This was originally posted on Sept. 9, 2011 In my last blog I wrote that the image of God as a dominating other who enforces his will through violence–found in the Bible and in the Christian tradition up to the… Read More ›
Christianity
From the Archives: Frozen 2: Can the Christian Church Hear its Gospel Song? by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
This was originally posted on March 5, 2020 The first time I saw Frozen 2, I was impressed by the ecofeminism and the efforts to respect the Sami culture. The second time, I thoroughly enjoyed the superb music and the… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Kassiani: Placing a Woman at the Center of the Easter Drama
This blog was originally posted on April 13, 2015. You can read the original comments here. For many years I been told of the beautiful Hymn of Kassiani, sung only on Easter Tuesday night, but I had never heard it… Read More ›
From the Archives: Resistance and the Religious Left by Gina Messina
This was originally posted on June 21, 2017, you can read the original comments here. For the last forty years, the Christian Right has influenced the conversation in American politics. Where is the Religious Left and how are they impacting… Read More ›
On The Baby and The Bathwater by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
It wasn’t until seminary—and even then, only sporadically—that I learned that many of the foundational figures in Western Christianity held some incredibly sexist attitudes. Somehow, in all my years of attending church, hearing sermons, participating in (and leading) Bible study… Read More ›
Women’s Speaking Justified: Reflections on Fell, Feminism and History by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
Moderator’s note: Today’s post has been paired deliberately with yesterday’s archival post by Mary Sharratt. Both pay homage to Margaret Fell in very different yet complementary ways. In the conservative evangelical church world—a world I was deeply invested in for… Read More ›
From the Archives:“Vaginas are Everywhere!”: The Power of the Female Reproductive System by John Erickson
Moderator’s note: This marvelous FAR site has been running for 10 years and has had more than 3,600 posts in that time. There are so many treasures that have been posted in this decade that they tend to get lost… Read More ›
The Celtic Cross and the Compassing of the Divine Womb, Part 1 by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
No one knows why Celtic Crosses have a circle. Guesses include pragmatic utilitarianism (to hold the arms up),1 the sun, Greek laurel wreath, Egyptian ankh, circle of creation,2 the Chi-Ro Greek monogram for Christ,3 the divine light that imbues all… Read More ›
If You Remove the Yoke: the Hidden Home in Life’s Pilgrimage by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
(Note: This post briefly references genocide and brothels.) Every year we can, we go visit my amazing Korean parents in law, Halmeoni and Harabeoji (‘Grandmother’ and ‘Grandfather’). Now in their 80s, they consistently embody the kind of radical trust that… Read More ›
Talking about Death with my Daughter & Remembering Carol Christ
Recently, facing the reality that I do not have definitive or perhaps, static “answers” for my little one when she asks me about death, I find comfort in Carol’s words—in the idea that I don’t have to “answer” my daughter with one, forever “truth.” Because I have to ability to give her “enough,” at least for now.
Looking for Home by Esther Nelson
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been looking for home—home being both a beautiful, comfortable, geographic space as well as a peaceful state of mind/being. For most of my life, I’ve “made do,” settling for wherever or whatever… Read More ›
All We Have is Our Heart by Esther Nelson
One of my former students recommended UNFOLLOW to me, a memoir written by Megan Phelps-Roper, granddaughter of Fred Phelps (1929 – 2014), the (in)famous pastor of Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas. Some people may not be aware that Fred Phelps… Read More ›
A Problem of Design by Laura Casasbuenas
When I was invited to create this post, a number of topics came to mind. But I decided to start our conversation with my response to the question: why do I write? I am a Colombian woman designer who promotes… Read More ›
Feminist Holy Week Vaginal Christology Devotional, Part 1 by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Monday: Thought for the day: In Matthew 21, Jesus rides a mother donkey, her baby beside her, into Jerusalem in blatant condemnation and contrast to the militaristic entry of Roman military leaders and soldiers on war horses through a different… Read More ›
Is Authoritarianism a Christian Value? by Esther Nelson
Many Americans described the recent (January 6, 2021) attack on the Capitol in Washington DC as shocking. I believe the event reflected one of the many times we’ve reaped the fruit of what we’ve sown throughout the course of American… Read More ›
Glimpsing La Vièio ié Danso – “The Untouchable Wild Goddess” – in Jóusè d’Arbaud’s Beast of Vacarés by Joyce Zonana
Nearly a century later, d’Arbaud’s words still have the power to startle and delight, vividly evoking Earth’s sacredness.
