Spare the Child The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physical Abuse

by Greven, Philip J.

• ISBN13: 9780679733386
• ISBN10: 0679733388
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780307773005
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-03-03
• Publisher: Vintage
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

The Problem

Experiences Moral Suasion and Nonviolence Before Conscious Memory Begins Memories of Pain and Punishments Disciplined Death

Rationales Religious Rationales Biblical Roots

Eternal Punishment Breaking Wills Methodologies of Punishment

The Last Resort Secular Rationales Judicial Justifications Behaviorist Arguments

Consequences Anxiety 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 Impulse

Choices

Notes

Index

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