When Violence Is No Stranger: Pastoral Counseling with Survivors of Acquaintance Rape

It is not my enemies who taunt meI could bear that....

It is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend....

Ps. 55:12-13The paucity of resources for pastoral care of acquaintance-rapesurvivors highlights the invisibility of this growing crime and its largely uncharted pastoral challenges. In fact, most rape is by an acquaintance. Only 16 percent of such cases are reported; and, because they are difficult to prosecute, only 5 percent of those reported result in guilty verdicts.

Focusing on...