Reformed Theology - in the Wake of Sexual Assault
I dreaded attending my Genesis-1 Samuel Scriptures class last fall - not because I disliked my professor, my classmates, or the work – rather, because it felt like we discussed a different sexual assault found in Scripture every class. The names and stories of these women - Dinah, Hagar, Tamar, the unnamed concubine of Judges, Jephthah’s daughter - are vivid, carnal, and heartbreaking. It had only been a few mere months since the occurrence my own sexual assault, and these class discussions were very difficult to sit through and participate in. As our professor posed questions regarding these women’s suffering and God’s role in ordaining or allowing evil, I would feel my heart beating faster, the blood draining from my face, and tears welling up; usually, I longed to crawl under my seat and disappear for the rest of the class. Seminary classes certainly consist of the expected curriculum, providing students with the challenges of exegeting difficult passages in scripture, and pouri