Great posts this week about or by woman pastors and leaders! Enjoy!
“Best Responses to Inappropriate Comments” by Jeremiah Gibbs
“So I took some time last month to ask women pastors and leaders to talk about some of the responses that they have prepared when people make those inappropriate comments. I think several of these strike the important balance of naming the impropriety of the comment and also paying attention to the spiritual formation of the person that they are talking to.”
“Ask a Womanist Biblical Scholar…(Response)” by Rachel Held Evans
“Womanism is a response to racism in feminism and sexism in the Black Liberation movement. One crucial aspect of womanism that sets it apart from feminism is the emphasis on the well-being of the entire community.”
“My First Sexuality Sermon” by Mandy Smith (Christianity Today)
“All of the Sex Sermons I’ve heard have been preached by men and most of them have talked about controlling lusts (which is good). They’ve been appropriately transparent about their own temptations and the ways they have worked to honor the women in their lives (which is good). But since that’s the only perspective I’ve ever heard from a pulpit, it’s easy to think that’s the church’s main message about sexuality: Don’t think about women in certain ways.
It’s an important message, but it’s incomplete. And it’s very hard for a woman to preach that.”
“Gender-based humor in church: 4 things we learned from readers” by Gail Wallace (The Junia Project)
“It seems that people often go along with sexist practices in the church even when they don’t agree with those practices. Why is that?”
Recently on The Scroll
Slavery: It’s Still a Thing, by Kati Brandt
“You may have heard about human trafficking. It’s not a new topic but it is definitely still widely unknown and often misunderstood. But it’s really serious because human beings are being bought, sold, and coerced into slavery. And it’s happening all over the world including the United States. Yep, it happens here. So for the month of January I’ll be stopping by this blog to talk about everything from statistics and definitions to how you can help.”
An Overview of Gendercide, by Aliyah Jacobs
“Due to the oppressive society and prejudiced viewpoint of women in India and China, the injustice of gendercide continues. While this injustice continues, over 100 million baby girls have been routinely aborted or killed at birth in India and China alone. Due to the decrease of females and the increase of males in these societies, other injustices such as human trafficking, forced prostitution, child brides and dowry killings have increased significantly.”
Brothels in Your Backyard, by Kati Brandt
“We have to stop seeing women as objects. We have to stop judging the hooker we see on the street because we have absolutely no idea how she got there. Criminalizing the prostitutes just furthers the gap between us and them. I think, as Christians, what is easy to see is a woman committing adultery. But what if we just saw the woman? If we start seeing people as people and connect with them on a basic human level we can bridge gaps and build relationships. And that is what freedom looks like.”
What articles about biblical gender equality encouraged you this week? Share them with us in the comments!
*Note: Linking to these posts is not a CBE endorsement of previous or future written work or statements made by the authors.
