- The World Wide Web and You
- Resources for Christian Living
- Topic of the Month: Feminist
Theology
- Current Issues
Introduction
1. A reminder: When you click on the links below (words
underlined in a contrasting color) you'll be taken outside the
EEWC site. In most cases, you can come back to the EEWC
website by clicking on the back button on the toolbar at the top
of the screen. (In some cases, when you click on the link to an
external sites, a new window opens up, and the back button
won't take you back to the site you just left. In such cases, try
clicking on the X in the upper right corner of the new window to
close it. You'll find yourself back at the EEWC site, which was
there the whole time, underneath the new site's window.)
2. Since the links are outside the EEWC website, we cannot
be responsible for their content. Their inclusion in this
column doesn't necessarily mean EEWC endorses all or any of the
content you may find in a particular site. A listing under
"Web Explorations" only means they're websites that I
think you'll find of interest.
3. All "Web Explorations for Christian Feminists"
columns are archived, so be sure to visit the archives from
time to time to check out tips and links in previous columns.
The World Wide Web and You
Dealing with E-mail hoaxes and chain letters
Each month, in talking about "The World Wide Web and
You," I like to introduce some general sites with information
about the Internet--useful materials outside our main topics in
Parts 2, 3, and 4 below.
This month, I thought we'd look at helpful material for sorting
out those annoying messages that so often clog our e-mail
boxes--e-mails sent out to a long list of addresses, usually by
well-meaning acquaintances and friends. They may spread a rumor or
an urban legend, ask you to sign a petition, or issue a dire
warning about a computer virus. Sometimes they're chain letters
that attempt to make you feel guilty (or warn that something bad
will happen), or they may imply that unless you forward the e-mail
to a certain number of other people (or to "everyone you
know"), you're not a caring friend or you'll miss out on some
special blessing.
The
About.com "Current Netlore" section has some of the
best definitions and descriptions of Internet hoaxes, urban
legends, rumors, and Internet "junk" that I've found
anywhere on the Web. For example, if you've wondered about
some of those strange claims (such as the claim that Bill Gates or
Disney may pay you $1000-$5000 for sending their message to
everyone you know to help Microsoft "track e-mail," or
that Gap, Inc. will send free clothing certificates for e-mailing
your friends, or that the government has passed a bill to charge a
5-cent tax on every e-mail you receive), check out the hoax
encyclopedia.
The About.com site also has helpful information about those
endlessly circulating petitions that you might have felt obligated
to sign to support some worthy cause or simply because a good
friend sent it to you and you don't want to let them down. For
example, if you've rushed to add your name in good faith to the
petition to save National Public Radio, you'll want to read "The
Case of the Pointless Petition". Another e-mail petition
that originated with sincere good intentions years ago, but which
caused lots of problems for the university where it originated,
was a
student's petition on behalf of the women of Afghanistan. When
you check out the information on this "petition that goes
nowhere," be sure to scroll to the end and read the letter
from Brandeis University telling why the sender's e-mail
privileges were cancelled after sending out the petition, even
though the cause was a good one.
Besides hoaxes, urban legends, rumors, and petitions, there are
the bogus virus warnings. Sometimes you'll receive an
e-mail with lots of names in the "To" window and lots of
CAPITAL LETTERS and !!! in the text of the e-mail to make sure you
get the (exclamation) point. Such messages warn you of some
monstrous virus that will eat up your computer's hard drive. You
can be reasonably sure that such virus warnings are hoaxes. (The
sensational tone, exclamation points, and caps are good clues.)
Check out some of the many virus
hoaxes and learn how to deal with them.
At the same time, stay informed about the dangers of real
viruses that can do great harm. Consult the About.com guide's virus
information databases. And make sure your computer is
protected by up-to-date anti-virus software.
Finally, if you hate chain letters as much as I do--and if
you're offended by the effort to manipulate and coerce you into
sending them to others--you'll want to check out Break
the Chain. This site shows how such efforts are not only
annoyances which clog our e-mail boxes; they're also violations of
privacy by listing everybody's addresses for all the world to see
(and which, like e-mail petitions, can open you to even more junk
e-mail). The site will give you courage to do exactly what its
title says, break the chain.
Resources for Christian Living
This month, rather than list a large number of different sites
where you'll find resources for Christian living, I thought you
might like to visit the many areas offered on the American
Bible Society (ABS) website.
Clicking on "About
the Bible" on that opening page will take you to
information on how we got the Bible, how translations are done, a
time line of biblical events, and other helpful material.
Notice the American Bible Society's emphasis on diversity, with
special Bible related materials that celebrate various racial,
ethnic, and cultural heritages, such as providing a new easy to
read popular Spanish
translation of the New Testament and the Jubilee
Project, which is an effort toward "building bridges and
healing hearts," bringing Black and White believers together
for honest dialogue on race issues.
