Ending Abusive Theologies

<p>Following various church abuse scandals, there is now a growing realization that bad theology and bad outcomes are deeply connected. <em>Ending Abusive Theologies </em>attributes the widespread decline of Christian belief in the West in part to harmful, indeed abusive, doctrines. At the same time, there has been a widespread failure of theology to equip the Church to engage with a world that has lost interest in, and patience with, the Church, while retaining its interest in all things ‘spiritual’.</p><p>Adrian Thatcher argues that we should start thinking of abusive theology as a category of theology; <em>Ending Abusive Theologies</em> widens and deepens this notion and its catalogue of harms, linking it firmly to the abuse crises in the churches, yet also suggesting the shape of a post-abusive alternative. The book charts a course back to living faith via an unflinching exposure of abusive teachings, abusive Bible readings, and abusive depictions of God that have no place in a gospel-centred theology of justice and love. In this way, we are taken on a rough voyage through seas of controversy, ending calmly in the welcome harbour of an all-loving and non-abusive God.</p>