"This is a book for survivors, for churches who have failed victims, for those who seek to mourn with those who mourn, and for those who love justice and endeavor to bring healing and renewal. By weaving together biblical narratives and contemporary stories with her own painful past, Ruth Everhart unflinchingly confronts the culture of silence, shame, and denial that too often characterizes a Christian response to abuse. This is a book of reckoning."Kristin Kobes Du Mez, professor of history and gender studies at Calvin College and author of A New Gospel for Women
"In The #MeToo Reckoning, Ruth Everhart shines a fierce light on the ways churches have been complacent or complicit in dismissing and diminishing victims of sexual malfeasance. Everhart's hard-won insights into the ways church leadership has failed to protect against the wolves in our fold make this book challenging but necessary reading for pastors and laity alike."David Williams, pastor and author of When the English Fall
"In The #MeToo Reckoning, Rev. Ruth Everhart takes the church to task in what has been an abysmal response to sexual abuse behind its closed doors. Laying out proof of the abuse of the most vulnerable among us in the place that should be the most safe, she gives suggestions for how pastors, congregations, and the church at-large can begin to serve everyone through openness, victim support, and use of the legal system. With an unapologetic voice, she calls for the protection of individuals from predators who have too easily been not only allowed to serve but protected by spiritual leadership from pastors up through the highest liturgical powers that be. With personal experiences detailed as well as those of other pastors, The #MeToo Reckoning is an engaging, thoughtful, and necessary book in these times that Jesus asks of his church, 'What will you do with me?'"Lisa Samson, author of Quaker Summer, The Church Ladies, and Love Mercy
"Ruth Everhart writes with great insight and passion. She shines a steady, penetrating light on sexual abuse in the church. Alas, this book is entirely necessary."Neal Plantinga, author of Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin
"In The #MeToo Reckoning, Ruth Everhart creatively interweaves real-life stories of how Protestant churches have been complicit in the sexual abuse of women with counterpart stories from Scripture. In telling the stories—both the real-life stories and the biblical ones—Everhart does not flinch from pointing out how those who held the reins of power used silence, evasion, threats, and denial to protect abusers. In each case, she goes beyond denunciation, however, to point out how theycould and should have acted differently. The result is a gripping, prophetic call to churches to halt the cover-ups of sexual abuse of women and secure justice for the victims. An eloquent, spiritually deep wake-up call. This book had to be written!Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University
"Individual bodies can't heal until they receive a diagnosis. Likewise, the body of Christ can't heal until it learns what is making it sick. With bold storytelling and deep engagement with the biblical text, Ruth Everhart diagnoses the unchecked power, patriarchy, and shallow forms of forgiveness that plague many Christian communities grappling with abuse. She also points to the cure: a better, more biblical practice of justice for victims. May this book ensure that more victims' cries for justice are finally heard."Katelyn Beaty, author of A Woman's Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home, and the World
"The church must pay attention to the #MeToo movement. Among us are victims of sexual abuse who have been marginalized and perpetrators who have received easy grace. Through case studies and a careful look at Scripture, Ruth Everhart helps us understand the religious and cultural dynamics that foster sexual violence against women and children. I highly recommend The #MeToo Reckoning as a resource for congregations committed to preventing and confronting sexual violence."Nancy Werking Poling, editor of Victim to Survivor: Women Recovering from Clergy Sexual Abuse
"I am deeply grateful for Ruth Everhart and her timely work. The #MeToo Reckoning bears witness to the pain Everhart and others have experienced as survivors of sexual assault, affirming that women's voices need to be heard—and affirmed—if churches want to create safe spaces where girls and women can thrive. I am especially grateful for Everhart's work at dismantling the patriarchal structures, systemic and otherwise, that have allowed some to continue abusing others without reprisal. And I appreciate Everhart's careful consideration of Scripture and her insistence that Jesus longs for his people to end sexual assault in all its manifestations. In a time when #MeToo survivors are numberless, this is the good news we need to hear."Melanie Springer Mock, professor of English at George Fox University and author of Worthy: Finding Yourself in a World Expecting Someone Else
"In her remarkable clarion call for change, Ruth Everhart reminds religious leaders tempted to view #MeToo as a dismissible modern political movement that variations of 'me too' have echoed off the walls of the church since its foundation. This book begs us all to answer the question: How much longer will we shut our ears to the voice of God heard in the cries of 'the least of these'?"Linda Kay Klein, author of Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of YoungWomen and How I Broke Free
"Throughout the Bible, the wrath of God is directed toward injustice. In The #MeToo Reckoning, Ruth Everhart shows that the church deserves God's wrath for its complicity in sexual abuse and misconduct. In a personal, pastoral, and prophetic way, she explores the depth of the problem, connects it to Scripture, and offers us a needed way forward."Henry G. Brinton, Presbyterian pastor and author of the novel City of Peace