You can also see sample pages of the new
Jubilee Bible, which celebrates the African American cultural
heritage. A "frequently asked questions" (FAQ)
section of the Jubilee Bible description points out that 300
pages of material supplement the Bible text, offering "an
Afrocentric interpretation of the Scriptures that has not been
available before" and that "liberates all readers from
narrow Eurocentric interpretations of the Bible and helps make it
more immediate and relevant to people of African descent."
If you click on the American Bible Society's Bible
Learning Center, you'll find all sorts of other useful
material. Click on "Bible 101" on the Bible Learning
Center opening page and you'll find a useful chart summarizing
what each book of the Bible is about. Or click on "Games and
Devotionals for Kids" to find materials to help children
learn to pray, understand the Bible, and more.
In the Research
Center part of the ABS website, you can find information about
the Music & Scripture project and other media projects, and
you can find full text articles on topics related to serious Bible
study. Just click on "Key articles/Papers" on the menu
on the left side.
Moving on to a different website, you might want to check out
"Resource Pages for
Biblical Studies," a website designed and regularly
updated by Torrey Seland, a professor of Biblical Studies at Volda
University College in Norway. Numerous online materials for
serious scholarly research in Biblical studies may be found there.
Topic of the Month
Feminist Theology
For an introduction to this month's special topic, feminist
theology, click on "The
Word of God according to Female Biblical Scholars", a
brief overview from the Hartford Courant, which quotes
(among others) Sister Miriam Therese Winter, a name very familiar
to EEWC members.
Another excellent introduction to what feminist theologians are
saying is Rev.
Maggie McNaught's summary of Rosemary Ruether's feminist
theological approach.
I think you'll also enjoy the National Catholic Reporter
article by Thomas Fox, "She's
a Benedictine, Bible based Feminist," a description of a
speech by Joan Chittister, whose speaking at our own EEWC
conference in 2000 was such a highlight.
The full text of numerous scholarly papers related to women and
theological concerns are available on the Web. Here are some you
might want to check out:
Feminist
Studies in Religion and a Radical Democratic Ethos by
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and an interview
with Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza from the Journal of
Feminist Studies in Religion in which she tells how and why
the journal came into existence in 1985.
An oft-quoted classic article, "Jesus
was a Feminist," by Leonard Swidler can be accessed
online, as can Virginia Ramey Mollenkott's 1982 Christian
Century article, "An
Evangelical Feminist Confronts the Goddess."
Both are available at religon-online.com,
which offers numerous full text articles on religious subjects.
For more articles specifically on feminist theology that may be
found on that website (such as some I've included in this column
from time to time), look under "Theology" and click on
"women's, feminist."
In recent years, there has been a movement away from speaking
of feminist theology in the singular and thinking instead of
feminist theologies in the plural, as women from diverse
cultures reflect on biblical and theological matters in the
context of their own experiences and concerns. Check out this
brief summary from the Religious News Service, "Feminist
Theology Charting New Course(s)" by Kathi Wolfe.
Then look up Womanist
Theology: Black Women's Voices by Delores S. Williams
and "Mujeristas:
A Name of Our Own!!" by Ada Maria Asisi-Diaz.
You might also want to explore Women
in Judaism, an online journal on gender issues in Judaism,
and Jewish
Feminist Resources. And check out the Jewish Orthodox
Feminist Alliance's website to read the article, "Bless
This Holy Congregation" by Blu Greenberg, who writes that
Orthodox Judaism is in a "transitional state" with
regard to women's issues. She talks about a number of questions
that will remind many Christian feminists of the questions and
struggles we, too, have undergone in thinking through traditional
understandings of our faith in terms of our feminism and our
feminism in terms of our faith.
Current Issues
This month, in view of the recent attention being given to
sexual abuse by members of the clergy, this part of "Web
Explorations" is being devoted to this one current issue
only.
Check out Call to Action's "Responses
to Current Issues: The Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal" for a
very thorough list of resources that can be found on the Web. Be
sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to view the list in its
entirety. Then check out the links that interest you. You'll find
plenty, I'm sure!
Also read the many useful materials available online through
the Center for the Prevention of
Sexual and Domestic Violence. And if you're called upon to comment
on the recent cases of clergy sexual abuse, be sure to click on
the "talking
points" offered on that website. You'll find some wise
and useful suggestions.
There are so many links embedded within the two
sites just mentioned that I think I'll stop right here. I'm sure,
with all the other links provided in the previous sections of this
column, that you'll have more than enough sites to explore over
the next month . So I'll sign off for now and see you again in
June.
Your Web Explorations tour guide,
Letha Dawson Scanzoni
© 2002 Evangelical and Ecumenical
Women's Caucus
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