Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 25:1 (Mar 2018)
Article: A Biblical, Psychological And Moral Analysis Of The Rape Of Tamar In 2 Samuel 13: A Pastoral Response
Author: Noel Beaumont Woodbridge

Conspectus 25:1 (March 2018) p. 106

A Biblical, Psychological And Moral Analysis Of The Rape Of Tamar In 2 Samuel 13: A Pastoral Response

Noel Woodbridge

and

Callie Joubert

Keywords

Lust Pastoral Theology Rape Sexual Abuse Tamar

About The Authors1

Noel Woodbridge

D.Ed, UNISA; D.Th, UNIZUL. Noel has published numerous journal articles in the fields of Education and Practical Theology, and has presented several papers.

Callie Joubert

PHD (UK-ZN); DPhil (UJ); MPhil/ BPhil(US); BA (UNISA); Dipl in Theology (TCSA). Callie is Postgraduate research supervisor at SATS.

This article: https://www.sats.edu.za/joubert-woodbridge-biblical-psychological-moral-analysis-rape-of-tamar

Abstract

Violence in any form, including rape, has a corrosive effect on the psychological, moral, spiritual and social lives of people. The high incidence of rape in South Africa has led to its being dubbed the ‘Rape Capital’ of the world, and violence against women has become the new ‘normal’. To help understand, explain and prevent this phenomenon, this paper presents a biblical analysis of the narrative of the rape of Tamar in 2 Samuel 13, and identifies the contributing factors that led to rape. It then offers a biblical analysis of human passions, with special reference to sexual lust, to help us to understand a person’s character. A contemporary psychological and moral profile of Amnon, the rapist, is then presented. Finally, a six-fold pastoral response to a contemporary rape situation is proposed, based on the biblical, psychological and moral analysis of the rape of Tamar by Amnon.

Conspectus 25:1 (March 2018) p. 107

1. Introduction

Violence in whatever form, including rape, should never be tolerated by any nation of the world. The insidious presence of rape, understood as the sexual assault of another person, has nothing less than a corrosive effect on the psychological, moral, spiritual and social lives of all people. Although rape is not something new, there is something new about rape in South Africa.

The truth is that rape in South Africa has increased in epidemic proportions, especially against women, since the 1980s. According to official statistics (Vogelman 1990:96), rape occurred 16 000 times annually during the 1980s. By 1988, the official annual figure of rape rose to 19 368. Unofficially, based on the assumption that only 5% ‘(one in twenty) rapes is reported’, the figure was estimated to be about 380 000 a ...