From time to time I feature guest posts from thoughtful people. It seems appropriate that a reflection on the movie about young people, The Fault in Our Stars, come from a young woman who has already written so thoughtfully about love and loss. Today’s post is from Linnea Peterson who is a 2014 graduate of Central High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota and plans to attend Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in the fall. She has been active in most... Read more
If we started telling the truth we might never stop. And then what would happen? You’d know about the leering older men we worked with at our high school jobs. The burly customers who mocked us for not knowing what “tuna taco” really meant. You’d know about the murky nights in college when we couldn’t really consent to any of it. You’d know about how ludicrous it is when two men should “hey baby!” out their car windows at you... Read more
Last week, I shared a few reflections on two books that started my summer reading list. I also offered a list of suggestions for a feminist theological summer education. Here, then, is the rest of one pile of books awaiting my attention. Summer = Reading. Read more
Once I determined who the audience of Elizabeth Gerhardt’s The Cross and Gendercide is, I got it. She’s writing to those Christian churches who have, for whatever reason, eschewed their responsibility for responding to the global pandemic of violence against women and girls. She provides a deeply theological and cruciform argument requiring their immediate attention. I hope they pay attention. I paid attention, but not because I find the theology of the cross the most effective response to gendercide (more... Read more
The twinning of life and death starts early in Hannah, Delivered, the new novel by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, and weaves its way throughout the story. It’s an obvious theme for a novel that begins with the protagonist’s mother’s death and Hannah’s subsequent swim in the comforting waters of a local lake, leading right into a busy night in the maternity ward: “Birth always comes this way, coupled in a twisted dance with death.” Water is in fact an important image... Read more
I received an email query this weekend that read, in part: I’m looking for some guidance as to what an almost Lutheran pastor with a strong feminist heart should read to grow my understanding of feminism and feminist theology. Here is my response: What a lovely description, “a strong feminist heart.” Because that is surely what the world and the church needs. I have so many things I could and will recommend for you to read. You asked about Gender... Read more
I’ve written before about the problems with so many claims of protecting “religious freedom” in recent reproductive justice debates. On the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops’ Fortnight for Freedom (and against contraception) I noted that: We don’t have to compare apples and oranges to make the point that the religious freedom the USCCB seeks to preserve is theirs alone. They want you and I to be ‘free’ to do as they want us to do. Efforts like those of the... Read more
Jessica Valenti called Beyoncé’s recent self-titled release “the album that is going to launch a thousand women’s studies papers.” I don’t know how many papers have been written so far, but I do know that the timing couldn’t have been better for my teaching theory in gender and women’s studies this spring. There’s even an essay question about it on our exam today. We began by talking about the marketing and the message: Seizing control of the means of production... Read more
Last night, I delivered the following as part of a series of “Big Tent” speeches at an event hosted by the Morgan County Democratic Central Committee here in Illinois. It was a fundraiser and a meet-and-greet event featuring the Illinois Secretary of State, Jesse White, with whom I am pictured below. It’s about trusting women. When progress has been made in this country, it has been when institutions, leaders, individuals, and politicians trust women. We have seen it throughout history,... Read more
This picture of me shouldn’t be revolutionary. And yet … Here is a great 90 second summary of what is at stake this week when lawyers for Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood will argue before the Supreme Court that your boss should get to determine what preventative health care you receive: Here is a round-up of links to pieces I’ve written about the contraceptive mandate, the Affordable Care Act, and religious freedom: Religious Freedom … for Bosses Only? Why Affordable... Read more
Caryn Riswold
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