Author Archives

Esther Nelson teaches courses in Religious Studies (Human Spirituality, Global Ethics, Religions of the World, and Women in Islam) at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. She has published two books. VOICE OF AN EXILE REFLECTIONS ON ISLAM was written in close collaboration with Nasr Abu Zaid, an Egyptian, Islamic Studies scholar who fled Egypt (1995) when he was labeled an apostate by the Cairo court of appeals. She co-authored WHAT IS RELIGIOUS STUDIES? A JOURNEY OF INQUIRY with Kristin Swenson, a former colleague. When not teaching, Esther travels to various places throughout the world.

• The Dying Time by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on October 3, 2019 • ( 10 )

  

  At the end of Anita Diamant’s novel, THE RED TENT, Dinah—the same young woman who is only briefly mentioned in the biblical account (Genesis 34)—dies after a long and full life.  The biblical text tells us that Dinah “went out… Read More ›

• Giving Up What You Do Not Have by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on September 16, 2019 • ( 14 )

  

  I grew up within Christianity—one of the faiths that many religious scholars label as a Western tradition.  It can be difficult at times to wrap my head around religious concepts and symbols labeled by those same religious scholars as Eastern… Read More ›

• Bent on Kindness by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on August 16, 2019 • ( 24 )

  

  Recently, with some fear and trepidation, I underwent spinal surgery.  When the surgeon visited me the day after my operation, he assured me that the procedure was a success, even though it will take several weeks to ascertain whether or… Read More ›

• Beaches and Books by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on July 20, 2019 • ( 10 )

  

  Even though I’ve traveled and lived throughout much of the world, I’ve never thought of any one place or geographic location as home.  I have always felt a little envious of people who claim to have a strong, visceral connection… Read More ›

• Surviving My Recovery by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on June 13, 2019 • ( 16 )

  

  For the past fourteen months, I’ve been going from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what ails me.  Specialists I’ve seen included wonderfully competent people immersed in their individual disciplines of nephrology, cardiology, rheumatology, and neurology.  At long last,… Read More ›

• Raising (Dis)respectful Sons by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on May 13, 2019 • ( 13 )

  

  I recently spoke with a female relative (I’ll call her Sylvia), the mother of two teenage sons.  The eldest just completed his first year of college.  During our conversation, Sylvia mentioned she was not looking forward to him coming home… Read More ›

• Acting Out by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on April 11, 2019 • ( 16 )

  

  I’ve had two distinct vocations during my lifetime—so far.  Three, really, if you count parenting a vocation.  Parenting took up a lot of my time for many years.  There were aspects to it that were fulfilling, enlightening, and satisfying, but… Read More ›

• “What Could be Sadder?” I’ll tell you…by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on March 13, 2019 • ( 10 )

  

  You’ve probably seen the following meme circulating on social media: This meme is designed to be evocative.  Specifically, it plays into the concept of the sanctity of motherhood that so often oozes into a popular sentimentality about children.  In Christian-majority… Read More ›

• Past Transgressions by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on February 8, 2019 • ( 14 )

  

  Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat in the state of Virginia, has many people calling for his resignation after a picture from a 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced showing what some people assert to be Northam wearing blackface or a KKK… Read More ›

• All Are Welcome – Including Tom by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on January 9, 2019 • ( 25 )

  

  It’s between semesters so am back in Las Cruces, New Mexico, but just for two weeks.  Due to circumstances out of my control, I’m not able to spend my usual month—mid-December to mid-January—here in the high desert.   When I am… Read More ›

• Men Just “Know Things” by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on December 20, 2018 • ( 25 )

  

  One of my Facebook friends, a young woman academic, recently posed a question, inviting discussion. (I’ve abbreviated her post for the sake of space.) “What is it about white male liberals that just MUST have me buy [into] their ideas… Read More ›

• The Hate U Give by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on November 18, 2018 • ( 4 )

  

  These days I live in a perpetual state of simmering outrage given the popular support of the “goings on” and happenings within our current administration.  The lies, the deceit, the xenophobia, the racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, the anti-intellectualism—things that… Read More ›

• “First Blood” Celebration by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on October 9, 2018 • ( 18 )

  

  This semester I’m teaching a course titled “The Abrahamic Traditions: Women and Society.”  Because I believe story is one of the best ways to understand a point of view, I use a novel or memoir to accompany each tradition. The… Read More ›

• Remembering Ginny by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on September 5, 2018 • ( 16 )

  

  My husband’s stepmother, Ginny, died last week.  She lived several months past her 97th birthday.  Here is her obituary. Ginny shared her life with three husbands, outliving each one.  Three sons were born from her first union.  She then married… Read More ›

• Time to Stop Talking by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on July 26, 2018 • ( 35 )

  

