Welcome

Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse—as told through music.

Composer Margaret Meier tells the story behind her empowering new cantata, But Joy Comes in the Morning.

CD Review: But Joy Comes in the Morning.

Linda Bieze reviews Margaret Meier’s cantata about healing and hope for childhood sexual abuse survivors, with some additional thoughts from Susan Campbell.

Panel Discussion: What We Need to Know about Childhood Sexual Abuse

Three experts in the fields of mental health and religion respond to the message of the cantata.

Further discussions by each of the experts

God's Motherly Care for Us
Singer-songwriter Kathryn Christian, who composes music for meditation, prayer, and healing, tells why the metaphor of God as Mother has special meaning for her.

God's Gift of Motherhood
Comes in Different Ways
God's motherly care took on new meaning for Melanie Springer Mock when two young boys from across the globe came into her life—and captured her heart.

Audio: "Gather Me under Thy Wings."
Listen to Kathryn Christian sing, "Gather Me under Thy Wings," a song about God's tender motherly love.

Come to the Table
The Reverend Nancy Wilson shows us how two dejected disciples' experience of walking, talking, and having a meal with the Risen Christ changed their lives forever and speaks to us today. A sermon delivered at the 2008 EEWC Conference.

Two Paintings of the Supper at Emmaus
Linda Williams calls our attention to two remarkable and often overlooked paintings of the supper at Emmaus. She shows how these representations highlight the inclusiveness of Jesus' message and his welcome to all people.

Presenting three new Web only features:

Slaying the Public Speaking Mastodon:  How to Vanquish Your Fears of Public Speaking Communication professor Alena Amato Ruggerio’s provides ten tips that will help you conquer your anxieties about addressing an audience. (Web Exclusive)

Using Our Hands to Find Our Souls Melanie C. Reuter, D.Min. shows us how our lives can be enriched as we link art and spirituality together. (Web Exclusive)

Book Review:  Poets on the Psalms  Linda Williams reviews Lynn Domina’s collection of essays by modern poets who examine the ancient poetry of the Psalms. (Web Exclusive)

Two Noteworthy New Books
about Women, God, and Religious Institutions

(as reviewed in the Winter, 2009 issue of Christian Feminism Today)

Book Review: Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl by Susan Campbell. Reviewed by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott.

Book review: Taking Back God: American Women Rising Up for Religious Equality by Leora Tanenbaum. Reviewed by Alena Amato Ruggerio.

Feature Articles

Meditation on a Pedicure

Rev. Kathy Pigg talks about her “three-quarter life crisis,” and what she learned from having her first pedicure as she entered her 70th year.

God’s Call

Ken Sehested composed this litany on responding to God’s call – regardless of age, gender, or any of the other artificial categorizations that separate people. “But I am only a . . . ” is no excuse for refusing to answer God’s call to service.

Book Review

The Power of the Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza.
reviewed by Reta Halteman Finger

“Schuessler Fiorenza has provided a new method of interpretation that has challenged traditional ways of reading the Bible,” writes Dr. Reta Finger in her thoughtful review of this book by the noted Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School.

More Book Reviews

Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Graham by Patricia Cornwell
reviewed by Nancy Hardesty

Although this book was published several years ago, we’re reviewing it here in memory of Ruth Graham who died this past year. As reviewer Nancy A. Hardesty writes, “In her husband’s crusades, Ruth Bell Graham preferred a seat in the crowd to a place on the podium. . . .But back in the mountains of western North Carolina, Ruth Graham was making her own decisions and crafting her own life.”

Two Reviews of Being Feminist, Being Christian: Essays from Academia by Allyson Jule and Bettina Tate Pedersen.

Review, 2008 paperback edition,
by Melanie Springer Mock
(Web Exclusive, January 2009).

Review, 2006 hardback edition,
by Anne Eggebroten
(from Christian Feminism Today, Summer, 2007).

Feature Article

Leaps of Faith

Jeanne Hanson likes to set goals, and one of them was to skydive before her eightieth birthday.  This was her year.  Read about her latest “leap of faith” and what all of us can learn from it.

Book Reviews

Virginia Ramey Mollenkott reviews Engaging the Bible: Critical Readings from Contemporary Women, edited by Choi Hee An and Katheryn Pfisterer Darr.  Virginia begins: “Based on recent programs at the Anna Howard Shaw Center at Boston University, this book engages the Bible from the perspectives of five women theologians representing different cultural, ethnic, and/or social perspectives.”

Gail Ricciuti reviews Walking with Wisdom’s Daughters: Twelve Celebrations and Stories of Women of Passion and Faith by Gloria Ulterino.  Gail writes that this book is not only a wonderful source for participatory worship in women’s communities; it is a volume of faith history – a “Facebook” of our foremothers, a prayerbook, and a handbook for the spiritual life.