Responses to the research
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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.
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, ‘Things Too Indecent to be Recorded: The Soldiers Mocking the Death of Herod Agrippa’, in Juliana Claassens. Rhiannon Graybill and Christl Maier (eds), Narrating Rape: Shifting Perspectives in Biblical Literature and Popular Culture (2024). Otago archive.
David Tombs, 'Art depicts Jesus in a loincloth on the cross – the brutal truth is he would have been naked’, The Conversation (28 March 2024). Open access.
David Tombs, ‘Alone and Naked: Reading the Torture of Jesus alongside the Torture of Miriam Leitão’, International Journal of Public Theology (2023). Open access.
David Tombs, The Crucifixion of Jesus: Torture, Sexual Abuse, and the Scandal of the Cross (Routledge, 2023). Open access.
David Tombs, 'The Pink Crosses of Ciudad Juárez' in Rebekah Pryor and Stephen Bevans (eds) Feminist Theologies: Interstices and Fractures (2023). Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Reading Crucifixion Narratives as Texts of Terror’ in Monica Melanchthon and Robyn Whitaker (eds.) Terror in the Bible: Rhetoric, Gender, and Violence (SBL 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, ‘Seeing His Innocence, I See My Innocence’, (2021). Open access.
Rocío Figueroa and David Tombs, ‘Viendo su Inocencia veo mi Inocencia’, (2021). Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Hidden in Plain Sight: Seeing the Stripping of Jesus as Sexual Violence’, Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (2020). Open access.
David Tombs, ‘Unspeakable Things: Drawing upon the Nanjing Massacre to Read Crucifixion as an Assault on Human Dignity’ in Zhibin Xie et al. (2020). More info.
‘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.
David Tombs, Crucifixion and Sexual Abuse (2019). Otago archive English, Spanish, French, German.
David Tombs, 'Crucificação e abuso sexual' (2019). Open access(Brazilian Portuguese).
Edwards and Tombs, ‘#HimToo – why Jesus should be recognised as a victim of sexual violence’, The Conversation (2018). Open access.
David Tombs, ‘Prisoner Abuse: From Abu Ghraib to The Passion of The Christ’ (2009). Otago archive.
David Tombs, ‘Crucifixion, State Terror, and Sexual Abuse’, (Union Seminary Quarterly Review (1999). Open access.
During the years I have been doing this research many people have shared positive experiences and appreciation for it. This is especially meaningful when survivors of sexual abuse say that it has been valuable to them. Some have told me that it has been personally transformational and deeply meaningful to their faith.
Alongside these many positive responses there have also been some negative or dismissive responses from critics and public figures. Criticism is often helpful in making research better or challenging a researcher to explain its purpose more clearly. However, some negative criticisms seem to misunderstand the research as an attack on Christian faith or hostility against Jesus.
One response has been to claim that it is wrong to call Jesus’ mistreatment sexual abuse because the motive was humiliation not sexual gratification. This fails to recognise that sexual abuse during torture is a powerful instrument of humiliation. Humiliation is not an alternative explanation for the mistreatment but should be seen as the reason for how and why sexual abuse is used during torture.
Some of the harsher objections seem to assume that if Jesus was subjected to sexualised violence he would be lessened and could no longer have the same standing within Christian tradition. It is mistakenly believed that Jesus would be damaged and worth less—or even ‘worthless’—as a religious leader if he had been mistreated in this way.
Negative responses and victim-blaming are common reactions to reports of sexualised violence. The belief that someone who has been subjected to sexualised violence is no longer to be valued or respected is mistaken and harmful. Research on Jesus’ experience creates opportunities for these negative feelings and harsh judgements to be discussed and challenged more thoughtfully. One of the positive aspects of the research is that it can help churches to have more honest and constructive conversations around victim-blaming, stigma, and church responses to sexual violence.
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