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Summary

Mamalakis, Philip Domestic Violence: Orthodox Pastoral Perspectives In Emmanuel Clapsis, ed., Violence and Christian Spirituality An Ecumenical Conversation. Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches. Pp. 148-156.

"Domestic violence is a particularly serious and insidious pastoral issue because, for a variety of reasons outside the scope of this paper, behaviour that is clearly illegal and clearly inappropriate if it were between strangers, becomes tolerated because it occurs between family members in the privacy of the home. Domestic violence is particularly insidious because, historically, it has not only been tolerated, but considered appropriate marital behaviour. Domestic violence is particularly serious because of its prevalence. Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend per year, to 3 million women who are physcially abused by their husband or boyfriend each year. The good news is that over the last thirty years there has been a decrease in the reports of wife abuse." (Abstract)

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