, Activism, and Resistance to Sexual Harm within Christian Contexts’ in Johanna Stiebert (ed), Abuse in World Religions: Volume 2 Towards Solutions (2026). Open access.

    David Tombs, Sithembiso Zwane and Charlene van der Walt, ‘Male Violence Against Men: A Contextual Bible Study on the Crucifixion of Jesus’, in Jione Havea (ed) Haunting Questions of Liberation Theology (2025), Otago archive.

    Anglican Journal of Theology in Aotearoa and Oceania (2025) special issue on ‘Trauma, Abuse, and Healing’ Otago archive.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Vendo Sua Inocência, Eu Vejo Minha Inocência’, Estudos Teológicos (2024). Open access (Brazilian Portuguese); Open access (English). Otago archive (English original 2021).

    David Tombs, ‘Don’t look away: damning report demands our attention’, The Post (25 July 2024). Online.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, '¿Obedecer el plan de Dios? El abuso espiritual de las religiosas’, (2024). Open access.

    David Tombs, 'Redress', (2024). Otago archive.

    Rocío Figueroa, Aton Hungyo, and David Tombs, ‘If people in the church knew': Purity, Stigma and Victim-Blaming', (2023). Otago archive.

    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”, Teología y vida (2022). Open access.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Living in Obedience and Suffering in Silence: The Shattered Faith of Nuns Abused by Priests’, (2022). Otago archive.

    David Tombs, 'Asking the Right Questions' in Jione Havea, Emily Colgan and Nasili Vaka’uta (eds) Theology as Threshold: Invitations from Aotearoa New Zealand (2022). Otago archive.

    Lynne Taylor and David Tombs, ‘Gender-based Violence and Mental Health’’, in Mwai Makoka and Gerald West (eds), Health-Promoting Churches: Vol. 3. Contextual Bible Studies on Health and Healing (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 2022), pp. 26-29. Available online.

    David Tombs, ‘The Ten Concubines in 2 Samuel 15-20 and Secondary Victimisation’ in Emily Colgan and Caroline Blyth (eds), Accompanying Survivors of Sexual Harm: A Toolkit for the Churches (2022), pp. 41-45. Open access.

    David Tombs, ‘The Stripping of Jesus (Matthew 27:26-31)’ in Emily Colgan and Caroline Blyth (eds), Accompanying Survivors of Sexual Harm: A Toolkit for the Churches (2022), pp. 46-51. Open access.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Seeing His Innocence, I See My Innocence’, (2021). Open access.

    Jayme R. Reaves, David Tombs and Rocío Figueroa (eds), When Did We See You Naked?’: Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse (2021). Open access.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Viendo su Inocencia veo mi Inocencia’, (2021). Otago archive.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Recognising Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse. Responses from Sodalicio Survivors in Peru’, (2020). Open access.

    Jayme Reaves and David Tombs, '#Me Too: Naming Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse', Review and Expositor (2020). Open access.

    Jayme R. Reaves and David Tombs, ‘#MeToo Jesus: Naming Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse’,International Journal of Public Theology (2019). Open access.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Lived Religion and the Traumatic Impact of Sexual Abuse: The Sodalicio Case in Peru’ in Ruard R. Ganzevoort and Srdjan Sremac (eds.) Trauma and Lived Religion (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 155-76. Otago archive.

    Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, 'Listening to Male Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse', The Canonist (2017). Otago archive.

    David Tombs, ‘Abandonment, Rape, And Second Abandonment: Hannah Baker In 13 Reasons Why and King David’s Concubines In 2 Samuel 15–20’, Shiloh Project Blog (2017). 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 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.

    David Tombs, ‘Silent No More: Sexual Violence in Conflict as a Challenge to the Worldwide Church’, Acta Theologica (2014). Open access.

I work with colleagues on how churches can make better responses to spiritual and sexual abuses and why churches have often failed to do this. Responding to abuse in a faith context is a challenge for the church in every country.

My thinking has been influenced especially by living in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as my research collaborations with Rocío Figueroa on abuses in Latin America.

I identify three key messages that churches should offer as support to survivors: you are not alone, you are not to blame, and you are beloved by God.

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