At the Intersections: Motherhood? Ministry?

Last updated on: December 21, 2012 at 5:51 pm By Caryn Riswold

Many good people live and work at the intersections … of feminism and Christianity, of ministry and justice, of religion and politics, of gender and society, of race and inequality, of everything and then some. I’ve invited a few people to tell a story from their intersections, and will be sharing their stories from time to time here. Today’s story comes from Sami Kay Martin, a writer for The Christian Post who lives in New York City. Her book, Becoming the... Read more

Honorable Mention: Maddow Drops Mic

Last updated on: December 21, 2012 at 5:42 pm By Caryn Riswold

Just because this is quite possibly the best summary of the mad mad mad mad crazy election year and its results, I am sharing Rachel Maddow’s commentary from the day after. It’s old news now, surely you have seen it (what? You haven’t? Stop what you’re doing right now and sit down and watch this!) … regardless, it still makes me happy: Among so many other things: We are not going to give a 20% tax cut to millionaires and... Read more

‘Merica: “The Prayer-Heavy Dinner Party”

Last updated on: December 16, 2012 at 1:13 pm By Caryn Riswold

One of the most viewed posts I’ve written yet at Patheos was published back in September, On Christian Privilege & Being an Atheist Ally. The response that it got and the conversations and relationships that it has sparked convinced me that there is a pretty significant need for people of faith, especially the Christian variety, to see more of the ways in which our culture affords us a privileged place, whether we want to admit it or not. Here’s some... Read more

“God Bless the Revolution”

Last updated on: December 18, 2012 at 12:48 pm By Caryn Riswold

I first heard of Beverly Wildung Harrison when I was a graduate student in theology and discovered her landmark book Our Right to Choose: Toward a New Ethic of Abortion (Beacon, 1983) while studying feminist ethics. It was already more than ten years old then, and it’s nearly thirty years old now as we move toward the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in the coming month. I remember being so grateful, so impressed, and so inspired with her theological... Read more

When Men Kill

Last updated on: December 17, 2012 at 10:17 am By Caryn Riswold

More than a few people and organizations pay attention to the gendered nature of gun violence, including but unfortunately not limited to what happened in Newtown, Connecticut, last week. There, all of the adults murdered were women, and around half of the first-graders murdered were girls. From the International Action Network on Small Arms: “Women are disproportionately affected by gun violence. Although men comprise around 90% of deaths by guns, they are almost 100% of the buyers, sellers and users. Women are... Read more

Too Late. Again.

Last updated on: December 16, 2012 at 5:30 pm By Caryn Riswold

With his silence and tears more powerful than the words … “We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years.” “We are going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” Here’s some of what I said after another mass shootings THIS YEAR, the one in Wisconsin: When did we lose hope? When did all these elected officials decide that we could never again have a... Read more

Transformative Lutheran Theologies

Last updated on: December 14, 2012 at 10:57 am By Caryn Riswold

My friend and colleague Dr. Jacqueline Bussie tells the following story in her review of Transformative Lutheran Theologies: Feminist, Womanist, and Mujerista Perspectives, originally published in the Trinity Seminary Review, and excerpted in the current issue of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics: All of the gift-wisdom of the theological essays in this book moves me to share a story. In the summer of 2010, the very same summer this book was published, I took part in a national conference research... Read more

Political Bishops

Last updated on: December 12, 2012 at 9:07 am By Caryn Riswold

Earlier this week I wrote about and shared the video of the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, on The Daily Show promoting his new book God Believes in Love. Earlier this fall, I wrote about the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, Thomas Paprocki, and his charged political statements that voting for Democrats would place a the eternal salvation of Catholic souls in jeopardy. (And since Obama won the Catholic vote, that strategy... Read more

The Most Interesting Chapter in the Bible

Last updated on: December 6, 2012 at 10:34 am By Caryn Riswold

Matthew 1:1-17. Yes, it’s a genealogy. Yes, these are the parts of the biblical text that I tell students they can skip reading, since they’re what I call the “yada yada yada” of the bible. The author’s way of saying: time passes, stuff happens, let’s move on. But if you remember Seinfeld as I do, George’s girlfriend ended up “yada yada-ing” the most important part of the story. When it comes to this genealogy, I think it’s the most interesting... Read more