Ruth Everhart
IVP Books, 264 pages
Reviewed by Charlotte Lohrenz
In her memoir “Ruined,” Ruth Everhart offered a thorough and honest recounting of her own experience of sexual assault. Now, in “The #MeToo Reckoning,” Everhart’s unflinching gaze falls on a much wider set of subjects.
Everhart shares distressing stories of sexual assault and abuse in the context of church and religious culture. She scrutinizes Scripture as it maintains power imbalances and empowers the vulnerable. She examines the endemic nature of patriarchy, purity and rape cultures; church judicial processes; the dysfunction of church leadership; systems theory and the cost of complicity to victims; and the reputation of the gospel. Along the way, Everhart makes recommendations on the next steps for pastors, survivors, congregations and denominations. All of this is interspersed and bookended with rousing calls to reckon with the church’s participation in this injury.
About half of the book examines events in one congregation. Everhart tells of her grooming and assault by the senior pastor, the revelation of a pedophile and her efforts to obtain more equitable justice through the Presbyterian disciplinary process 11 years later.
Everhart recounts six additional stories from differing perspectives: the victim, the congregation and its non-offending staff, and pastors who have mishandled allegations of misconduct and abuse. Presbyterian readers will be especially interested – and disheartened – by the stories from our denomination.
With her preacher’s mind and heart, Everhart connects each story – and often its subplots – to a passage of Scripture. We toggle between a gripping exegesis and a wrenching story. The pattern can be jarring. It can also be freeing, as the reader must do the work of bringing the truth of Scripture forward into current circumstances.
Survivors and their allies will likely be ready to inhale “The #MeToo Reckoning,” finding truth and courage in the pages. I suspect many readers will struggle to make their way through the book in one go. The pain and disorientation of victims is vividly brought to life. The complicity of the church is laid bare. The failure of leadership is deflating. The sheer volume of topics and illustrations can be overwhelming. Everhart makes challenging demands, including the need for interdenominational statistical documentation of sexual abuse and misconduct and monetary compensation for victims.
Yet, read it we should.
“The #MeToo Reckoning” is essential for those in pastoral leadership. It asks us to hear the stories of those who are deeply impacted by the church’s complicity and the scriptural mandate to do better. It provides the beginnings of a framework on which to analyze one’s functioning and participate in building safer systems in our congregations and the larger church. Additionally, Everhart’s use of Scripture to model compassion for the vulnerable and gird the loins of both victim and ally will be useful fodder for many preachers.
This book should be required reading for Committees on Ministry and those serving on Permanent Judicial Commissions throughout the denomination. If read before specific instances surface, the gathered body would be able to do the necessary spiritual, emotional and systemic work to be sensitive to victims and respond aggressively, fairly and compassionately, in accordance – not with culture – but the call of Scripture.
Everhart has done the church of Jesus Christ an extraordinary service. “The #MeToo Reckoning” might help move the church further along the long arc of justice.
Charlotte Lohrenz is pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis.
