Link of the Day
“Link of the Day” features links to some great web destinations. Here we’ll share interesting articles, videos and more items of interest to Christian Feminists.
For a treasure trove of more annotated links, check out Letha Dawson Scanzoni’s other feature, “Web Explorations for Christian Feminists,” also on the Christian Feminism Today website.
February 22, 2012
“John Piper and the Rise of Biblical Masculinity” (from Christianity Today.)
When John Piper recently described Christianity as “having a masculine feel,” passionate responses and explosive debates erupted on Twitter and throughout the blogosphere. This article, written by Rachel Stone for Her-meneutics, a blog for women from Christianity Today, is a helpful, informative response that is excellent in both content and tone.
Some related links in addition to the main link above:
See this blog post by EEWC’s own Kendra Weddle Irons from the Ain’t I a Woman blog that she writes with Melanie Springer Mock. Also see “Where the Piper Leads” on the bWe-Baptist Women for Equality’s Blog (scroll to the Feb. 10 post on that site), where Shirley Taylor, a Southern Baptist woman, writes: “Christianity has a masculine feel because we ignore the female side of God, who is a spirit and neither male nor female.”
February 21, 2012
How the Lovings’ Loving Changed American History
Last week, on Valentine’s Day, HBO released a documentary that told the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, a devoted couple who married across racial boundaries at a time when many states still had laws against intermarriage. The above link takes you to Kate Sheppard’s excellent article about the documentary. Writing for Mother Jones.com, Sheppard summarizes the backstory of this married couple, whose simple desire to live as a couple in their home state near their relatives ended up as the “Loving vs. Virginia” case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967. In addition to reading Sheppard’s summary, it’s also worth taking time to visit the official HBO site about the documentary. There you will find a synopsis, a teacher’s guide, a film preview, and a director’s interview (which is well worth watching for many reasons, but especially for seeing how “God’s will” was dragged into arguments for keeping anti-miscegenation laws on the books).
February 20, 2012
Wives of American Presidents
Before she was a “first lady” herself, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, to “remember the ladies,” sounding a clarion call for women’s rights at a time when women had extremely few rights of any kind. On this Presidents’ Day, as U.S. Presidents throughout our country’s history are being honored, let’s think about their wives as well. The above link takes you to a summary of these women’s lives. By clicking on their names, you can learn about each individual in more detail
February 17, 2012
A New Generation Gap in the Christian Community
The Barna Group, which conducts research on faith and culture, found that one of the top trends of 2011 was a disconnection between young adults and Christianity . “In particular, 84% of Christian 18-29 year-olds admit that they have no idea how the Bible applies to their field or professional interests,” say these researchers. Their research indicates that the church is losing young adults in two categories especially — the “young creatives”(artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, and so on) and young people interested in science. Churches need to show how vocation and faith can be related. This brief summary report from Barna contains links related to additional studies showing why so many young adults are dropping out of church.
February 16, 2012
Faith and Action: A Child Makes the Connection
From the Burnside Writers Collective comes this essay by Chip MacGregor about a little girl who was not content simply to learn about homelessness, but who decided to help homeless persons in practical ways. The writer uses this child’s empathy, care, and action to illustrate what Matthew 25:31-45 is all about.
February 15, 2012
Bible Gateway
On this website, you can look up any Bible passage or verse —or read the entire Bible— in a version of your choice and in the language of your choice. Not only can you read the Bible through the Bible Gateway website, but you can also listen to the audio and have the Bible read to you in virtually any translation or language you may wish to hear. And beginning in March, 2012, a Bible Gateway app for iPad and iPhone will be available, with versions for Android and other platforms to be added soon as well, allowing you to carry all the features of Bible Gateway with you wherever you go.
February 14, 2012
29 Creative ways to say “I Love You” (from Relevant Magazine)
On this Valentine’s Day, take a look at Alan Cates’s list of 29 ways to show you really love and appreciate the people in your life. He hopes it will get you thinking of lots more ways to say “I love you” as well. The article is from Relevant magazine, which describes its staff as a group of “culturally savvy Christians primarily college-age to 30s” who hope to “challenge the status-quo and spur a generation to know God and change the world.”
February 13, 2012
Charlene and Kate: A Story of Love and Tragedy (A 15 minute video).
Today, Governor Christine Gregoire, will sign the bill passed last week in the Washington state legislature that will make Washington the seventh state to legalize same sex marriage. The above link brings you the story of Charlene Strong and Kate Fleming, which helped pave the way for this day. Charlene recorded this account for a storytelling program called “The Moth,” heard on many public radio stations. Earlier, she had testified before the Washington State Legislature when it began debating a Domestic Partnership bill in January 2007, a month after a devastating flash flood had taken the life of her partner of 10 years. Neither the hospital, nor later the funeral director, wanted to recognize Charlene as Kate’s next of kin. Until shortly before Kate died, Charlene was prevented from going to her side. Charlene’s testimony before the state legislative body had a profound effect on its members by putting a human face on same-sex partnerships — an effect that was mentioned specifically by Governor Gregoire almost five years ago as she signed into law the 2007 Domestic Partnership bill, a first step toward the new legislation she is signing into law today, granting full marriage rights to same-sex couples.
