It’s December, so of course we’re recommending some posts about Christmas. We hope your Advent is meaningful and your Christmas delightful!
Women in Transition: The First Evangelical Women’s Caucus Conference (1975)
A surprising number of the women attending, perhaps half, were new to feminism. They came out of interest and out of a sense of alienation from their churches; for the first time this weekend they began to identify themselves as feminists.
Kind of Okay with It
November 2023 Poetry Selection
It’s the age
of kind of knowing:
As in, I kind of know
what a partridge is...
It’s the age
of kind of knowing:
As in, I kind of know
what a partridge is...
1978 EWC Conference: Women and the Ministries of Christ
The second EWC conference was held on the campus of Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California in June of 1978. About 900 women and a handful of men met for a conference titled "Women and the Ministries of Christ."
Sensuous Spirituality: Out from Fundamentalism
"Like the writings of any mystic, much of it will take contemplation to digest. It will also have appeal to those whose own spirituality is not Christian, and might even 'bring back' some who have given up on the Bible as hopelessly patriarchal."
Godde Sets the Stage for Each of Us During Christmas
What Gabriel asks of Mary is what Godde asks of each of us—just in different ways. It lies within our power of choosing, to conceive—in our hearts—the Godde who chooses us. We all stand with Mary today, summoned to an adventure filled with peril and misunderstanding and mystery and unspeakable grief . . . and joy that can turn the whole world upside down!
Mother
Christmas, 2018 Poetry Selection
Young woman, boo-boo healer,
songwriter, wonderful comforter,
mighty good, everlasting Mama,
peasant of peace,
filled with grace and grit
Young woman, boo-boo healer,
songwriter, wonderful comforter,
mighty good, everlasting Mama,
peasant of peace,
filled with grace and grit
Christmas Eve, Incarnation, and Knowing Mary
As the choir sang, and the ministers spoke, and the candles flickered, for the first time I saw Mary in all of it. A young woman in need of a safe place. A young woman denied entrance. A young woman giving birth to the Human One anyway, in an inauspicious tangle of blood, fear, and pain.
A Christmas Prayer
God of sun and God of snow,
we thank you for the grandeur of creation,
for the variety that surrounds us,
for your limitless creativity.
The War on Christmas: Or, Why Some Christians Really Bother Me...
I am wearied by this manufactured battle to make everyone recognize the reason for the season; by the attempt to make corporations, interested only in their bottom line, profess some kind of fidelity to Christ; by the idea that Christians are a persecuted population in our country; and, most significantly, by the belief that more than any other faiths, Christians should be free to display their religious symbols in government buildings."
A Post of Christmases Past
While Reta Halteman Finger, the author of our Reta’s Reflections Bible study blog, is taking some time off to be with family and friends, we invite you to revisit two of her earlier Christmas reflections.
The Christmas Story—When Tradition Trumps Text
Lesson 14 - "Ever since the second century, stories embroidering the canonical accounts of Jesus’ birth have become embedded in our celebrations. Every crèche gets so much wrong. Maybe we should worry less about our culture “taking Christ out of Christmas” and more about accurately reading our texts. I’ll warn you ahead of time—there was no stable, no inn, and no innkeeper."
Prayers, Santa, and a Nativity: Government Support of Worldviews
". . . for Christian feminists this concept of pluralism is an important one. We have to decide if we believe that government should make room for a variety of perspectives or if government should be a tool by which one perspective dominates. For centuries, a majority voice discriminated against women and same-sex relationships. Now that the public tide seems to be swinging the other way, are we in favor of a similar majoritarian perspective that shuts out minority approaches we do not like, or do we want to protect even those voices that we believe are truly misguided?"
Fear, yearning for security, and the radical message of Christmas
December 21, 2015
In honor of Christmas, today’s Link of the Day is a special “two-for.” Both links help us see how the Christmas message...
My First Encounter with Religious Doubt: The Day I Stopped Believing...
"I was trying so hard not to believe, yet I couldn’t let myself believe in my unbelief! Here I was, thinking Santa might not exist, but at the same time I was afraid he was angry with me for doubting his existence. I agonized over what to make of it all."
Untold Volumes Poetry
You Might Have Missed...
Wild Goose Festival 2013 – Teresa B. Pasquale
Teresa's book was excellent. It was one of those books where I kept highlighting passages in the text because difficult concepts were so well illuminated. It's a casual distillation of a type of spiritual journey that is almost always portrayed with needless drama, and the simplicity makes it all the more powerful.
Feminist Bible Studies and Related Material
Genesis 2-3: Betrayal and Blame in Paradise
Careful reconsideration of the [Yahwist creation narrative of Gen 2:4b–3:24] in context can ... bring healing to those harmed by over two thousand years of misappropriated patriarchal interpretation.
Bathroom Legislation: Unconstitutionality Is Only Part of the Story
In this article, I explain why HB2 is clearly unconstitutional. But I will also stress that constitutionality is always only one small part of understanding why legislators do what they do. A hostile feeling (or animus) toward transgender people becomes an important part of the legal discussion.
There Is More than One Christian View on Homosexuality
"But when it comes to homosexuality, many people have the impression that there is only one religious or biblical view – only one way to consider the question of equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. That view, in the minds of many, is that any and every same-sex sexual expression is sinful in the sight of God."
True Inclusion: Creating Communities of Radical Embrace
Unfortunately, many Christian churches have made marginalizing others into an entire theology. “The . . . evangelical theological paradigm depends upon patriarchy,” which must, therefore, be “completely deconstructed” (p. 68).
There Is No Justice for Philando Castile
June 17, 2017
Police officer Jeronimo Yanez "was cleared Friday in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a black motorist whose death captured national attention...
The Invention of Wings: A Novel
The combination of engaging fictional narrative with the outlines of the historical record provide an enjoyable means of learning more about the Grimké sisters, the early abolitionist movement, and the early women’s rights movements during this period.
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
"I’m Still Here" clearly articulates that Christians are called to seek justice, and compellingly argues that systemic racism, white fragility, and the myth of “nice” white people means that true racial reconciliation has not been realized.
Most Recent Book Reviews
Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the...
Tell Her Story provides a jumping-off point for continued discussion around the acknowledgement and participation of women in the church based on the words of Jesus and his disciples.
From the Archives
1 Timothy 1:1-7 — “Speculations” or a “Divine Economy”?
Lesson 3 - “In a Roman household, inheritance always passed from father to son (not to daughters). So Paul has an inheritance for Timothy: the ‘instruction’ (1 Tim 1:5, 18), also called ‘the sound teaching’ (1:10). In Paul’s absence, Timothy functions as the head of the church(es) in Ephesus.”
