One in four women in the United Kingdom have been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16. In the course of her job advocating on behalf of survivors of church-related abuse, Rebecca Russell encountered frequent examples of churches dismissing disclosures of rape: refusing to listen to them, and denying that ‘that sort of thing’ could happen in their church.
Accounts of rape and assault are abundant in the Old Testament, yet 95% of Christian women say they have never heard a sermon preached on the topic. These are the ‘unturned pages’ of the Bible.
Why is what the Bible has to say about rape so little known, studied and talked about? Where is the Christian teaching to educate men in particular about the evils of sexual violence?
In Unturned Pages, Russell presents easy-to-read, empowering explorations of four of the most horrific and confusing stories in the Bible, each one recounting male sexual violence against women: the rape of the concubine (Judges 19-21); King Xerxes rape of Esther and other young women (Esther 1-2); Bathsheba and David (2 Samuel 11-12); and Amnon’s rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13).
With the help of study questions and exercises, she shows how these narratives are relevant to our lives today, giving us God’s perspective, teaching and correction on an issue we have thus far seemed powerless to combat. If we do not know how to approach God’s stories of rape, we have no hope of responding with love and effectiveness when a victim shares their story in our Church today.