The Shiloh Podcast

Artist Kate Howe talks to Rosie about a collection of paintings called All the Susannas . They're a response to Artemisia Gentileschi's painting Susanna and the Elders. The story itself is told in Daniel chapter 13. Kate's work aims to centre the experience of victims and survivors of sexual abuse - including Gentileschi, Kate and countless others. You can find out more about Kate's work and view...

What happens when we stop making excuses for the violent tyrannical god we encounter in the Bible? Rabbi Dr Barbara Thiede from the University of North Carolina talks to Rosie Dawson

This is a recording from a webinar hosted by the AHRC funded Abuse in Religious Settings project in which solicitor Richard Scorer talks to Professor Gordon Lynch about his work on the need for the mandatory reporting of abuse in religious organisations.

Yehudis Fletcher and Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen talk to Rosie about their friendship, the need to highlight abuse in Jewish contexts and the painful study of Scriptures. Warning - you may find some of the content of this conversation distressing.

This guest episode of the Shiloh podcast comes from four University of Leeds students as part of a project called ‘Investigating Spiritual Abuse in Church Settings’. The project aims to destigmatise and spread awareness of spiritual abuse through its engagement with the local community and campus.

Rosie's guest on this episode is Professor Lisa Oakley, one of the country's leading experts on spiritual abuse. What is spiritual abuse? Why is it important to recognise it as a distinct category of abuse? And how does she ensure that the research she carries out is trauma informed and survivor-focused? Lisa was talking to Rosie as she prepared to give her inaugural professorial lecture at the Un...

The Abuse in Religious Contexts project looks at the peculiar factors which allow abuse to take place within religious settings. In this episode Amy Langenberg, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Eckerd college Florida, and Ann Gleig, Associate Professor of Religion and Cultural Studies at University of Central Florida, discuss their work on abuse in convert Buddhist communities.

The Abuse in Religious Contexts project looks at the peculiar factors which allow abuse to take place within religious settings. Rosie's guests in this episode are Dr Rahmanara Chowdhury, senior lecturer in forensic psychology at Nottingham Trent University and Farooq Mullah, chaplain for Nottingham health trust. Please be aware that this episode contains disclosures of sexual abuse, The AIRC proj...

The Abuse in Religious Contexts project looks at the peculiar factors which allow abuse to take place within religious settings. Today we hear about one such setting – the 3H0( Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) founded by Yogi Bhajan who introduced Kundalini yoga to the United States.  After his death in 2004 scores of his female followers came forward to say they had been sexually and spiri...

This is the third webinar-podcast from “Abuse in Religious Contexts,” an AHRC-funded research project, which explores the ways cultures and structures of a wide variety of faith communities cause, facilitate, legitimate, justify, and hide abuse. Speakers in this episode include; - Richard Scorer , a lawyer specialising in child and vulnerable adult abuse, human rights and public inquiries law at S...

The Abuse in Religious Contexts project is happy to be engaging with Nell Hardy, an actor and theatre director, who has written a play which tackles issues around spiritual and other intersectional faith-based abuses.   It will be premiered in London on October 30th - listen for details!  Over the summer Nell has been holding a series of workshops with survivors to design the show s...

Abusing God; Reading the bible in the #MeToo age is an AHRC funded project which held its second colloquium in Manchester on the topic of hypermasculinity. Rosie Dawson gathered some reflections from participants Abi, Jo, Charlotte Thomas, Sarah Molyneux-Hetherington, Andy Boyake and Will Moore.

This is the second webinar-podcast from “Abuse in Religious Contexts,” an AHRC-funded research project, which explores the ways cultures and structures of a wide variety of faith communities cause, facilitate, legitimate, justify, and hide abuse. In this episode  - about the role of Scripture in justifying or challenging abuse -   Dr Rahmanara Chowdhury, Dr Holly Morse and Prof...

Dr Kirsi Cobb, lecturer in Biblical studies at Cliff College in Derbyshire and Dr Holly Morse, senior lecturer in Bible, Gender and culture at the University of Manchester talk to Rosie about their AHRC funded project Abusing God: Reading the Bible in the #MeToo age.

This documentary offers audio snapshots of a  recent workshop at the University of Leeds, hosted by Shiloh Project co-director Johanna Stiebert. Activities were led by Ann Gleig (Associate Professor of Religion and Cultural Studies, University of Central Florida) and Amy Langenberg (Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Eckerd College, Florida).  Listen to how Ann and Amy,...

“Abuse in Religious Contexts” is an AHRC-funded research project, which explores the ways cultures and structures of a wide variety of faith communities cause, facilitate, legitimate, justify, and hide abuse. This  webinar-podcast features Professor Gordon Lynch and Professor Linda Woodhead, two of the project's key investigators, as they discuss how the intersections of power have...

Richard Newton , Assistant Professor of Religious studies at the University of Alabama, took part in the recent Bible and Activism day in Leeds. In this conversation with Rosie he suggests that the language of pandemic and disease can help us understand the different contexts which inform people's reading of Scripture.

Here is just a taste of what happened when local Otley residents and fourteen international biblical scholars came together to discuss biblical texts, events and history, and why they matter. The event was the brainchild of Professor Johanna Stiebert and generously hosted by Rev Jason McCullagh and Otley United Reformed Church.     

Emily Colgan and Rosie discuss Jeremiah’s representation of the land as female, and the violence perpetrated against her.

Eve Parker and Rosie discuss the experience and hybrid religiosity of South Indian Devadasi women.

Ericka Dunbar talks to Rosie about sex trafficking, collective trauma and horror in the book of Esther.

David Tombs tells Rosie how engaging with Liberation Theology and the experience of tortured people in Central America led him to consider the evidence that Jesus was a victim of sexual abuse.

Karen O'Donnell argues that Mary’s response to the trauma of unexpected pregnancy can provide comfort and a model for other trauma survivors.  Karen’s book  Broken Bodies   is available – with a 20% discount – from  https://scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk/  until 17 th December

Caroline Blyth and Rosie discuss how Teen Bibles cast God in the role of a Coercive Abuser who humiliates, demeans and gaslights teenage girls. 

Chris Greenough tells Rosie how silence about sexual violence in the Bible both leads to a denial of the problem and perpetuates homophobia.