Healing Spiritual Abuse & Religious Addiction PDF Download

Author: Matthew Linn
Publisher: Paulist Press
ISBN: 9780809134885
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Discusses the realities of spiritual abuse and religious addiction -- how they are defined, the reasons they exist and how people can move beyond vulnerable life patterns in order to enjoy a more lifegiving relationship with God and with a healthy faith community.

Author: Stephen Arterburn
Publisher: Shaw Books
ISBN: 9780877888253
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
When religion becomes a means to avoid or control life, it becomes toxic. "Toxic Faith" shows how unbalanced ministries and misguided churches and leaders can lead followers away from God into a desolate experience of religion. Now Arterburn wants to bring readers back to the real thing.

Author: Stephen Arterburn
Publisher: Shaw Books
ISBN: 0307786048
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Experiencing Healing from Painful Spiritual Abuse When religion becomes a means to avoid or control life, it becomes toxic. Those who possess a toxic faith have stepped across the line from a balanced perspective of God to an unbalanced faith in a weak, powerless or uncaring God. They seek a God to fix every mess, prevent every hurt, and mend every conflict. Toxic Faith distinguishes between a healthy faith and a misguided religiosity that traps believers in an addictive practice of religion. It shows how unbalanced ministries, misguided churches, and unscrupulous leaders can lead their followers away from God and into a desolate experience of religion that drives many to despair. Toxic Faith shows readers how to find hope for a return to genuine, healthy faith that can add meaning to life. In the words of the author, “I want to help you throw out that toxic faith and bring you back to the real thing.”

Author: David Johnson
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1441202420
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
In a breakthrough book first published in 1991, the authors address the dynamics in churches that can ensnare people in legalism, guilt, and begrudging service, keeping them from the grace and joy of God's kingdom.Written for both those who feel abused and those who may be causing it, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse shows how people get hooked into abusive systems, the impact of controlling leadership on a congregation, and how the abused believer can find rest and recovery.

Author: Patrick J. Knapp
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725286491
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Currently there are at least four major, identifiable perspectives on how people best understand and recover from religious abuse. Both secular and faith-based (Christian) adherents can be variously identified in each of these approaches. This book examines these viewpoints and evaluates their various strengths and limitations. It concludes that each perspective is helpful to the extent possible, given the limitations of its respective philosophic or theological assumptions. This book summarizes each viewpoint and suggests a larger contextual perspective, helpful to better understand involvement in and recovery from religiously abusive environments. The conclusion is an integration of the various conceptual frameworks, and a different model (SECURE) is described that includes essential principles and practical strategies necessary for recovery from religious abuse. Suggestions are made for future research and study both for academics with interest in the cultic studies and counseling fields, and for various people negatively affected by religious abuse and in need of recovery.

Author: Kenneth Finch
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780979154102
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description

Author: Barbara M. Orlowski
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1621892344
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
What factors contribute to active Christians in ministry leaving their church and becoming exiting statistics? Every year dedicated Christian people leave churches because of spiritual abuse. The stories of people who left their home church because of a negative and hurtful experience paint a picture of a widespread occurrence which beckons consideration by church leaders and church congregants alike. Spiritual abuse, the misuse of spiritual authority to maltreat followers in the Christian Church, is a complex issue. This book shows how people processed their grief after experiencing spiritual abuse in their local church and how they rediscovered spiritual harmony. Their spiritual journey shows how one may grow through this devastating experience. This book offers a thoughtful look at the topic of spiritual recovery from clergy abuse through the eyes of those who have experienced it. It invites church leaders to consider this very real dysfunction in the Church today and aims to demonstrate a path forward to greater freedom in Christ after a season of disillusionment with church leadership.

Author: Christopher D. Ringwald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198033699
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Millions of alcoholics and addicts recover through spirituality. In The Soul of Recovery: Uncovering the Spiritual Dimension in the Treatment of Addictions, author and journalist Christopher D. Ringwald tells how and why they seek and achieve these transformations. Ranging as far back as the Washingtonian Total Abstinence Society in 1840, Ringwald illuminates the use of spirituality within a wide range of treatment options--from the famous Twelve Step-style programs to those tailored to the needs of addicted women, Native Americans, or homeless teens not ready to quit. Focusing on the results rather than the validity of beliefs espoused by these programs, he demonstrates how addicts recover through practices such as self-examination, meditation, prayer and reliance on a self-defined higher power. But the most compelling evidence of spirituality's importance comes from those directly involved in the process. Ringwald traveled across the country to visit dozens of programs and interview hundreds of addicts, alcoholics, counselors, family members, doctors and scientists. Many share moving stories of suffering, survival, and redemption. A homeless man, a surgeon, a college student, a working mother-each describes the descent into addiction and how spirituality offered a practical, personal means to recovery. Ringwald also examines the controversies surrounding faith-based treatment and the recovery movement, from the conflict between science and spirituality, to skepticism about the "new age" brand of spirituality these programs encourage, to constitutional issues over court-mandated participation in allegedly religious treatment programs. Combining in-depth research with powerful personal accounts, this fascinating exploration of spirituality will provide a fuller understanding of the nature of addiction and how people overcome it.

Author: Regina Pinto-Moura
Publisher: Xulon Press
ISBN: 1602667934
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
The most destructive Frankenstein was created "in the name of God", among Brazilians in Somerville, Massachusetts. An unhealthy faith system it was established. As a result, many Brazilians may not trust any authority. They are becoming unable to discern who supports their integrity, and who not. Visibly, the mental health of some religious leaders became an issue. The questions that arise at the intersection of faith and mental illness are not easily answered. It is impossible to deny the damage caused by some leaders around the Boston greater area. Faith has been destroyed, lives have been lost and an entire generation has been spiritually, emotionally and psychologically mutilated. This book represents an action to take responsibility before God and the second generation of Brazilians in the United States. In order to understand the reasons behind this process of "deconversion" the challenge is to consider some aspects of religious addictions, mental health and spirituality. The Brazilian community has been diagnosed with a "spiritual tumor". This illness has the potential for causing isolation. Unless addressed, this sense of isolation and unproductive faith can be ongoing. Many of the Brazilians feel that their faith has been stolen, and it's time to take it back. Authentic accountability with each other could be the very thing that re-ignites our passion for Christ and His kingdom. Rev. Dr. Regina Pinto-Moura The Rev. Dr. Regina Pinto-Moura pastors the Shalom International Baptist Community in Somerville, Massachusetts. She also serves side by side with her husband, the Rev. Dr. Jota Moura Rocha. Ordained in Massachusetts in 2003, Regina earned a Masters in Counseling Psychology and Addiction from Cambridge College, Cambridge, MA. She has a Doctorate from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary for her studies in Ministry in Complex Urban Settings.

Author: Juanita Ryan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780830811595
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
Recovery from Spiritual Abuse is part of a 15-title series, Life Recovery Guides, in which Christian counselors Juanita and Dale Ryan provide help and encouragement for people hurt by life in one way or another.