Victim to Survivor: Women Recovering from Clergy Sexual Abuse

By Nancy Werking Poling and Marie M. Fortune

One of the church's most shameful secrets is pastors who sexually abuse their congregants. In Victim to Survivor, Nancy Werking Poling offers the harrowing and poignant stories of six women who were sexually abused by their pastors and tell in their own voices what they did about it. In their pain, these victims, survivors, and thrivers dare to call upon the church to be a safe refuge for all people, women and men alike. And in their personal journeys of healing, they demonstrate a tenacious faith, grounded in gospel truth--compelling church leaders to acknowledge this hurtful hypocracy, advocate for healthy pastoral relationships, and finally call pastors to accountability.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1608993434
• ISBN13: 9781608993437
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers
• Length: 142 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book for any victim of sexual harrasment in church

Confirms your feelings and lets you know you are not alone in your suffering. An excellent resource book, very helpful. Would highly recommend to any victim or family and friends of a victim, so they can fully understand the impact of what happened to you and how.

Clergy Sexual Abuse - How Does It Happen?

As a victim of clergy sexual abuse, I found this book to beveryencouraging to read stories of other women who have experienced thesame thing I have, but yet so sad that this happens much more oftenthan we realize in churches. Because many churches do not accept the truth of clergy sexual abuse, this book is a good resource to help others understand about the misuse of power. The six stories, told in first person, tell of women who loved God and wanted to serve him, but yet were sexually exploited through their vulnerabilities by trusted clergy who misused their power. The preface by Marie Fortune is excellent. She has written so much truth in a few pages, as only she can because of her experience and her desire to keep telling the truth of this devastating abuse. This would be an excellent book for anyone desiring to understand how clergy sexual abuse happens. END