The Violence of Love


Book Description

These selections from the sermons and writings of Archbishop Oscar Romero shared the message of a great holy prophet of modern times. Three short years transformed Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, from a conservative defender of the status quo into one of the church's most outspoken voices of the oppressed. Though silenced by an assassin's bullet, his spirit and the challenge of his life lives on.




The Law of Love and The Law of Violence


Book Description

This treatise articulates Tolstoy's famous dictum that it is morally superior to suffer violence than to do violence — a philosophy that has inspired Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and countless others.




Crazy Love


Book Description

At 22, Leslie Morgan Steiner seemed to have it all: a Harvard diploma, a glamorous job at Seventeen magazine, a downtown New York City apartment. Plus a handsome, funny, street-smart boyfriend who adored her. But behind her façade of success, this golden girl hid a dark secret. She'd made a mistake shared by millions: she fell in love with the wrong person. At first Leslie and Conor seemed as perfect together as their fairy-tale wedding. Then came the fights she tried to ignore: he pushed her down the stairs of the house they bought together, poured coffee grinds over her hair as she dressed for a critical job interview, choked her during an argument, and threatened her with a gun. Several times, he came close to making good on his threat to kill her. With each attack, Leslie lost another piece of herself. Gripping and utterly compelling, Crazy Love takes you inside the violent, devastating world of abusive love. Conor said he'd been abused since he was a young boy, and love and rage danced intimately together in his psyche. Why didn't Leslie leave? She stayed because she loved him. Find out for yourself if she had fallen truly in love – or into a psychological trap. Crazy Love will draw you in -- and never let go.




Hurting the One You Love


Book Description

A groundbreaking book that has grown out of over 30 years of research, HURTING THE ONE YOU LOVE provides an overview of theory and research on all forms of violence in intimate relationships including violence in dating relationships and marriages, incest, rape and sexual victimization, date rape, stalking, child abuse and sexual harassment. HURTING THE ONE YOU LOVE also explores how violence affects the family and others who are close to the victim, and uses criminal justice data and research as well as the research of psychologists in studying these phenomena. In addition, the text covers rape and violence prevention efforts, as well as educational programs.




Love WITH Accountability


Book Description

Despite the current survivor-affirming awareness around sexual violence, child sexual abuse, most notably when it’s a family member or friend, is still a very taboo topic. There are approximately 42 million child sexual abuse survivors in the U.S. and millions of bystanders who look the other way as the abuse occurs and cover for the harm-doers with no accountability. Documentary filmmaker and survivor of child sexual abuse and adult rape, Aishah Shahidah Simmons invites diasporic Black people to join her in transformative storytelling that envisions a world that ends child sexual abuse without relying on the criminal justice system. Love WITH Accountability features compelling writings by child sexual abuse survivors, advocates, and Simmons’s mother, who underscores the detrimental impact of parents/caregivers not believing their children when they disclose their sexual abuse. This collection explores disrupting the inhumane epidemic of child sexual abuse, humanely.




The Violence of the Biblical God


Book Description

How can we make sense of violence in the Bible? Joshua commands the people of Israel to wipe out everyone in the promised land of Canaan, while Jesus commands God’s people to love their enemies. How are we to interpret biblical passages on violence when it is sanctioned at one point and condemned at another? The Violence of the Biblical God by L. Daniel Hawk presents a new framework, solidly rooted in the authority of Scripture, for understanding the paradox of God’s participation in violence. Hawk shows how the historical narrative of the Bible offers multiple canonical pictures for faithful Christian engagement with the violent systems of the world.




Battered Love


Book Description

Weems's pioneering study explores the puzzling ways in which the Hebrew prophets' portrayals of divine love, compassion, and conventional commitment often became associated with battery, infidelity, and the rape and mutilation of women. She wrestles with the prophets' rhetoric and sexual metaphors to uncover Israelite social structures, asking, "What is implied about women, men, and God by the language that the prophets use to describe the covenant between Yahweh and Israel?" This provocative work by a leading African American biblical scholar delves deeply into issues of intimacy and power, violence and control, seduction and betrayal, and is a searing indictment of the axial points of Israelite religion-its covenantal and prophetic traditions-and their authority today.