  One of my Facebook friends—someone I’m quite fond of—posted the following remarks given by her pastor, Dr. Jim Somerville, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia, to the congregation on July 15, 2018: It was Thanksgiving 2016, and my brothers and I… Read More ›

• Haiku Getaway by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on July 3, 2018 • ( 18 )

  

  One of my undergraduate professors was (and still is) a haiku enthusiast.  When I took his Zen Buddhism course, students were required to write haiku throughout the semester.  He encouraged us to focus on the natural world as we struggled… Read More ›

• Beyond Human Rights by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on May 31, 2018 • ( 20 )

  

  For way too long, the only meaning I found in my life happened when peering through one specific, religious prism. Then I discovered what’s called the academic study of religion.  Observing the many ways people find meaning through their own… Read More ›

• Is Religion Our Sacred Cow? by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on April 10, 2018 • ( 47 )

  

  Recently, my colleague (I’ll call him Ben) participated in his grandson’s bris—the circumcision ritual within Jewish tradition. The circumcision was performed by a mohel–someone who is trained on removing the foreskin of an eight-day-old, male child. Neither Ben nor his… Read More ›

• Let’s Keep Dancing by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on February 16, 2018 • ( 15 )

  

  My children remember when they were in elementary school, I played Simon and Garfunkel’s popular song, “I am a Rock” (written by Paul Simon), several times daily.  I loved it.  Stark and sad, yet brutally honest, the song reflected an… Read More ›

• That Refreshing Change by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on January 5, 2018 • ( 5 )

  

  Right now, I’m between semesters so find myself in Las Cruces, New Mexico, nestled into the house I plan to retire in—whenever that time comes.  Best to leave it all open. While traveling here, I began feeling lighter and lighter—not… Read More ›

• Looking for a Mouth to Tell the Story by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on December 6, 2017 • ( 17 )

  

  In Chinua Achebe’s novel, THINGS FALL APART, Okonkwo, a proud, hard-working, albeit quick-tempered tribesman living in the village of Umuofia, fires a gun at Ekwefi, one of his three wives, almost killing her.  Chielo, a widow with two children, who… Read More ›

• Of Monument(al) Importance by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on November 7, 2017 • ( 18 )

  

  I remember being blown away when I read Judith Plaskow’s book, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective, shortly after it was published in 1990. She writes, “The need for a feminist Judaism begins with hearing silence.” She… Read More ›

• Feminism and the Gender Revolution by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on September 26, 2017 • ( 19 )

  

  The word “feminist” is familiar to most people today. It appears in news publications, television programming, popular literature, and even comes up in conversation occasionally.  Yet the term, “feminist,” writes Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie in her little book, We Should… Read More ›

• Musings On My Recent Road Trip by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on August 31, 2017 • ( 18 )

  

  I love a road trip.  It’s exciting to get behind the wheel of a car, get out on the highway (or bi-way), and just go.  The road seems to stretch out forever in front of me, full of possibilities, adventure,… Read More ›

• No Offense by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on August 4, 2017 • ( 10 )

  

  What a pleasant surprise to become acquainted with Samar Habib when she appeared on my newsfeed the other day.  According to her biography, she “is a writer, researcher and scholar” as well as “[a] tireless advocate of human rights.” She… Read More ›

• Contemplative Resistance by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on June 30, 2017 • ( 11 )

  

  I recently arrived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, after driving across much of the country from Richmond, Virginia. It’s the second summer I’ve driven this distance (2,000 miles) so I varied my route a bit from last year, stopping at… Read More ›

• Shariah is not a Law by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on June 13, 2017 • ( 15 )

  

  I will never forget the day Nasr Abu Zaid (1943-2010), an Islamic Studies scholar and teacher extraordinaire, told me, “Shariah is not a law.”  In spite of his assertion, many people—both Muslims and non-Muslims—are convinced that Shariah is synonymous with… Read More ›

• The Bird No Longer Perches by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on May 12, 2017 • ( 18 )

  

  Except for a couple of Dr. Phil shows, I have not watched TV since last November’s presidential election. I don’t want to be assaulted by the images of men (and a few women) occupying positions of power and leadership in… Read More ›

• Should I Stay or Should I Go? by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on March 27, 2017 • ( 23 )

  

  On March 13, 2017, Carol Christ wrote on this “Feminism and Religion” blog: “When I made the decision to leave Christianity rather than to work within it to transform it, I believed that rational judgments were primary. Now I am… Read More ›

• I See the Fire by Esther Nelson

  By Esther Nelson on February 23, 2017 • ( 19 )

  

  Ever since reading Elie Wiesel’s book, NIGHT, I’ve identified with Madame Schächter, one of eighty Jewish people corralled and hermetically sealed inside one of the cattle wagons on the rail journey to Auschwitz from a ghetto in Sighet. The text… Read More ›