Book Review: Rid of My Disgrace

Justin and Lindsey Holcomb have written a compassionate, helpful treatment of sexual abuse in Rid of My Disgrace (2011).  In the opening chapters, they address the realities of sexual abuse, demonstrating that it is unfortunately commonplace.  Because victims often do not speak of it, we may wonder at how common it actually is. The statistics they cite suggest that it occurs as often as 1:6 for men and 1:4 for women during a lifetime.  I don't want to think of sexual assault occurring with that frequency. 

As they move into the middle of the book, they intersperse autobiographical accounts of abuse with descriptions of emotions like guilt, shame, and anger.  This choice to include the victim perspective moves the book beyond a sterile academic treatment of a very difficult subject. 

In the final part of the book, they provide a rich understanding of Christ's atonement, grounded first in the Old Testament sacrificial system and eventually finding its completion in the New Testament in the person of Jesus Christ.  I would personally have liked this section to be more fully integrated with the sections that came before because it seemed a bit disjointed. 

On the whole, if you have been abused, or if you work with those who may have been abused, I would certainly recommend this book.  The Holcomb's have provided a useful resource for a very difficult issue.