Keep in mind, these are all my experiences so far. \u00a0Maybe you\u2019ve experienced the \u201cFearlessly Feminine\u201d to be a very social justice minded community or the \u201cLiberated Christian Women\u201d to be very encouraging of homemaking, submission, or male leadership.\u00a0 Awesome! The Body is great and diverse, so I\u2019m sure there are exceptions to every rule and differing expression across the board. For me, this\n is not been so.<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n
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Which left me questioning, \u201cwhere do I fit in?\u201d\u00a0 If I\u2019m solidly in the middle on some of the major issue discussed by Christian women today, am I just a coward who needs to pull up her Big Girl Britches and choose a side already, or is there a third way for me explore?\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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This is where I got the idea of \u201cThird Way Womanhood\u201d a womanhood that rejects subscribing to either side of the debate in order to have a more holistic theology of womanhood that is Christ-centered, shalom-seeking, and unity-fostering.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Person Before Positions: Christocentric Femininity <\/span><\/b><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Identity is tricky for us girls.\u00a0 So many of us have made life choices based on what we believe the Bible says about women.\u00a0 Drastically altering our lives to line up with one interpretation of Scripture and then aligning ourselves with the Christians who share those convictions, tempts us to define our identity from the positions before the Person of Christ. \u00a0<\/span>This is why the biblical womanhood conversation can quickly escalate to a debate and then to a full out \u201cGirlfight\u201d. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
This is why we need third way women; women in the middle, neutral, and filtering this discussion through an Anabaptist, Jesus centered way. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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The concept of a \u201cthird way\u201d is not original with me.\u00a0 Scot Mcknight, Greg Boyd, Bruxy Cavey, and Shane Claiborne have helped me process my convictions and solidify my alignment with the Anabaptist tradition that looks to Jesus, his teachings, his ministry, and ultimately his death on the cross to define my identity and form my praxis. <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve been a \u201cthird way\u201d believer for many years but as I compared the two sides of the biblical woman conversation, then observed the miasma of offense and intolerance we\u2019re caught up into, I\u2019m realizing there is a need to allow Jesus, his teachings, his ministry, and death on the cross to define our femininity. \u00a0This is the first distinctive of Third Way Womanhood.<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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I want to have a Christocentric approach to my femininity that loves the Person of Jesus before positions. \u00a0I won\u2019t fully subscribe to either position and reject the labels associated with those positions because I don\u2019t want anything but \u201cJesus girl\u201d stamped across my heart.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Labels have a liability attached to them: you must accept the positions listed under that name, affirm the baggage attached to that name and then allow that name to shape your identity. From that point on, that name will be associated with your<\/i> name.\u00a0 So if I say, \u201chey there, blogosphere! I\u2019m a complementarian!\u201d \u00a0You\u2019ll forever look at me and assume I affirm the positions of John Piper, accept the baggage brought with Mark Driscoll, and I have no aspirations to lead beside my husband in our church plant.\u00a0 You\u2019ll never think \u2018Osheta over at Carried Away\u2019 without subconsciously attaching \u201ccomplementarian\u201d to my name. \u00a0Much the same way you can\u2019t think of Kathy Keller and not think \u201ccomplementarian\u201d, or Rachel Held Evans and not think \u201cegalitarian\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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There is not one name under heaven or earth I want attached to my identity but the name of Jesus.\u00a0 So as Third Way Woman, it is necessary for me to reject any label except, \u201cJesus Girl\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
Don\u2019t pick up what I\u2019m not putting down. \u00a0I believe we all love Jesus and first identify with him. The only reason we\u2019re talking about being, \u201cbiblical\u201d is because we\u2019ve encountered Jesus. Without him, we would close our laptops, put down our books, cancel our speaking tours, and move on.\u00a0 Without Jesus, there would be no \u201cbiblical\u201d anything.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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The labels, the names, the identities are what I reject.\u00a0 I recognize the divisive nature of those words and being a woman of peace I say, \u201cno thanks\u201d. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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If you want your femininity to be shaped by Jesus, thus making you a \u201cJesus Girl\u201d who loves Him more than the positions\u2014then you might be a Third Way Woman\u2026just like me.<\/span><\/b><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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People then Positions: Shalom Sistahs<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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I dream of a whole, healthy, vibrant, on a mission, Body of Christ.\u00a0 I wanna see women actualize their gifts to kick the gates of hell down.\u00a0 I wanna see Heaven on Earth ushered in by Kingdom women who have caught a glimpse of it from the teachings and ministry of Jesus.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
