In this talk Prof. Adrian Thatcher discusses an uncomfortable topic – how core Christian beliefs, carelessly interpreted, end up harming people. He examines biblical violence and its interpretation unflinchingly yet ends up affirming the Christ who ‘is our peace’ (Eph. 2.14).

Following various church abuse scandals, there is now a growing realization that bad theology and bad outcomes are deeply connected. Ending Abusive Theologies attributes the widespread decline of Christian belief in the West in part to harmful, indeed abusive, doctrines. At the same time, there has been a widespread failure of theology to equip the Church to engage with a world that has lost interest in, and patience with, the Church, while retaining its interest in all things ‘spiritual’.

Adrian Thatcher argues that we should start thinking of abusive theology as a category of theology; Ending Abusive Theologies widens and deepens this notion and its catalogue of harms, linking it firmly to the abuse crises in the churches, yet also suggesting the shape of a post-abusive alternative. The book charts a course back to living faith via an unflinching exposure of abusive teachings, abusive Bible readings, and abusive depictions of God that have no place in a gospel-centred theology of justice and love. In this way, we are taken on a rough voyage through seas of controversy, ending calmly in the welcome harbour of an all-loving and non-abusive God.