SPARE THE ROD ..., OR SPARE THE CHILD - DIVERGENT PERSPECTIVES ON CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANT CHILD DISCIPLINE

The corporal punishment of children has become a topic of heated socia l and political debate in recent years. In this paper I examine one fa cet of this broader debate, namely, competing presuppositions about re ligiously legitimated corporal punishment. First, I examine social sci entific critiques of conservative religious rationales far physical pu nishment. These scholars regard theologically legitimated corporal pun ishment as (1) unloving and austere, (2) abusive and indiscriminantly violent, and (3) psychosocially damaging to children. Then, I contrast this set of presuppositions with that embraced by prominent conservat ive Protestant parenting specialists, who (I) believe a restricted rel iance on corporal punishment is an expression of parental love and con cern, (2) contend that corporal punishment can be administered in a de liberate and non-abusive fashion, and (3) claim that corporal punishme nt need not impair a child's psychosocial development. I conclude by d iscussing several promising directions for future research.