Customer Reviews

Serpents in the Manger: Overcoming Abusive Christianity

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Harris and Milam go to the core of what's wrong with Christianity, and by inference, what's wrong with Judaism, Islam, and other religions, too. The violence that is inherent in some theological positions too often gets overlooked or undervalued because "it's tradition" or because people equate criticism of theology with criticism of God. The authors of Serpents make an outstanding case for reformulating some of Christianity's most troubling dogma along empirical lines of "what do these beliefs actually do to people?" The idea that we have to believe these things because they are in the Bible or because "Christians always believed these things" makes no sense in light of what the overall message of Christianity has always been, namely, that God equals Love. Love doesn't hurt people, and "Abusive Christianity" does.

The opinion of the literary reviewer mentioned above was that if you took this part out of New Testament religion it would not leave much for Christianity. That's very unfair to the Gospel, the "Good News", to say that when you take out the "Bad News" there isn't anything substantial to it anymore.

The stories of people's lives, including the authors, who have been harmed by the shame, the criticism, the abuse, and the ostracism of this particular brand of Christianity can be multiplied by millions. As a therapist in practice for the last 30 years I can attest to the accuracy of this books' focus. It is not sensationalizing or overselling the problem of what these beliefs do to individuals. What we don't see is what these beliefs are doing to the society that is in part shaped by the values that come from them, but hopefully the reader can make this connection for him or herself.

This is an excellent, thoughtful book, that does not just point out what has been going on, but also offers specific suggestions to keep one's spirituality healthy and growing. These co-authors have presented a marvelous addition to mental health and to spiritual aliveness.

Rev. Graham A. Maxey

Therapists Harris and Milam seem to have their hands full dealing with cases of emotional abuse by legalistic, domineering Christian pastors, churches, or families. Speaking from long experience they share the dangers of an "abusive" version of Christianity, characterized by emphasis on conformity, authority, self-sacrifice, punishment, belief in an ultimate Armageddon, and "emphasis upon the death of Christ over the life of Christ".

To deal with religion-related cases of emotional abuse, Harris and Milam attempt counseling with a spiritual dimension. Their therapy includes discussing other sides of the Bible's message, which call into question the authority of dominating individuals who claim to speak for God. It's a challenging and fascinating approach to a real mental health issue. And I think the authors tackle these issues with tough-minded compassion.

--author of Correcting Jesus