Overview

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.

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9781725286504

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Reviews

"""Those who leave abusive religious groups struggle to find their bearings. They know they cannot go back, but they don't know how to go on. They may give up on religion because of their pain. Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery offers a thoroughly researched, clearly stated, and deeply biblical approach to recovery. It integrates the relevant social science research with a biblical worldview. Most importantly, it offers hope based on truth. Highly recommended."" --Douglas Groothuis, Professor of Philosophy, Denver Seminary ""In Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery, Dr. Patrick Knapp presents his model, SECURE, which combines the best of other religious abuse models and adds innovative ways to help survivors of abuse. Religious abuse survivors and counselors will also be inspired by insights Dr. Knapp gained through his personal recovery."" --Ann-Marie Neale, Karen Horney Professor of Counseling and Psychology, Graduate Theological Foundation ""Patrick Knapp's book pulls together the four most common approaches to the topic of spiritual abuse; he then offers a fifth model which integrates the strengths of each of the preceding four models and eliminates the weaknesses. This is a laudable attempt to present a comprehensive overview of this common but important and under-addressed topic."" --Lois Svoboda, medical family therapist and parent of a former cult member ""Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery is an important addition to the growing literature on recovery from Bible-based abusive groups from one who has the perspective both of an insider and an academic. It is also an introduction to the author's own framework for his efforts on behalf of those whose spirituality has been hijacked by the very ones charged with the care of their souls."" --Ron Burks, author of Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement"

Those who leave abusive religious groups struggle to find their bearings. They know they cannot go back, but they don't know how to go on. They may give up on religion because of their pain. Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery offers a thoroughly researched, clearly stated, and deeply biblical approach to recovery. It integrates the relevant social science research with a biblical worldview. Most importantly, it offers hope based on truth. Highly recommended. --Douglas Groothuis, Professor of Philosophy, Denver Seminary In Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery, Dr. Patrick Knapp presents his model, SECURE, which combines the best of other religious abuse models and adds innovative ways to help survivors of abuse. Religious abuse survivors and counselors will also be inspired by insights Dr. Knapp gained through his personal recovery. --Ann-Marie Neale, Karen Horney Professor of Counseling and Psychology, Graduate Theological Foundation Patrick Knapp's book pulls together the four most common approaches to the topic of spiritual abuse; he then offers a fifth model which integrates the strengths of each of the preceding four models and eliminates the weaknesses. This is a laudable attempt to present a comprehensive overview of this common but important and under-addressed topic. --Lois Svoboda, medical family therapist and parent of a former cult member Understanding Religious Abuse and Recovery is an important addition to the growing literature on recovery from Bible-based abusive groups from one who has the perspective both of an insider and an academic. It is also an introduction to the author's own framework for his efforts on behalf of those whose spirituality has been hijacked by the very ones charged with the care of their souls. --Ron Burks, author of Damaged Disciples: Casualties of Authoritarian Churches and the Shepherding Movement

Author Information

"Patrick J. Knapp takes an interest in religious abuse recovery stemming from his involvement in an aberrant Bible-based group (1970-1984). His Denver Seminary philosophy of religion (2000) MA thesis was ""The Place of Mind-Control in the Cult Recovery Process."" His marriage and family doctoral studies began at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, and his PhD was completed at Graduate Theological Foundation (Pastoral Psychology, 2019). For many years, he and his wife (Heidi) have directed Becoming Free LLC (www.BecomingFree.org). This organization offers education and life-coaching for those affected by abusive religious groups."

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