Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·2 days agoRuth: A story of sisterhood and fidelityFacing the misogyny of the Bible honestly: Part Six — Amidst the carnage of the time of the Judges, there is a beautiful story of love and sisterhood. It’s the story of Ruth and her mother-in-law. Ruth must have lived during the time of the Judges because she is the great-grandmother of David. Her story stands like a beacon of…Ruth8 min readRuth8 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Mar 20Two Stories of Gang Rape in the BibleFacing the misogyny of the Bible honestly: Part Five — There are two particularly grim stories, one in Genesis and one toward the end of Judges, which are virtually identical narratives. In the Genesis story, two angels are visiting Sodom in order to warn Lot that he has to leave the city. …Levite And His Concubine8 min readLevite And His Concubine8 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Mar 14Real Biblical Womanhood: What was it like being an Old Testament woman?Facing the misogyny of the Bible honestly: Part Four — The laws that we looked at in part three of this series give us some insight into the way that women were viewed and the powerlessness that they suffered. Despite the fact that women are relatively absent from the pages of the Bible, we glimpse enough of their lives to…Biblical Womanhood9 min readBiblical Womanhood9 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Mar 6Is Old Testament law sexist?Facing the misogyny of the Bible honestly: Part Three — Spoiler alert: Yes, it is. Very. Large parts of the first books of the Old Testament are given over to laying out the law that the Jews believed God had revealed to Moses. Significant parts of it don’t make pleasant reading if you’re a woman. Purity laws There were all kinds of…Sexism8 min readSexism8 min read
Mar 3Do we really have to do Mother’s Day in church?Can’t we do International Women’s Day instead? — It is nearly that time of year again. If you are a church attender and a woman, you will know that we are again approaching the Day of The Inadequate Daffodil. I have many memories of Mothering Sundays Past and all of them make me cringe a bit. …Church5 min readChurch5 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Feb 27Would the Bible pass the Bechdel Test?Facing the misogyny of the Bible honestly: Part Two — Some years ago, I was sitting in my friend’s kitchen amongst her arty knick-knacks and intelligent book collection and deciding which of her excellent selection of teas to sample next. We were discussing something about faith and spirituality. I forget what exactly. …Bechdel Test12 min readBechdel Test12 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Feb 20The (Violent Misogynistic) Elephant in The RoomFacing the misogyny of the Bible honestly: Part One — I have just finished a series of articles exploring the feminine images of God found in the Bible. It’s been lovely. Really refreshing. While I’ve been writing and exploring, however, I have become increasingly aware of the elephant in the room. Even while looking at all the passages that so…Bible3 min readBible3 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Feb 13Gathering the PiecesRediscovering the Feminine God: Part Twelve — This is the final part of this series. So what have we discovered? Well, there are some fiercely feminine portrayals of God in the Old Testament, passages where ‘Mother’ would be a far more suitable way of referring to God than ‘Father’. Among the many names of God in the…Jesus8 min readJesus8 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Feb 6Seeing the Feminine JesusRediscovering God’s Feminine Side: Part Eleven — You are probably familiar with those pictures that are designed to be seen as more than one thing, depending on how you look at them. Perhaps the most famous is this one: Depending on how you look at the picture, you can either see the old woman or the young…Feminine God7 min readFeminine God7 min read
Published in Inspire, Believe, Grow·Jan 30Wisdom and ChristRediscovering God’s Feminine Side: Part Ten — So what about Jesus? If any member of the trinity could be described as obviously male, it would be Jesus. Wouldn’t it? In actuality, it’s not quite as simple as that. Why? Well, because there is this character called ‘wisdom’ who turns up in Proverbs. Wisdom is portrayed as having…Wisdom5 min readWisdom5 min read
