The concept of Spiritual or Pastoral Abuse was developed by various North American writers in the 1990s to describe forms of psychological manipulation, coercion and bullying in specifically religious contexts. Later, the UK-based research of Lisa Oakley, Kathryn Kinmond and others explored the experience of such abuse within a more formally academic frame, focused especially—though by no means exclusively—on Christian contexts.
That research has in turn prompted significant dialogue and debate, spurred particularly by a series of high-profile cases in Britain, the USA and beyond. The fact that several such settings have been Evangelical and/or Charismatic has led theologians in those traditions, and scholars of them, to reflect both on the distinctive challenges and solutions they might present where Spiritual or Pastoral Abuse occurs. This conference will examine these issues while seeking to advance understanding of Spiritual or Pastoral Abuse within Evangelical-Charismatic, broader Christian and other faith settings.
As a leading scholarly voice in this area, Prof. Lisa Oakley will draw on her extensive published work and consultancy with a range of safeguarding bodies to provide understanding and insight into current academic psychological thinking around Spiritual or Pastoral abuse.
From his perspective as a front-line Evangelical-Charismatic theologian and former Chair of the Evangelical Alliance’s Theological Advisory Group, David Hilborn will present a new taxonomy for the phenomena concerned, while seeking to deepen specifically theological understandings of them, and of antidotes to them. Other speakers to be confirmed shortly will represent a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives on this pressing concern for faith communities, and for society as a whole.
Plenary Speaker Profiles
Professor Lisa Oakley is Professor of Safeguarding and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Chester, where she serves as Deputy Programme Leader for the MSc in Family and Child Psychology. She is a Chartered psychologist and a member of the University’s Developmental Psychology team. Her main teaching areas include cognitive development, safeguarding of children, qualitative research methods, and the psychology of religion and diversity.
Additionally, Lisa chairs the British Psychological Society Safeguarding Advisory Group and is a member of various national working groups. She also serves as a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University. She was a core participant in the National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and has provided expert witness testimony in related cases. She previously chaired the Church of England Task and Finish group on Spiritual Abuse, contributing to its policies on safeguarding children, young people, and adults.
Lisa is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her publications include Breaking the Silence on Spiritual Abuse with Kathryn Kinmond (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013) and Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse (SPCK, 2019) with Justin Humphreys. She has also published a significant number of journal articles on various aspects of abuse and safeguarding. Her most recent research has focused on disclosures of abuse across religious contexts.
Revd Dr David Hilborn is Academic Dean and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Church History at the London School of Theology (LST). After research and teaching at Nottingham University, he was Head of Theology at the Evangelical Alliance from 1997 to 2006, while at the same time serving as an Associate Research Fellow at LST. He went on to help found and develop St Mellitus College as Assistant Dean and Director of Studies, and then led St John’s College, Nottingham and Moorlands College as Principal.
His authored, edited and co-edited publications include Picking Up the Pieces: Can Evangelicals Adapt to Contemporary Culture? (Hodder, 1994), The Nature of Hell (2000), ‘Toronto’ in Perspective (2001), God and the Generations: Youth, Age and the Church Today (2002), One Body in Christ: The History and Significance of the Evangelical Alliance (2004, all Paternoster), The Atonement Debate (2008, Zondervan) and Anglicans and Pentecostals in Dialogue (Pickwick, 2023). As Chair of the Evangelical Alliance Theological Advisory Group from 2016-2024, he co-ordinated the Alliance Report Reviewing the Discourse of Spiritual Abuse (2018) and he was a member of the Affinity Working Group which produced the study Challenging Leaders, on the same topic (ed. Graham Nicholls, 2013). He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an ordained Anglican minister.
