Oh, I hope so. I am absolutely in love with this new piece at Sarah Over the Moon on the Spirituality Channel here at Patheos. Last week I shared some lyrics and a video recording of Jann Aldredge-Clanton’s hymn “God Like a Woman Long in Labor Cries,” as well as the text from Isaiah 42 on which it is based. I referred to God there as a ferocious woman, furious and protective. But Sarah Moon’s description of God as a... Read more
Passing on the faith to the next generation has to involve learning as well as un-learning. As long as Christian formation takes place in a white racist patriarchal culture, we have to pay attention to those things that children learn that we want to help them unlearn. The dominance of male language and images for God is just one of the things that needs to be unlearned. (If you don’t know why, read Elizabeth A. Johnson, Joan Chittister, and these... Read more
I have been in two different conversations with leaders in the churches this summer in which the ongoing need for inclusive and expansive language and images for the divine has come up. I’ve shared stories and resources here on this blog that identify and speak to that need. But truthfully, I find it hard to believe that it’s still not taken for granted that we use many and varied life-giving images for God. And even though this isn’t typically a... Read more
You might have already seen Reza Aslan interviewed via any number of media outlets in recent weeks to talk about his new book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus. It was the interview on Fox News, though, that catapulted the book to the number one spot on Amazon.com. Specifically, when host Lauren Green asked: “You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?” “Well, to be clear,” Mr. Aslan said, his eyebrows lifting... Read more
In the middle of a really good piece titled “The Reproductive Injustice and the ‘War on Women’ or, An Ode to the Intersections” Eesha Pandit at the Crunk Feminist Collective writes a stunningly important paragraph: Who, we must ask, are the “women” in the “war on women” that many feminist organizations are decrying? Are they the women forcibly sterilized at the hands of the state? Are they the trans women that face repeated acts of aggression in the form of hate crimes... Read more
This summer, I’ll be sharing a series of short personal stories from the Our Voices, Our Stories booklet published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Justice for Women program. It is available in full on the program’s website, and is described thus: “Rooted in the gospel, truth-telling is a part of all social change, no less so when confronting patriarchy and sexism. This booklet of true stories, written by a variety of people across the ELCA, serves to encourage listening and... Read more
What does it mean to be a Lutheran college? What does it mean to teach, study, work, live at a Lutheran college? How might it be distinctive from other colleges or universities? Does the Lutheran tradition offer anything distinctive to address contemporary challenges in higher education? This week I’m heading to Minneapolis for the Vocation of a Lutheran College Conference, held on the campus of Augsburg College, where we will engage these and other questions. The conference is an annual... Read more
In case you’re not aware of this amazing resource and opportunity, let me introduce you to the WATER (Women’s Alliance for Theology Ethics and Ritual) series of teleconferences with feminist scholars of religion. It’s a monthly teleconference featuring a short presentation by a leading feminist scholar as well as ample time for question and conversation. Wonky technology notwithstanding, you can’t find a better way to be in actual conversation with feminist scholars and activists around a range of topics in... Read more
If you haven’t had a chance, do take the time to watch 16-year old Malala Yousafzai addressing young people at the United Nations last week. Watching her is really remarkable. Here are a few things that she said not only about educating girls along with boys, but also for the multi-faith inspiration for her nonviolent response and call for action, plus the problem with the Taliban’s theology: “So here I stand… one girl among many. I speak – not for myself,... Read more
In 1903 they were true. In 2013 they remain true. The words of W.E.B. DuBois about what it means to be a black man in the United States, with which Melissa Harris-Perry began her program’s footnote the day after Trayvon Martin’s killer was found not guilty: “Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. How... Read more
Caryn Riswold
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