I remember the words so clearly: “I know what it’s like to have my body broken, I know what it’s like to have my blood spilt. I won’t celebrate anyone else’s broken body or spilt blood, and I don’t want… Read More ›
Christianity
Radical Joy by Beth Bartlett
On Christmas mornings my brother, sister, and I had to wait patiently upstairs until we heard the music playing. Then, at last, the trumpets and voices singing “Joy to the world!” beckoned us down to the living room, with presents piled… Read More ›
Solstice Stories : Fire and Ice by Sara Wright
The winter solstice is almost upon us just as the first heavy snow buries the forest and house under 28 inches of snow. I never look forward to this shift into the cold, ice, and snow, although I do wrap… Read More ›
From the Archives: Thanksgiving and Service by Sara Frykenberg
This was originally posted on December 3, 2103 Growing up in an evangelical Christian church, I was taught that human beings should serve one another and put others before themselves. These two different teachings, paired with patriarchal misogyny, have sometimes… Read More ›
The People Who Have Always Had Questions by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
A few weeks back, author and historian Jemar Tisby tweeted that an acquaintance of his “described their general experience with white evangelicals as ‘people who don’t have any questions.’ I immediately knew what they meant.” The tweet gained some traction,… Read More ›
SpiritualiTEA with Chasity Podcast, Episode 3 by Chasity Jones
An excerpt from SpiritualiTEA with Chasity Podcast Episode 3: Why are we afraid of Divination??? What is divination? Divination is from Latin divinare “to foresee, to be inspired by a god”. (Goleman, David. The Varieties of the Meditative Experience. London:… Read More ›
Can I get an “Amen” up in here? by Laura Montoya
I am a great evangelist. I used to evangelize in Pentecostal settings until I was 22. Then, I left my church to evangelize about feminist issues to every woman that crossed my path. Rhetoric is a gift I received when… Read More ›
From the Archives: Politicians Make Dangerous Theologians by Katey Zeh
This was originally posted November 21, 2017 Accounts and allegations of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse perpetrated by mostly straight white men in power have flooded the U.S. news cycle for months. Each new revelation confirms that sexual violence is… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Weaving and Spinning Women: Witches and Pagans by Max Dashu A Review
Moderator’s Note: This was originally posted on September 19, 2016 Max Dashu’s Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion 700-1000 challenges the assumption that Europe was fully Christianized within a few short centuries as traditional historians tell us. Most… Read More ›
I’m Not “Fit” to Judge Another Woman’s “Fit”ness by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
In recent conversations around abortion rights—spurred by a leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade—everyone has opinions. The financially comfortable, often-white, often-evangelical women in my circles have opinions. And these opinions often involve the… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
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 ›
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 ›
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