MONDAY NIGHT LECTURE SERIES | MONSTROSITIES | FALL 2026

Confessions and the Cost of Clergy Sexual Misconduct

Sexual violence is an undeniably monstrous act of harm. When sexual violence occurs at the hands of one’s trusted religious leader, an already-monstrous act becomes a uniquely devastating one. This talk draws from a national field experiment to show that evangelical churches reward pastors who confess to having sexually harmed others. That such actions are organizationally tolerable, narratively legible, and even spiritually acceptable raises important questions about leadership sexual misconduct and what we consider to be truly “monstrous.”

Monstrosities
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