Kleinig, John W. Pastoral Care for Abused People. Personal correspondence to H L Senkbeil. December 16, 1998.
As for pastoral care of people who have been abused, I believe that the best way of dealing with them is outlined in the psalms of individual lament. They presuppose that shame from and at abuse is to be distinguished from guilt from sin. It is instructive that there are dozens of these psalms, while there are only, at the most, 7 penitential psalms. The individual laments follow the following pattern…