Episode 195: Violence in the Bible, Part 4--Violence against Women

Something has gone wrong when we lose our ability to be shocked by terrible things.  And sometimes we need to come face to face with the terrible things to which the Bible bears witness--even if they aren't stories we teach our children in Sunday School or don't hear much about in sermons.  That can be especially true when the culture or historical setting of a story makes it easier to hide or shrug off the horror.  And in cultures throughout human history in which women were treated as the property of men or as second-class, stories in which women are the victims of physical or sexual violence (or both) can sometimes be treated casually, as though such violence is unavoidable, or as if the "real" victims were the men to whom they were attached--husbands, fathers, etc.  So in this episode--which, fair warning, does get into some uncomfortable stories from the Bible about violence done to women--pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve look at four biblical stories of violence done to women to explore why these stories were remembered, how we understand them today, and why it is important to be able to tell the stories that make us squirm, so that we can protect the lives of those who are vulnerable today.  This one is a challenging subject, but it's an important conversation to have.