Abused Conservative Christian Wives: Treatment Considerations for Practitioners

Abstract

Through narrative, the authors explore the faith-based challenges of a physically and emotionally abused Conservative Christian wife to illustrate her ideological assessment of agency in a violent marriage and her concerns about the religious consequences of escape. To offset religious teachings that obstruct the safety and self-assertion of abused Conservative Christian wives, the authors offer practitioners practical, idiomatic recommendations through which clients can reassess the limitations of common religious schemas, including conceptions of wifely submission, marital permanence, infinite forgiveness, and pious suffering. The religious community's responses to abused wives, particularly those of the clergy, are also discussed.