{"id":8596,"date":"2017-01-18T03:15:09","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T09:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/?p=8596"},"modified":"2017-01-17T20:35:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T02:35:05","slug":"not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This guest post was written by Lindsay Mustafa Davis<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"emergency\"<\/p>\n

Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.<\/p>\n

Growing up in the Pentecostal<\/a> church, I learned that the Holy Spirit gave the power to everyone, male or female, to preach the Gospel, live a Christ-like life, and do fantastic works that would bring people to Jesus.<\/p>\n

In two formative ways, I learned that to be a woman is not in and of itself a hindrance to accomplishment. Being a woman, in both contexts, is something to be celebrated. Together, my mother and the Spirit emboldened me to do anything God put in my heart to do.<\/p>\n

So of course I asked if the Spirit was calling my beloved, empowered self to be a leader in the church, maybe even a pastor.<\/p>\n

Then things got weird.<\/p>\n

My mom told me there was no question: of course I could be a pastor if that was what I really wanted to do.<\/p>\n

The church of my youth and evangelical groups I joined, however, told me there were limits to this empowerment, especially for girls. Perhaps the Spirit might have given me the gifts of teaching, but only to teach children, youth, and other women.<\/p>\n

But to teach everyone, including (and especially) men? You heard God wrong on that, they said. Maybe instead of being a pastor, you\u2019re called to\u00a0be a pastor\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

I balked quite a bit at that idea.<\/p>\n

So I found myself confused. And as a result, I asked more questions.<\/p>\n

I asked, \u201cWhy would the Spirit awaken such gifts within me only to put odd limits on them for the sole fact that I am female, not male?\u201d<\/p>\n

The church answered, \u201cGod\u2019s ways are not our ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked, \u201cThen why would the Bible contain women like\u00a0Miriam the prophetess<\/a>,\u00a0Deborah the judge<\/a>, and\u00a0Mary Magdalene the apostle to the apostles<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

And they answered, \u201cThose women were anomalies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The church told me they were performing\u00a0these \u201cmen only\u201d roles due to a lack of any \u201cworthy\u201d men willing to do the work. God used women because there weren\u2019t any men willing enough to do their jobs.<\/p>\n

After all, they said, if God can use rocks and donkeys, God can use women, too, when necessary.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t interpret those women as the norm. God only uses them \u201cIn Case of Emergency,\u201d as if those women were put behind a glass case for God to shatter and use when the fire was out of control, and the \u201creal men\u201d weren\u2019t there to do their jobs.<\/p>\n

The message rang loud and clear: the only way women get to be the heroes, in the biblical or Christian story, is when God uses them in spite of their womanhood.<\/p>\n

Wrestling with my calling as a woman is nothing new. I, along with countless women in ministry, have had to simultaneously defend my desire to preach and the validity of my faith in ways most men will never have to.<\/p>\n

When times were especially tough, when I wondered whether I was meant to lead or leave the Church,\u00a0I turned to stories for solace and inspiration. I read comics and books, and watched shows and movies, some of which featured amazing female protagonists. Through these pursuits, I found Buffy, Kamala Khan, River Song, Misty Knight, and Jessica Jones, among others.<\/p>\n

And I noticed something about these characters, something in how their creators made them that contradicted\u00a0what the churches\u00a0taught me about biblical women.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t anomalies. They belonged in their worlds. They were there on purpose.<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t there because a man didn\u2019t step up, or because there were no rocks or donkeys willing to do any supernatural work.<\/p>\n

They were there because the author wanted and needed them there to tell the story.<\/p>\n

And when I took another look at the stories of those biblical women, I realized they were there on purpose, too.<\/p>\n

They were leading the story. They were doing\u00a0God\u2019s work because God called them to do it, not to take on some other guy\u2019s neglected burden. God gave\u00a0them this work on purpose.<\/p>\n

Miriam prophesied not because Moses and Aaron wouldn\u2019t, but because she couldn\u2019t hold God\u2019s truth in her and needed tambourines and song to proclaim it.<\/p>\n

Deborah led not because Barak wouldn\u2019t, but because leading as a judge utilized the passion and power with which God had already endowed her.<\/p>\n

Mary Magdalene\u00a0stayed at the tomb long enough to witness the miracle of Christ\u2019s resurrection out of her own grief and love for Jesus, not so God that could spite the other disciples.<\/p>\n

These and many other women fill the pages of the very Bibles used to silence and degrade women, and their stories keep the tale of God\u2019s radical and inclusive love and justice moving forward. They continue to proclaim encouragement, empowerment, and love to our sisters in Christ today.<\/p>\n

These women were not anomalies. They were heroines in a long line of powerful biblical women, and when we honor the heroines of the Bible, we honor the heroines\u00a0of faith today.<\/p>\n

So Church, lift up the female biblical heroes in a world, and even a religion, that continues to see women as second-best and expendable.<\/p>\n

Lift up heroines in society and in literature, from Emma Watson to her literary counterpart Hermione Granger. Lift up the inspirational women who have gone before us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, from Deborah to Maya Angelou. Lift them up to remind women that their callings are not anomalies but necessities in this world which desperately needs their love and care.<\/p>\n

When we tell women they are heroines, that their leadership and strength are needed, they will no longer consider themselves anomalies, and neither will the Church. They will take their place alongside their brothers and lead the world into tomorrow.<\/p>\n

And the Church will be all the better for it, because we will be living into the Kingdom the way God intended: together, as equals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo illustration by Dan Wilkinson.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"lindsay_m_davis\"About Lindsay Mustafa Davis<\/strong>
\nLindsay Mustafa Davis is a recent M.Div graduate from Eastern Mennonite Seminary. She is passionate about social justice, geek culture, theology, and their intersections. Lindsay blogs at\u00a0lindsaymdavis.com<\/a>, is obsessed with Harry Potter, and looks forward to marrying her best friend Bryce later this year.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[70,533,130,249],"class_list":["post-8596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-issues","tag-egalitarianism","tag-lindsay-mustafa-davis","tag-women","tag-womens-rights"],"yoast_head":"\nNot Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unfundamentalist Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-18T09:15:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-18T02:35:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/361\/2017\/01\/emergency.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/\",\"name\":\"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-18T09:15:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-18T02:35:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/\",\"name\":\"Unfundamentalist Christians\",\"description\":\"Above all, love\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines","description":"Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines","og_description":"Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/","og_site_name":"Unfundamentalist Christians","article_published_time":"2017-01-18T09:15:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-18T02:35:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":336,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/361\/2017\/01\/emergency.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/","name":"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-01-18T09:15:09+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-18T02:35:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"Growing up with a single mother, I learned that being a woman and being strong go hand in hand.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/2017\/01\/not-anomalies-reclaiming-the-biblical-heroines\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Not Anomalies: Reclaiming the Biblical Heroines"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/","name":"Unfundamentalist Christians","description":"Above all, love","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unfundamentalistchristians\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}