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Bully Pulpit is the latest book by author, blogger, and seminary president and professor, Michael J. Kruger. This book’s focus is spiritual abuse and while Bully Pulpit is easy to comprehend the anecdotes included in its pages aren’t necessarily easy to read. I do believe that if you’ve encountered spiritual abuse, you will be encouraged by this book. There were many times in the book when Dr. Kruger included scenarios of spiritual abuse and it was validating to see him acknowledge these instances as sinful.
Upon examining the origins of spiritual abuse on page 44, Dr. Kruger gave readers an overview of Genesis 3 and sin’s origins. It shocked me to read that because of the fall, “. . . husbands would need to guard against sinfully dominating their wives. . . ” This page also mentioned how sin breaks other relationships which leads to spiritual and other types of abuse. However, this line about husbands sinfully dominating their wives is one that I highlighted and went back to reread multiple times to make sure I was reading correctly. I’ve struggled with complementarian ideals because of the way passages like this are taught.
I’ve never heard it taught that men have to be on guard against sinfully dominating their wives – I have been taught many times however, that women have a desire to usurp the “authority” of their husbands (authority is in quotes since the Bible does not use this word in reference to marriage.) Genesis 3’s reference to a woman’s desire to rule over her husband comes from a Hebrew term that is very difficult to translate. Even commentators and theologians have not reached a firm consensus about how to translate it, [1] so it was incredibly refreshing to see Dr. Kruger give an objective look at the passage. His godly tenderness toward women is so apparent in Bully Pulpit.
Another way Dr. Kruger did this so well in Bully Pulpit is by encouraging leadership teams that consist solely or primarily of men to include women’s voices in various church processes. Regarding this, he wrote, “One way to add independent, outside voices to the leadership structure is to invite women to participate. As already noted, women typically have very different perspectives on the church than men, and their voices aren’t always heard. . . ” (pg. 121).
Although spiritual abuse is a particularly discouraging topic, this book actually left me feeling hopeful and encouraged because Dr. Kruger faithfully reminds readers of who God is and how He loves His people. The chapter of the book that was most impactful to me was its conclusion. Dr. Kruger began this section by including a brief account of a pastor he knew who stated his primary ministry goal was to look for people’s sin and confront them about it.
He explained, “. . . that’s not the primary calling of a shepherd. The job of the shepherd is to care for the sheep, and this includes feeding them, protecting them, encouraging them, binding up their wounds, and yes, correcting them when needed. But anyone who makes correction and discipline the main thing is on the pathway to being an abusive pastor,” (pg. 44).
Dr. Kruger said ministering in this way, “. . . creates a culture of fault-finding where the pastor and his enablers are on a quest to discover everybody’s sin patterns. Rather than thinking the best of others—’Love . . . hopes all things’ (1 Cor. 13:7)—the pastor has an attitude of suspicion and judgment. Church members under oppressive leadership feel watched, beaten down, and criticized. They live in fear of making a mistake or stepping out of line,” (pg. 140).
A stark contrast is found in the way Jesus cares for His sheep. Regarding this, Dr. Kruger wrote ” . . . chances are your flock needs a compassionate pat on the back much more than it needs a swift kick in the pants. People in the church are hurting and discouraged and need someone to walk alongside them. In Psalm 23, the consummate psalm on God as our Shepherd, the focus is overwhelmingly on provision, protection, and comfort. Instead of a ministry of fault-finding, which can lead to abuse, we ought to pursue a ministry of encouragement and care, looking for the best in others rather than the worst,” (pg. 141).
Bully Pulpit is a helpful read and if you’re hoping for healing after spiritual abuse and/or hoping to help prevent it, I highly recommend purchasing a copy.
Footnotes
[1] I’m grateful to Kendra Dahl for her wise, charitable, and faithful examination of this text in her article, Restoring Eve. While I don’t agree with everything in the article, particularly the use of the term “headship,” I found the article incredibly helpful.
Headship is not a biblical term – many use it as a way to apply Paul’s metaphor for a husband being the head of his wife in Ephesians 5:22. It is important to note however, that when Paul mentions a head in the biblical texts he wrote, he also mentions a body. This begs the question, is body-ship a thing? And if so, what does it entail? The Bible doesn’t use the term headship and it doesn’t spell out what headship looks like or includes, which is why I’m not a fan of the term.