But I Love Him


Book Description

As her weak and battered body lay paralyzed on the mattress in her master bedroom, Michelle's boyfriend's blood dripped from the lacerations on his hands onto her bruised and mangled face. Using what little energy she had left, she broke free from his grasp and fell to her knees, begging God to forgive Paul for what he was doing and to make him stop. Paul simply laughed and replied, "God isn't going to help you now." In that instant, Michelle saw her life flash before her eyes and wondered how she got there...again. But I Love Him is a painful yet inspirational true story of a strong, independent woman caught in the horrifying cycle of domestic violence and how she got out. In this book, Michelle shares the details of her struggle with genuine honesty, taking the reader on a twisted journey of love, pain and unyielding brutality that eventually leads...to peace. Mixing statistics, research and resource with her own account, she shows just how far someone in her situation can sink, why it happens and how they can always pick themselves back up. Those who hear Michelle's story will walk away with a newfound understanding about the horrors of domestic violence, how to escape and how to build a new, healthier life. Michelle Jewsbury is an international philanthropic, speaker and author that has traveled the world as an advocate for the less fortunate. May 2014, she took her first humanitarian trip to Guatemala where she helped an orphanage on the Rio Dulce. Her next mission trip took her to Kenya, Africa with Kizimani, a non profit that focuses on bringing hope and sustainable change to impoverished communities. In 2015, she embarked in a career as Vice President for Young Vision Africa, a non-profit organization that encourages young leaders in Sierra Leone to make lasting changes in their country. Also in 2015, Michelle joined a team of people in Hyderabad, India where she worked with Back2Back at one of their orphanages. Michelle left her position with Young Vision Africa in August 2016 to focus her efforts on ending domestic violence. In July 2017, Michelle founded Unsilenced Voices, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization focused on inspiring change in communities around the globe by encouraging victims to break free and survivors to speak up about domestic violence and sexual assault. The mission of Unsilenced Voices is to provide shelter and relief to survivors of domestic abuse and sexual gender-based violence worldwide. Unsilenced Voices has been operating in Ghana and Sierra Leone where they are working to implement shelters, sensitization programs, legal assistance, vocational training, medical and counseling to survivors. The organization is currently developing essential partners in the United States to serve the greater Los Angeles area. In the entertainment industry, Michelle has worked in casting, as an agent, producer, and actress in television, film and on the stage. Michelle wrote, produced and performed a critically acclaimed play about her experience with the same title as her book. The play debuted at the largest Solo Festival on the West Coast, The White Fire SoloFest, with a nearly sold out performance in February 2016. The show, also staged in the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival, received multiple reviews and commendations. Michelle has had numerous appearances on talk shows, speaking engagements and workshops and has led multiple seminars on the harsh reality of violence against women and overcoming obstacles.




Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them


Book Description

Domestic violence in gay male relationships is the third largest health problem for gay men in America today. Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them breaks the silence surrounding gay male domestic violence and exposes this hidden yet prevalent and destructive problem. The authors paint a vivid picture of gay men’s domestic violence, bringing its brutality to life by including personal narratives, written by one of the authors, by clearly defining what it is and what it is not through lists of violent acts and criminal code categories, and by thoroughly examining and analyzing the criminal, mental health, medical, political, and interpersonal issues involved. The authors boldly depart from the battered women’s literature by asserting that batterers have a diagnosable mental disorder, that battering is not gender based, and that much further criminalization of domestic violence is necessary. Striving for victim advocacy, the book underscores the idea that gay men’s domestic violence is totally unacceptable and is caused solely by individual abusive gay men who choose to batter. The book builds on and departs from what is known about domestic violence, with the authors challenging several fundamental premises in the literature, unabashedly identifying battering as a mental disorder. The authors explain that victims cannot stop their battering partners from battering and virtually all batterers choose to harm their partners in a premeditated fashion. The authors provide practical steps and suggestions for victims who want to leave and stay away from their violent partners and for friends who want to help battered gay men. Chapters describe the scope of the problem and refute myths and misconceptions. There are several detailed theory chapters in which the authors explain why gay men’s domestic violence occurs, who the batterers are, who the victims are at different stages of victimization, and how domestic violence can be stopped. A visionary, wide-ranging governmental and private plan of action is introduced, including lists of necessary laws and policies, as well as outlines of strong education, training, and advertising problems needed in various sectors of society. As a self-help book, Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them provides practical information on a never-before discussed topic. As a trainer’s manual or teaching guide, it includes specific criteria for understanding the problem and for providing treatment.




Strength to Love


Book Description

The classic collection of Dr. King’s sermons that fuse his Christian teachings with his radical ideas of love and nonviolence as a means to combat hate and oppression. As Martin Luther King, Jr., prepared for the Birmingham campaign in early 1963, he drafted the final sermons for Strength to Love, a volume of his most well known homilies. King had begun working on the sermons during a fortnight in jail in July 1962. While behind bars, he spent uninterrupted time preparing the drafts for works such as “Loving Your Enemies” and “Shattered Dreams,” and he continued to edit the volume after his release. Strength to Love includes these classic sermons selected by Dr. King. Collectively they present King’s fusion of Christian teachings and social consciousness and promote his prescient vision of love as a social and political force for change.




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