| Summary: | For many decades, violence that is perpetuated by parents and loved ones against
children in the name of physical child discipline or corporal punishment, has been a
major concern for various governments and church leaders among most nations of the
world. This does not only take into account hitting or beating a child with a stick, belt,
slapping, or choking, but also spanking; especially when it is aggressive or excessive
(Bradshaw 2009; Straus 1994; Kanyandago in Waruta & Kinoti 2005, Wolfe 1991; Carl
1985). A very prominent and highly respected religious figure, here in South Africa,
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, made the following notable assertion to show his
support towards the elimination of the practice of corporal punishment in the home: I support the Global Initiative to eliminate all corporal punishment at home, at
school, in institutions and community. … Progress towards abolishing corporal
punishment is being made, but millions of the world’s children still suffer from
humiliating acts of violence and these violations …can have serious lifelong
effects. Violence begets violence and we shall reap whirlwind. Children can be
disciplined without violence that instills fear and misery, and I look forward to
church communities working with other organizations to… make progress
towards ending all forms of violence against children. If we really want a peaceful
and compassionate world, we need to build communities of trust where all
children are respected, where home and school are safe places to be and where
discipline is taught by example” (http://www.rapcan.org.za/wgpd/documents:
Waterhouse 2012. Retrieved 23th February 2013).
However, in spite of the various voices and movements against corporal punishment of
children; especially the aggressive form of this practice (as will be analyzed later on in
this study), the practice is still a common phenomenon in many African countries,
including South Africa. Furthermore, as some research studies have shown, a literalistic
view of certain texts of Scriptures in the OT (which are mostly from the Book of
Proverbs) do not only seem to influence the widespread of corporal punishment of
children, but also the abuse of this form of physical discipline (e.g., Prov. 13:24; 22:15;
23:13-14, 22:15) (Bradshaw 2009; Capps 1995; Straus 1994; Greven 1991). This
assumption seems plausible, seeing that as Tripp T & Tripp M (2008:138) rightly allude
to, as Christians, “God’s Word is our rule for faith and practice.” The authors, also
expressed that, “the Biblical laws and standards sound oppressive and strict in our lawless, arrogant, twenty-first century culture.” However, it is important to also
acknowledge that we, as Christians, can be wrong in our interpretation and application
of certain Scriptures; thereby, leading to flawed practices (Pohlmann 2007; Pollard
1997). As Pollard (1997:91) has rightly observed, “Clearly, both personal experience and
church history teach us that we can be wrong. It is vital, then, that we have a genuine
humility as Christians. We must recognize our fallibility, and constantly reassess what
we believe.” In other words, there are many well-meaning Christian parents who have
put their children in harm’s way by frequently administering spanking to them in ways
that are, evidently, excessive or aggressive: while claiming that they are obeying
scriptural injunction on child discipline, and are also doing it for the moral and ethical
good of their children (Bradshaw 2009; Greven 1991).
The researcher, himself, was brought up in a Christian home; where the use and abuse
of both high violence (e.g., beating a child with belt, stick, etc) and low violence (e.g.,
forcefully beating a child with bear hand) methods of physical child discipline were the
order of the day (or a frequent occurrence). Furthermore, his well-meaning father often
seemed to find justification for his actions based on scriptural grounds. Incidentally, the
researcher noticed that this form of child discipline also seems to be widely used by
many parents in his local church and many other Christian parents, whom he has come
in contact with. And many of these parents seem not to be aware of the immediate and
long term negative effects that aggressive corporeal punishment has on their children.
The widespread of this phenomenon (corporeal punishment of children) and the
traumatic impact it has on children, has led the researcher to do this research study in
his local church context (a Pentecostal church), and to develop/propose a biblically
sound or balanced model of pastoral care that can help pastors in rendering effective
care, to those faced with this problem situation within the church. The theoretical frame work of this research study is based on Pollard’s model of positive
deconstruction, as well as some contributions from Straus’ book Beating the Devil out of
Them; Corporal Punishment in American Families. The purpose for choosing Pollard’s
model of positive deconstruction was to help the researcher in: 1) Identifying the
underlying worldview. 2) Analyzing the worldview. 3) Affirming the elements of truth in it
(as every world view has some truth in it that needs to be recognizes and affirmed,
which makes the process positive and 4) discovering the error in the worldview. These
are the four elements in the process of positive deconstruction, as proposed by Pollard.
Straus explores the phenomenon of corporal punishment and the traumatic effects of
this method of child discipline both in term of its immediate and long term harm (later in
life or in adulthood) psychological harm to children.
The research methodology that was employed by the researcher in carrying out this
research study is qualitative. Consequently, questionnaires were given out to 50 parents
in the researcher’s church to fill. Also, one-on-one interviews were arranged with four
parents, two children, and also with two pastoral caregivers in the church, on the issues
of corporal punishment and child abuse within the Christian home. === Dissertation (MA Theol)--University of Pretoria, 2013. === gm2014 === Practical Theology === unrestricted
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