February 10, 2012
A Conversation with Diane Rehm (from the PBS program, One on One)
In this half-hour video, PBS’s One on One host Maria Hinojosa, interviews Diane Rehm, whose daily radio program, The Diane Rehm Show, is one of the most popular and highly acclaimed programs on NPR because of its intelligent discussions and respectful tone. Here on this One on One video, it’s Diane’s turn to be interviewed. She discusses with candor her childhood, her lack of a college education, her relatively late-starting career, her overcoming of challenges such as the illness that damaged her voice, her marriage that has lasted more than a half century, and her attitude toward aging. Both her words and her example provide a positive role model for the empowerment of women. It’s well worth taking the time to watch.
February 9, 2012
A Prayer of Blessing for Teachers
Recently the media have given attention to studies showing the tremendous impact that devoted, caring teachers make on children’s lives and how it continues to affect their achievements into adulthood. This prayer for God’s blessing on teachers was written by Rev. Keith Herron for The Ooze, an online magazine of progressive, evolving spirituality.
February 8, 2012
Beauty and the New Lego Line for Girls
In this article from Sociological Images and cross-posted at the Ms.blog , Lisa Wade shows how Legos, the popular building set, was once marketed to inspire creative play by both boys and girls. But in more recent years, it has been pitched almost exclusively to boys. Now, hoping to regain the girl market, the company has brought out a line of pastel-colored Legos built around gender stereotypes of femininity.
February 7, 2012
National Visionary Leadership Project: African American Oral History
The mission of the National Visionary Leadership Project (NVLP) is “to ensure that the wisdom of our country’s extraordinary African American elders is preserved by and passed on to the young people who will lead us tomorrow.” Click on the “Visionary Videos” tab to hear stories of African American women and men, many of whom are no longer with us. Since the theme of this year’s African American History Month is “Black Women in American Culture and History,” you might especially want to listen to and read the oral histories of such women as civil rights activist Dorothy Height; poet Maya Angelou; Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to congress and who also ran for the U.S. presidency; Barbara Harris, first woman elected bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church; Mary Alice Chineworth, former director of the nation’s first order of black nuns; as well as other African American women who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in mathematics, physics, architecture, the visual and performing arts, and other fields.
February 6, 2012
Washerwoman God
This song,with its imaginative imagery, was composed by Colleen Fulmer (music) and Sister Martha Ann Kirk (lyrics). It stretches our minds by providing new ideas about what the metaphor of God as Mother might entail. Both Martha Ann and Colleen have been featured at EEWC-CFT conferences and profiled in our publication, Christian Feminism Today (formerly titled, EEWC Update.) The song is sung here by Colleen Fulmer from her album, Cry of Ramah.
Related material on our website. To learn more about Colleen and Martha Ann, read “Finding Colleen Fulmer” and “Martha Ann Kirk — Embodying Christ to the World.”
February 3, 2012
Literature, Art, and Medicine Database
This ongoing database project was initiated by the New York University School of Medicine as a multimedia annotated list of resources compiled for teaching and research in the medical humanities and related areas. But you don’t have to be a medical student to find abundant riches on this site. It spans the liberal arts, social sciences, and more. The list is divided into three areas: visual art, literature, and the performing arts. You can also visit the viewing, listening, and screening rooms in each of these sections to see art, read texts, and view online video. You’ll find theological richness there as well. View and read about some of the biblically- themed online paintings of the 18th century poet and artist William Blake, for example, and then read a short biography of Blake, also accessible on the site. Or visit the “What’s New” section of the database and see how some recent movies speak to the human situation in today’s world, such as in the current film Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, about the personal impact of the 9/11 tragedy on one family.
February 2, 2012
Hollywood Jesus
If you’re interested in how a faith perspective might have anything to do with movies now playing in theaters or released on DVDs, television programs, digitally recorded music, even comic books and video games, take a look at this the Hollywood Jesus website. It is dedicated to “pop culture from a spiritual point of view.” David Bruce, television producer, minister, and graduate of North Park University Seminary in Chicago (a campus where EEWC-CFT has held several of our conferences) says that he created the Hollywood Jesus website after a challenge from Billy Graham for Christians to use the Internet for good.
February 1, 2012
An Interview with Paul Simon
Many people became familiar with singer/songwriter Paul Simon as part of the Simon and Garfunkel duo so popular in the mid-1960s — and then later through his own solo work and philanthropic endeavors. His latest recording, “So Beautiful or So What,” which the New York Times called one of the best albums of 2011, has a noticeable spiritual dimension. Watch the video of an interview with Paul Simon on the PBS program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, where he talks about the recording. Or you can read the transcript. Simon told interviewer Kim Lawton, “There seems to be a theme in the album, not intentional, and it’s funny because for someone who is not a religious person, God comes up a lot in my songs.”
January 31, 2012
“Why Am I So Burned Out?” (from Psychology Today)
This article by Christine Louise Hohlbaum not only asks “Why Am I So Burned Out?” but also shows how to recognize burnout and what to do about it. It’s well worth reading in the midst of our busy, work pressured, deadline-filled lives when burnout seems to be an all too common malady today.
January 30, 2012
Barbara Brown Taylor: Hard Times
In this brief video (under 4 minutes), author and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor shares her personal favorite Bible passages for finding strength and comfort. The video was produced for BeliefNet.
Related material from the EEWC-Christian Feminism Today website is below. Read reviews of two of Barbara Brown Taylor’s books, Leaving Church, and An Altar in the World.
Book Review – An Altar in the World
January 28, 2012
Dead Sea Scrolls online
The Dead Sea Scrolls are being digitized as a joint project between Google and the Israeli Museum. Watch the video, embedded in the website. It shows how you can access and read from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Moving your mouse over a passage will highlight it and even provide an English translation. You can read more about this digitization project and why it is important here.