The RAVE Project

Abstract

The RAVE Project (Religion and Violence e-Learning) at the University of New Brunswick is an initiative that seeks to understand the interface between religion and domestic violence in the family context. Web-based resources equip religious leaders to respond to domestic violence in ways that are compassionate, practical, and informed by the latest research and best practices for professionals and to walk alongside victims and survivors on their journey to healing and wholeness. As members of the RAVE Project team, we strive to meet the challenges presented when working across the disciplinary boundaries of academia, churches and seminaries, and community agencies in order to provide faith-based resources for social action. Based on over twenty years of social scientific research, this paper considers both the obstacles and rewards of working with partners from criminal justice, advocacy, religious and therapeutic communities in four regional sites across North America. In trying to build bridges between the steeple and the shelter we need to develop the trust of the people from different constituencies while remaining sensitive to their unique informational and spiritual needs.