I want shalom: brokenness made whole through reconciling people to Jesus and being reconciled to each other.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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But, I don\u2019t see us being able to do that if we\u2019re so busy protecting our positions that we neglect to protect the people who hold those positions.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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We need a culture of women who are committed to peace and unity to help de-escalate the climate and re-calibrate our approach (Jesus first, whatever position you affirm second) to this thorny, yet important topic.<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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I love what Scot Mcknight says about the third way approach to the orthodox Christian faith.\u00a0 It is one that gets:<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Beyond the fighting<\/b> and <\/span><\/div>\nBetween the fighters<\/b> in order <\/span><\/div>\nTo carve out a middle way.<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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This is a beautiful calling for Third Way Women. We are shalom sistahs!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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We are the sisters called to get beyond the fighting<\/b> and ask, \u201chow can we look more like Jesus as we express our femininity?\u201d. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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We have the knowledge of and respect for the differing positions that allows us to get between the fighters<\/b> and serve as an effective bridge.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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We carve out a middle way <\/b>that reminds Kingdom women that we are sisters, bound to one another by our love for Jesus and sealed into this family by his blood spilled on Calvary.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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We are the ones who stand up and say, \u201cMartha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed\u2014or indeed only one\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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And the one \u201cthing\u201d is not a thing at all, he is the Person Jesus who told us:<\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\u201c\u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment.\u00a0And the second is like it: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u00a0All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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As a Third Way Woman, I love the people more than the positions.\u00a0 It seems like a no-brainer. Duh! Sounds like love your neighbor as yourself!\u00a0 Also sounds like the often quoted: They will know we are Christians by our love.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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If so, then explain to me why it\u2019s ok, maybe even funny to question another sister\u2019s devotion to God and respect for the Scriptures in a one star Amazon book review.\u00a0 How does that even happen among people who worship a Savior who died a horrific death out of an immense love for all people? <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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If we love the people more than the positions, explain to me how an open letter that puts another sister \u201con blast\u201d and casts a negative light, not on the position she holds, but her perceived lack of social grace because she couldn\u2019t connect with you to discuss her book, shows up on the Gospel Coalition\u2019s site.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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How does that happen?\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Tell me if we love our neighbors as we love ourselves, how can we say, \u201cLord, I love you\u201d on Sunday morning then write words Sunday evening calling a sister\u2019s marriage dangerous, patriarchal, and questioning the character of her husband because she happens to affirm male leadership in the home.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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How does that happen?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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If there is one thing I\u2019m willing to compromise my pacifist convictions for it\u2019s this. I will get honey badger mama angry about Sisters in Christ attacking one another. \u00a0We are wasting our time fighting over this.\u00a0 We are breaking each other\u2019s hearts. We are playing right into the enemy\u2019s schemes.\u00a0 We are creating brokenness in the Body. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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So, stop! Like I tell my kids when they\u2019re loud and obnoxious, and back-biting, and just \u2026spinning their wheels in the mud of disagreement. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
Stop!\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
Listen.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
Love. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love.\u00a0 But if we keep acting like this, will they? <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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No, they won\u2019t. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Enemy love is at the heart of the gospel, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us<\/i>.\u00a0 And if we can\u2019t love our family even when we disagree, then the lost will never truly understand that while they are still sinners Christ, died for them.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n
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So as a Third Way Woman, I see my position in the middle to be one that calls both sides to a \u201ccease fire\u201d and broker the conversation so that we can bind up some of the wounds we\u2019ve inflicted upon one another. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/oshetablogs.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/03\/im-a-third-way-woman_large1.jpg?w=300\")
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