Courage by Darkness

In the fourth book of the Peabody series, the meek and well behaved Jean asks God to help her be brave and send her on an adventure. Over the next several weeks Jean learns to stand up for herself, say the truth even when it's hard, and say what she wants to do. But on a trip to her aunt and uncle's farm in Alabama, Jean has to contend with an abandoned hunting lodge, a cave, a missing will, and a stolen jewel. Proud that she has conquered her fear well enough to learn to ride a horse, Jean has enormous tasks. Can she wrap up things as well as her older brother and sister, Penny and Jack, would? Along the way, Jean has to learn that wisdom and integrity are important on the path to courage. After the harrowing events of 9/11, Jeri Massi did some soul searching and realized that she needed to live a more authentic, charitable, concerned Christian life. Already familiar with two cases of the abuse of children in Christian Fundamentalism, she decided to research and document cases in order to keep the sacred lives of these children public, so that their stories could not be hidden by the pastors in power in Fundamentalism. A graduate of Bob Jones University, she undertook reasearch of the structure on Christian Fundamentalism, its history, and other abuse cases that were hidden away in the back rooms of churches. At first naively thinking she might find as many as half a dozen cases, she soon realized that there surely were dozens of abuse cases in these churches, then as she continued to uncover cases, hundreds. After thirteen years of documenting cases, interviewing victims, and confronting pastors, she realized that sexually abusing children is as much a part of the church culture of Christian Fundamentalism as baptism by immersion and Wednesday night church suppers.