Poem: In These United States- The Court Supreme By Marie Cartier
We have nine justices usually but one of our most beloved, and notorious, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, RBG, has gone to the Summerland, across the Rainbow Bridge, to the afterlife—wherever that is for her, she’s gone there. May her memory be… Read More ›
Judaism or Christianity: Which Tradition Is More Open to Feminist Change? by Carol P. Christ
Jill Hammer’s recent post on midrash surrounding the Biblical figure of Eve (Hava in Hebrew) sparked me to muse again about the fact that, despite its patriarchal roots and overlay, Judaism is a much more flexible tradition than Christianity and,… Read More ›
“This World Is Not My Home” by Esther Nelson
I’ve been puzzled for a long time why people, especially conservative Christian people who seem to be decent human beings, enthusiastically support Donald Trump, our current president. My thinking stems from my own experience of being brought up in an… Read More ›
#SharetheMicNow: Social Justice and Christianity by Laurel E. Brown and Anjeanette LeBoeuf
In the midst of recent events and protests, a social media campaign entitled #sharethemicnow has emerged. The campaign asked white people and people of influence to use their platforms, quiet their voices, and highlight, heighten, and listen to their Black… Read More ›
Birthright by Christine Irving
I am a priestess of the divine feminine, ordained in the Fellowship of Isis. So how did I end up becoming ordained for a second time in the Christian Gnostic tradition? It seemed to me, that there were several paradoxes… Read More ›
Not My Story Anymore by Esther Nelson
The meaning we derive from stories—especially religious stories we’ve heard and become familiar with since infancy—shape how we perceive and understand the world. Our beliefs are an amalgam of “my story” (my individual life experience in a specific context) shaped… Read More ›
The Messy, Wild Mystery that’s Stronger than Wrong by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
I am an annoying feminist. I annoy pretty much everyone about it, because I’m never NOT applying a feminist lens to every aspect of life: science (looking at you, Larry Summers), politics (Joe Biden is a rapist), art (objectification is… Read More ›
Redemptive Forgetfulness by Marcia Mount Shoop
Have you forgotten yet? Have you forgotten what it felt like to go about your life pre-pandemic? My brain has switched to a different filter system. If I watch a movie or see an image from the pre-pandemic world, the… Read More ›
When the Tomb Feels Safer than the Garden by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
I have always loved Lent and Holy Week. When I was young, I enjoyed the challenge of fasting. Holy Week was the powerful culmination of it all, so I would try to make the fast even harder then, like a… Read More ›
A Theological Conversation by Natalie Weaver and Valentine
My son asked me to discuss with him the theological problem of the dual natures, i.e., the divine and human natures, coexisting in the person of Jesus. He asked me to begin by assuming the premises that 1) Jesus was a… Read More ›
Frozen 2: Can the Christian Church Hear its Gospel Song? by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
The first time I saw Frozen 2, I was impressed by the ecofeminism and the efforts to respect the Sami culture. The second time, I thoroughly enjoyed the superb music and the character development. The third time… was a religious… Read More ›
Say it with Music by Esther Nelson
Daniel Deitrich, a worship leader in South Bend City Church, a “Jesus-centered community” in South Bend, Indiana, isn’t the first evangelical Christian to go up against fellow evangelical Christians who support the current U.S. president. Perhaps, though, he’s the first… Read More ›
Dialogue as Revolution by Gina Messina
It was through these many conversations that I continued a dialogue with myself about my own role in the divisive nature of our relationships and the need to acknowledge individual identity and lived experience in relation to one’s perspective.
A Sword Will Pierce Your Own Soul by Mary Jane Miller
On Holy Ground is a collection of icons for this age of climate change. The collection of iconography opens with an image of Mary of Swords inspired by the number seven. This sacred number is associated with intuition, mysticism, inner wisdom, and… Read More ›
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