Sarah Bessey’s “Jesus Made a Feminist Out of Me” Book and Project

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Sarah Bessey invites readers to participate in Jesus feminism
We’ve featured at least one of Sarah Bessey’s blog posts here on Link of the Day in the past.  I think you’ll want to visit her blog again right now to read about the creative way she is launching her new book, due out in a few weeks.  Sarah’s book is on a topic dear to the heart of us here on EEWC-Christian Feminism Today; it’s what she calls Jesus Feminism.  That’s the title of her forthcoming book, and its tag line is “An Invitation to Rethink the Bible’s View of Women”— exactly what we in EEWC have been doing since our organization’s beginning and continue to do; it’s also why we have often been called “biblical feminists.” We take the Bible seriously, but we view it quite differently from those who use it to argue against gender equality.  As a special project, Sarah Bessey is asking people who call themselves “Jesus feminists” to have a picture taken of themselves holding a sign, describing themselves in a few short words beginning with “I am___________” and then saying, “and I’m a Jesus feminist.”  Many people, both women and men, have already posted their signs and photos, and you can see some samples in today’s link, her introductory blog post.  But many more of them are being posted on a special Facebook page that you can access here.  Take a look. You might see someone you know!  Or maybe you’ll want to add your own photo and descriptive sign.  What the sign-holders are saying can be touching, funny, creative, and altogether rather amazing.  They illustrate how the “Jesus feminism” message is reaching people from all walks of life and background experiences. And it’s clear that those who say Christianity and feminism are incompatible don’t really understand the message of either one of them! To read more about Sarah, you can visit the “about” section of her blog and her own description of herself, her life, and her purpose.

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an independent scholar, writer, and editor, and is the author or coauthor of nine books. In 1978, she and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott wrote Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, one of the earliest books urging evangelical Christians to rethink their views on homosexuality (updated edition, 1994, HarperOne). More recently, Letha coauthored (with social psychologist David G. Myers) What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage (HarperOne, 2005 and 2006). Another of Letha’s most well-known books is All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today, coauthored with Nancy A. Hardesty (Word Books, 1974; revised edition, Abingdon, 1986; updated and expanded edition, Eerdmans, 1992). Letha served as editor of Christian Feminism Today in both its former print edition (EEWC Update) and its website for 19 years until her retirement in December 2013.

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