Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.2011, Side 11

Marie M. Fortune, FaithTrust Institute
Wolves in Shepherds’ Clothing: Sexual Abuse
by Pastors
The earliest written record of a standard of professional ethics came from
Hippocrates in the 4th century BCE. In addition to the overall pledge for
doctors to „do no harm,“ the original included this:
Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remain-
ing free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual
relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.1
It is interesting that when the original oath was translated and revised
in the U.S. in 1964, this entire section was deleted.
In the original Hippocratic Oath, clearly the issues of power and vulne-
rability, of fiduciary responsibility, and of just relations were acknowledged
as fundamental in the physician-patient relationship. This clarity plus the
specificity of sexual boundaries are generally not found in the teachings of
the major faith traditions in reference to teachers and leaders.
Yet in both Jewish and Christian scriptures, there are two passages
which frame the issues in a similar manner. The first is the story of David
and Bathsheba in II Samuel (chs. 11&12). In this story, King David takes
Bathsheba and impregnates her while her husband is away at war. Then
David has her husband murdered in battle to eliminate him from the
picture. Nathan is sent by God to confront David. Nathan tells David a
story about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man had many sheep;
the poor man had few and one special lamb that his family loved. When
the rich man had a guest, he took the poor man’s lamb to serve for dinner.
David is outraged at this injustice and Nathan points out that this is the
same injustice that David has done. David now sees his own abusive deeds.
As king, he had the prerogative to take what he pleased. Bathsheba had
no say and neither did her husband. This is the nature of exploitation and
abuse by those who have power.
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