What the Bible Says about Corporal Punishment

In his enlightening book, Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me: Christians and the Spanking Controversy, Samuel Martin discusses Bible passages used to support corporal punishment. He places them in their cultural and legal context and explains meanings of their words in Hebrew.  He references 353 separate bible texts and cites scores of Old and New Testament scholars. 

While conceding that the Hebrew writers sanctioned corporal punishment in some form, he shows that they placed great limitations on it and that Christian fundamentalists are inaccurate in claiming a biblical basis for the corporal punishment they advocate.

Martin has allowed CHILD to post an excerpt from the book here.  He retains the copyright to the book and any alteration of the text is prohibited.  The book can be ordered from Amazon or the Archives Bookshop.  Martin also makes available a power point presentation about biblical doctrine on discipline of children.  Write him at info@biblechild.com to obtain the presentation for your use.

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