Spare The Child: The Religious Roots Of Punishment And The Psychological Impact Of Physical Abuse
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. These words provided generations of American Christians with the justification for physically disciplining their children, in ways that range from spankings to brutal beatings. This learned and deeply disturbing work of history examines both the religious roots of corporal punishment in America and its consequences -- in the minds of children, in adults, and in our national tendencies toward authoritarian...
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He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. These words provided generations of American Christians with the justification for physically disciplining their children, in ways that range from spankings to brutal beatings. This learned and deeply disturbing work of history examines both the religious roots of corporal punishment in America and its consequences — in the minds of children, in adults, and in our national tendencies toward authoritarian and apocalyptic thinking. Drawing on sources as old as Cotton Mather and as current as today's headlines, Spare the Child is one of those rare works of scholarship that have the power to change our lives.
AcknowledgmentsPART I. The ProblemPART II. ExperiencesMoral Suasion and Nonviolence Before Conscious Memory Begins Memories of Pain and Punishments Disciplined DeathPART III. RationalesReligious RationalesBiblical Roots Eternal Punishment Breaking Wills Methodologies of Punishment The Last ResortSecular RationalesJudicial Justifications Behaviorist ArgumentsPART IV. ConsequencesAnxiety and Fear Anger and Hate Empathy and Apathy Melancholy and Depression Obsessiveness and Rigidity Ambivalence: Protect and Destroy Dissociation Paranoia Sadomasochism Domestic Violence Aggression and Delinquency Authoritarianism The Apocalyptic ImpulsePART V. ChoicesNotes Index
