Product Description

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. These words provided generations of American Christians with the justification for physically disciplining their children, in ways that range from spankings to brutal beatings. This learned and deeply disturbing work of history examines both the religious roots of corporal punishment in America and its consequences -- in the minds of children, in adults, and in our national tendencies toward authoritarian and apocalyptic thinking. Drawing on sources as old as Cotton Mather and as current as today's headlines, Spare the Child is one of those rare works of scholarship that have the power to change our lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126834 in Books
• Published on: 1992-03-03
• Released on: 1992-03-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 284 pages

Amazon.com Review
This is a richly researched, acutely unsettling study of corporal punishment in the United States. It focuses on the "Christian" use of Biblical texts to justify corporal punishment and its destructive legacy in our culture. Greven's insightful scholarship traces rationales for parental brutality through generations of religious apocalyptic thinking. His forceful argument takes the issue of physical discipline from the realm of parental rights and tradition and makes finding an alternative a moral responsibility.

From Publishers Weekly
Greven marshalls a wealth of clinical evidence to show that beatings and spankings administered in childhood have long-lasting harmful consequences, including suppressed anger, self-hatred, recurring depressions, apathy, and stifling of compassion for oneself and others. A Rutgers history professor who teaches courses on the family, Greven maintains that the violence against children endemic in our society contributes to adults' unquestioning obedience to authority and to the oppression of women. He traces support for physical punishment to the Protestant belief that use of the rod is necessary to break the child's will; he also briefly outlines nonviolent alternatives to corporal punishment. Although this is more sociological treatise than childrearing guide, parents will benefit from this wise and liberating book.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"The great value of Spare the Child lies in its shock of awareness. The subject enters our minds and hearts in a new way, and we are forced to imagine a world in which the hitting of a child is against the laws of both man and God." -- Chicago Tribune



"The force of Greven's case serves to drive the reader to the book's conclusion....You cannot read [it] without reviewing your most fundamental attitudes about human behavior."

-- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

"A gift from an enlightened historian to every person. It provides us with crucial information ignored or silenced throughout the world. A step toward a more enlightened and peaceful society."

-- Alice Miller, author of For Your Own Good -- Review

Customer Reviews

If you have kids, READ THIS BOOK!
This is a powerful book. It may be too strong for those who most need to hear its message, but for every parent who has wondered about corporal punishment it will be an eye-opener. In Greven's inspired hands the stories of battered Christians through the ages come to life in a never-ending tale of appalling woe. That all this pain was delivered to children in the name of God and with the apparent sanction of holy scripture makes it all the more poignant, almost unbearable in its awful human tragedy.

Spare the Child
There are a mere handful of insightful, non-dogmatic, loving authors who understand the vulnerability of children (we, who were children, and those who now are children for awhile), and who can open up for us those feelings which arose in childhood and mold us the rest of our lives. Mr Greven and Alice Miller are the two I admire most. This book is honest, insightful, non-judgemental and enlightening. Do not be afraid to question the wisdom of your forefathers in regards to punishing your children - read this and learn.

This book really opened my eyes!
This book is a compelling rebuttal to all those who claim that corporal punishment does not harm children. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about how experiences in childhood can and do affect our adult selves.