Enrichment Spring 2009.

Jennifer Cisney, “Healing From the Pain of Sexual Assault” Enrichment (Spring 2009), pages 108-112.

Jennifer Cisney, a counselor, executive board member of the American Association of Certified Christian Sexual Addition Specialists, member of the the American Association of Christian Counselors since 1994 and survivor of sexual assault, recognizes “the progress the church has made in dealing with emotional pain and struggles in Christians.” The author, however, questions why she “can count on one hand the number of workshops that have addressed [the] critically important issue” of the “devastating and traumatic event” of rape and “why . . . society and the church are so reluctant to address it.”

Jennifer Cisney

The author, in addition to integrating issues related to rape in contemporary context with instances of rape in certain scriptural passages (i.e., 2 Sam. 13:19), addresses several of the misconceptions concerning sexual assault: (1) the belief that rape is not a widespread problem; (2) the misunderstanding that rape always involves sexual attack by a stranger, rather than by a date, acquaintance or other known person; (3) the error in believing that if serious physical injury does not result, the victim will be free of long-term effects of the attack, and other misconceptions. She is careful to cite important current statistics from the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. For example: (1) One in 6 women is sexually assaulted in her lifetime; (2) someone in the US is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes; (3) victims of sexual assault are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression; 6 times more likely to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol; 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

Ajith Fernando, The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007), 192 pages, ISBN 9781581348880.

The Call to Joy and Pain by Ajith Fernando is a provocative analysis of the issue of pain and suffering. While he does not treat the cosmic problem of the reason for suffering in the world, he does consider at some length the concurrently difficult problem of suffering for the believer. He rejects the pervasive notion that Christians should not suffer; that indeed something is wrong when they do. In contrast, he strongly advocates that “something is seriously wrong not when Christians suffer but when they do not have the joy of the Lord” (p. 10). His main theme is just that—both suffering and joy are essential to the Christian life (p. 15).

Fernando interweaves exegesis of the New Testament texts with personal experiences and anecdotal situations, thus creating a strong position. This little book is laid out in four main sections, entitled: (1) “Suffering and Joy are Basic to Christianity”; (2) “Suffering Brings Us Nearer to Christ;” (3) “Our Suffering Helps the Church;” and (4) “Servants of the Church.” Each of these is further broken down into subsections, which provide ideal elements for devotional or meditational study. This is not to imply that Fernando’s work lacks scholarly analysis or contribution to this field. Indeed, his exegesis is noteworthy for scholars and pastors alike. This fine little book goes beyond platitudes or ‘bon mots’ and tackles with a solid hermeneutic the problem of joy in the face of pain and suffering. Ajith Fernando’s viewpoint is largely based on a theology, anthropology, and even soteriology, derived from the Pauline tradition, without yielding to the temptation to proof text. Fernando’s thesis is aptly condensed into a thought he expressed early in the book, “So, according to the Bible, joy and pain can coexist. Christians don’t talk about suffering unless they also talk about the joy of suffering. It is the joy that makes the cross worthwhile, for it gives us the strength to bear it” (p. 19; cf., Neh. 8:10).

Fernando calls God’s people to put into practice a well-rounded and comforting evangelism.

The author explores the three things he sees as being needed to experience joy in the midst of pain: lament, consideration of our trials to be joyful, and surrender. Of these, the one we find most poignant is the last. Fernando writes, “If we cling to anything in life, even a good thing, that thing will surely take away our joys” (p. 43). This harkens back to the message of many, if not almost all, spiritual masters, not the least of which is St. Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises (cf., SE, 23)¹. We all know these things on something of a cloudy level, but Fernando brings home the point cogently and convincingly. Incidentally, although Fernando’s scope is primarily the Pauline tradition, his thesis is also supported by the Petrine tradition (cf., 1 Peter).

Reviewed by Thomas Doyle and Rebecca Skaggs

¹ “Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition.”

About the Authors

Thomas Doyle, M.Div., did his studies in theology at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He is a long-standing participant in the Charismatic Renewal of the Catholic and Episcopal Churches. He is presently Director of The Metanoia Ministry, an evangelically-based counseling ministry in the San Francisco Bay area.