Introduction

The Introduction provides a definition for “spiritual abuse” and a rationale for choosing examples of such abuse from five of the six major world religions, though without endorsing the world religions paradigm. Each chapter to follow focuses on abuse in one of these five major religious traditions: Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhi(sm). The connections between spiritual abuse and some other types of abuse (notably, gender-based violence, domestic abuse, and sexual abuse) are acknowledged, and the authors’ aims to foreground trauma-informed, survivor centred perspectives are articulated.