Customer Reviews

Keeping the Faith: Questions and Answers for the Abused Woman

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I became sensitized to the weak answers and shallow government policies that poorly assist women who have been abused. I am a school teacher and have no tolerance for any type of intellectual or physical disrespect of my female students. I make students aware when they are putting themselves down and provide positive alternatives for them to get respect and popularity

Reverend Fortune illustrates the subtle ways in which women are relegated to being second class citizens. She pinpoints female issues that as a man I might never have become aware of.

"Keeping the Faith" is a marvelously compassionate book for the abused woman herself. Director of The Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence in Seattle (at the time of this publication), Marie Fortune has had a long career of working with abused women particularly in church settings.

Fortune uses a question and answer format to address the questions most frequently asked by abused women. She deals with the abuses of submission in marriage, with the fear of giving up on a marriage, the why of suffering and feeling anger toward the abuser. Taking care to properly interpret Scripture passages in their contexts, she presents a liberating Word for those against whom that Word has been used oppressively.

Included in this short book is a collection of prayers and meditations for battered women. An appendix suggests ways Christian women who are abused can deal with their pastors or with counselors and staff at battered women's shelters if they are not Christians.

Any Christian woman in an abusive environment should have "Keeping the Faith." Whether or not she chooses to leave, this book provides support on a rough journey. It can especially serve those who are hesitant to seek help from secular shelters. The author's goal of reaching abused women in the church and helping them "keep the faith" has been amply demonstrated in this small volume.

(This review was previously published in "Daughters of Sarah" July.Aug 1987.)

Keeping the Faith is specifically for the abused woman. It is empathetic, warm, tenderly written, and a deeply biblical book, one that goes right to the heart of many of the questions Christian battered women are asking. Her treatment of the questions about divorce and separation options is extremely valuable, as well as biblical.

Her view of covenantal marriage is sound, as well as her definition of unfaithfulness. She advocates tough love and tough forgiveness. She deals with the biblical and theological questions about battering, and helps women work through feelings of bitterness, anger, and rejection.

It is a book that ministers living water to battered women. This pamphlet should be in every office of those who minister to battered Christian women, to be given out at the first available opportunity.