Spare The Child: Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physic - Hardcover

Greven Jr., Philip J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394578600 ISBN 13: 9780394578606

Publisher: Knopf, 1991

Synopsis

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. These words provided generations of American Christians with the justification for physically disciplining their children, in ways that range from spankings to brutal beatings. This learned and deeply disturbing work of history examines both the religious roots of corporal punishment in America and its consequences -- in the minds of children, in adults, and in our national tendencies toward authoritarian and apocalyptic thinking. Drawing on sources as old as Cotton Mather and as current as today's headlines, Spare the Child is one of those rare works of scholarship that have the power to change our lives.

About this title

Review:

This is a richly researched, acutely unsettling study of corporal punishment in the United States. It focuses on the "Christian" use of Biblical texts to justify corporal punishment and its destructive legacy in our culture. Greven's insightful scholarship traces rationales for parental brutality through generations of religious apocalyptic thinking. His forceful argument takes the issue of physical discipline from the realm of parental rights and tradition and makes finding an alternative a moral responsibility.

From the Publisher:

"One of the most articulate and persuasive arguments against the physical punishment of children available." --Richard J. Gelles, University of Rhode Island

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0394578600
• ISBN 13: 9780394578606
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 263