Ruth Barron coined the term and with her husband's help she wrote this definition:
“Victim theology offers answers to the questions that victims are asking; traditional theologizing typically fails to answer this set of questions. Victim theology is theology that recognizes the reality of the contexts and trauma experienced by victims and also acknowledges that victims’ voices offer a theological perspective that is valuable, needed, and is too often silenced. Victim theologians are those who have been victims of abuse who acknowledge the fact that they are victims but who refuse to allow their status as victims to be vilified or shamed. Instead, they rightly insist that the shame belongs to abusers, to those who shelter or abet abusers, and to bystanders who look the other way, dismissing abuse as unimportant. Victim theology enables Good Samaritans to take positive action: holding abusers accountable, giving respite and support to victims, and providing protection to the vulnerable. Because victim theology recognizes that in the context of abuse the victims are the sinned-against whereas the abusers (and those complicit with abusers) are the sinners, victim theologians offer more robust and better balanced theologies to the Church regarding the reality of abuse in her midst.”
— Ruth Barron & Joshua Barron
A shorter summary is:
“Victim theologians are those who have been victims of abuse who acknowledge the fact that they are victims but who refuse to allow their status as victims to be vilified or shamed; instead, they speak theologically into their own context — abuse in the Church — offering robust and better balanced theologies to the Church regarding this reality.”
Flipping the artwork (The Unseen Ministers) is a helpful beginning. But flipping it is not enough: the white man in the baggy suit at a pulpit needs to be overpainted.
(And if any man reading this takes offence, I respectfully ask him to join the women under-rowers, rather than lording it over us.)
I picture a woman in everyday clothes below the platform with her hands and voice upraised. She is holding up the platform for:
— the myriads of abused women who want to expose the nefarious tactics and deeds of their abusers,
— the victim theologians who are expounding scripture through the wisdom of their lived-experience as victims.
Ruth Barron coined the term “victim theology”. To read her definition of the term, go here:
![Help[H]er Substack](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiRV!,w_80,h_80,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec7fadee-aef6-4de3-9bf3-f8cedf5dfd37_1280x1280.png)
What is victim theology?
Ruth Barron coined the term and with her husband's help she wrote this definition:
“Victim theology offers answers to the questions that victims are asking; traditional theologizing typically fails to answer this set of questions. Victim theology is theology that recognizes the reality of the contexts and trauma experienced by victims and also acknowledges that victims’ voices offer a theological perspective that is valuable, needed, and is too often silenced. Victim theologians are those who have been victims of abuse who acknowledge the fact that they are victims but who refuse to allow their status as victims to be vilified or shamed. Instead, they rightly insist that the shame belongs to abusers, to those who shelter or abet abusers, and to bystanders who look the other way, dismissing abuse as unimportant. Victim theology enables Good Samaritans to take positive action: holding abusers accountable, giving respite and support to victims, and providing protection to the vulnerable. Because victim theology recognizes that in the context of abuse the victims are the sinned-against whereas the abusers (and those complicit with abusers) are the sinners, victim theologians offer more robust and better balanced theologies to the Church regarding the reality of abuse in her midst.”
— Ruth Barron & Joshua Barron
A shorter summary is:
“Victim theologians are those who have been victims of abuse who acknowledge the fact that they are victims but who refuse to allow their status as victims to be vilified or shamed; instead, they speak theologically into their own context — abuse in the Church — offering robust and better balanced theologies to the Church regarding this reality.”
Here's a link to Ruth's comment at my blog where she gives the definition: https://cryingoutforjustice.blog/2025/07/29/the-jigsaw-puzzle-of-divorce-texts-in-the-bible-putting-the-pieces-together-to-reach-an-ethical-conclusion-is-not-enough/#comment-175425
Flipping the artwork (The Unseen Ministers) is a helpful beginning. But flipping it is not enough: the white man in the baggy suit at a pulpit needs to be overpainted.
(And if any man reading this takes offence, I respectfully ask him to join the women under-rowers, rather than lording it over us.)
I picture a woman in everyday clothes below the platform with her hands and voice upraised. She is holding up the platform for:
— the myriads of abused women who want to expose the nefarious tactics and deeds of their abusers,
— the victim theologians who are expounding scripture through the wisdom of their lived-experience as victims.
Ruth Barron coined the term “victim theology”. To read her definition of the term, go here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16q5ME2iDD/?
In my view, Anna Anderson is a victim theologian.
So is Carya, your storyteller on the current season of Safe To Hope. https://helpher.help/caryas-story-part-4/
And I think a lot of what I’ve written is victim theology.
I will be an under-rower with you, Ann Maree! 🥰
From Christ Covenant Church’s email: “our participation in this project … was not intended to, in effect, platform another ministry or person.”
My guess is that they actually meant: “our participation in this project … was not intended to, in effect, platform a WOMAN.”
Vagueness in use of language is a hallmark of abuserese. Obscure and euphemistic language cloaks the real beliefs of the abusers.