Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Religion & Culture / Religious Studies

Program Name/Specialization

Spiritual Care and Counselling

Faculty/School

Martin Luther University College

First Advisor

Dr Kris Lund

Advisor Role

Supervisor

Abstract

This constructivist grounded theory study, informed by a critical intersectional lens and guided by symbolic interactionist theory, explored how Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women experience and navigate intimate partner violence (IPV) within their religious and community contexts. Ten participants, recruited through purposive and theoretical sampling, were separated or divorced from abusive partners for at least eight months and had engaged in psychotherapy, allowing for retrospective meaning-making. Each participant completed one to three in-depth interviews on IPV, community responses, spiritual conflict, and recovery. Data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently using Charmaz’s iterative constructivist grounded theory approach, which included initial, focused, and theoretical coding, constant comparison, memo writing, and member checking. The resulting substantive theory illustrates how abusers weaponized religious knowledge within broader community and institutional systems to maintain control while maintaining socially validated public identities. Despite these dynamics, participants resisted abuse, strategically engaged religious practices for safety, and redefined spiritual meaning as part of their recovery. The emergent model is organized around one core category and seven interrelated supporting processes: religious knowledge weaponized by partners, participants pushing back against abuse, abusers playing the system to maintain control, navigating the double bind of wifehood, reliance on religious outsiders for support, experiencing community othering and secondary victimization, and reworking spiritual practices and beliefs after abuse. These findings contribute to IPV scholarship in religiously insular settings, extend conceptualizations of spiritual abuse by situating it within relational, communal, and theological power structures, and offer culturally sensitive insights for faith leaders, practitioners, and policymakers. Recommendations include trauma-informed, faith-integrated support strategies and training for community stakeholders.

Convocation Year

2026

Convocation Season

Fall

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