During the past several years the mass media in the United
States has been awash with reports of priestly pedophilia,
ecclesiastical cover-up, and clerical intimidation or financial
settlements intended to silence victims. Based on journalistic
accounts, or scholarly research, it might be assumed that this is a
recent phenomenon. Journalist reports began only within the past
few years. Similarly, most sociologists of religion and
particularly specialists in deviance and criminology did not
reflect awareness of clerical misbehavior in their work. Despite
this, Anson Shupe shows that clergy deviance, whether it is sexual
or otherwise, is not merely a recent problem. It is as old as the
church itself and is inevitably bound to recur due to the nature of
religious groups.
This comprehensive analysis offers the first up-to-date analysis
of sexual, economic, and authoritative clergy malfeasance across
faiths and denominational authority structures. Drawing on examples
taken from antiquity up until the present day, and using reports by
historians, theologians, church spokespersons, therapists, social
scientists, and journalists, Shupe critically evaluates clergy
deviant behavior, dividing it into various types. He also makes use
of the therapeutic literature, addressing victimization at the
level of the individual, church, and community at large. In this
way, he compares the response of the clergy to victims' attempts to
mobilize movements calling for church reform. Perhaps most
controversial, this book considers the possible relationship of
homosexuality in the clergy to the occurrences of scandals in all
religious traditions across the board.
As an overview of clergy misconduct, this book is singular.
There is simply no other comprehensive serious examination of this
subject. Written by a sociologist for a wide range of readers, its
multi-disciplinary nature, vivid examples, and wealth of research,
will make the volume of interest to sociologists of religion and
crime, historians and theologians, as well as a general public.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!