Feminism and Religion

Prayer to the Bird Goddesses by Sara Wright

Every fall I look forward to the wild turkeys that visit me during the winter. This year visits are more sporadic but the friendship between the three male turkeys that I call the ‘kings’ or the three amigos has persisted for two years creating many questions for this naturalist regarding bird relationships (despite being ruthlessly hunted in spring and fall and randomly shot at).

These three friends still seem inseparable and last year I had a chance to get to know each individual. Two continue to defer to the king who is just a little larger than his friends, but I never witnessed conflict between any of these male birds. Last year they displayed and even mated together! This year there is a predator afoot and except for the king who acts as a protector standing watch while the mixed flock scratches for seed, the turkeys hide from me, so I am sure I am dealing with a human threat. Still, the turkeys come in to feed and that’s what matters. Only recently have the males begun to come separately. The flocks are splitting up for spring mating, still two months away. I am quite certain that the turkey friendships I am witnessing are replicated with the females but because they are more reticent it is harder to get to know them individually.

Legacy of Carol P. Christ: To a Friend, on the Loss of her Daughter

This was originally posted on April 23, 2012

One test of a thealogy is whether it can help us “make sense” of our lives—even the senseless parts of them.

Recently a friend told me that the teen-aged daughter of a friend of hers had committed suicide. “What would your thealogy say to that?” she asked me. Here is what I might say to a friend who lost her daughter:

I am so sorry for your loss. This never should have happened.

I remember times when I wanted to commit suicide. My pain was intense and my mind was stuck. All I could think was: this hurts too much to go on, and it will never change, so I might as well die. I am so sorry if your daughter felt that way, because I know it is a horrible way to feel. I am sorry she was not able to understand that it could have–and probably would have–changed. Don’t blame her. Sometimes pain is so overwhelming you really cannot see beyond it. Don’t blame yourself either. I am certain you did everything you could think of to help her. I know that if you could have prevented her, you would have. It really was not your fault. I don’t blame you, and no one else should either.

Touch, Intimacy, and the Christian Tradition by Stephanie Arel

I’ve been thinking more and more about physical touch, a subject I explore in my first book Affect Theory, Shame, and Christian Formation. The concept of touch – its presence and its frequent absence – beckons me again. In several posts, I will explore aspects of touch to get to my central concern – how good touch indicate, supports, and fosters intimacy, something confounding in human relationality. For this post, I consider the Christian tradition and touch.

In Tactile Engagements in Christian Understanding, Teresa Swan Tuite examines touch in biblical history as one way of “making explicit the ways in which bodies give sense to the theological landscape.” Swan Tuite brings to bear the notion of being known through touch, using as one example the disciple’s recognition of Jesus through touch in the Gospel of John. Caravaggio’s famous painting The Incredulity of St. Thomas depicts the scene which Shelly Rambo details in her blog post on this site.

Praise Arianrhod by Diane Finkle Perazzo

arianrhod-silver-wheel painting by Judith Shaw — Artwork: Judith Shaw from her post on Arianrhod, Feb 23, 2013 which can be read here.

Divine Arianrhod, Beloved Goddess.
Your truth is an inspiration to all living beings.
As you weave the light and the dark so do you scatter.
Joy is in our hearts while you live among the heavens

Celestial Arianrhod, Your crown shines among the stars.
You are the Goddess of the silver wheel upon which all magic is bound together.
Fortunate are we that you are a child of the land and the sky
and mother of the sea and the sun.

Mothering, Society, and The Goddess by Jennifer Eva Pillau

In what I believe was an attempt by my daughter to ease my “mother guilt” for the ways I felt I had let my kids down, she once told me that “the world’s problems can’t be attributed to crappy mothering.” While I appreciated her apparent effort to soothe my inner turmoiI, I can make a solid case that to a significant degree, they can be. In fact, the most critical issues we face in the modern world have everything to do with the fact that our social, economic, and cultural structures are materially thwarting, rather than effectively supporting and nurturing, the human animal – our entire species – and particularly children, in our efforts to survive and thrive.

It is true that mothers are not to blame for all of the ills of the world (though popular psychology can certainly make us feel as if everything is our fault). Nonetheless, in real and profoundly palpable ways, there are aspects of the human condition that are not receiving the attention, tenderness, and nourishment that we know very well – both by instinct and science – are crucial for physical, emotional, and spiritual resilience. Predictably, the Earth Herself is suffering in much the same way.

Hijab: Word of God or Word of Man? By John Andrew Morrow: BOOK REVIEW by Esther Nelson

Dr. Morrow’s book is a treasure chest of facts that also includes a wide variety of scholarly opinions regarding hijab. His meticulous scholarship, laser-like vision, and accessible writing style clearly differentiate between what the Qur’an requires of women’s dress and what the jurists (overwhelmingly male) have enforced. Morrow’s book would be an invaluable addition to Islamic Studies curricula in the academy, yet it’s comprehensible enough to a lay person interested in learning about hijab.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this substantial volume. I got a fuller picture of the meaning of hijab over time. Dr. Morrow is clear—women ought not to be forced (legally or socially) to wear hijab. Muslims are fond of saying: There is no priesthood in Islam. There is no mediator between an individual and Allah. Yet, many Muslim clergy enforce a patriarchal bent (that social system absorbed from their culture and society) to their juristic rulings that constrict women from making a free choice.

Celtic Goddess Branwen: A Path to Empathy by Judith Shaw

From the mists of Welsh mythology Celtic Goddess Branwen provides important wisdom for our modern world. Themes of the destructiveness caused by viewing those different from us with distrust and fear are found in her story. Vengeance is revealed as a downward spiral of pain and suffering. She illustrates the healing role empathy, compassion and forgiveness can play in a world gone mad with war. Her story reveals the importance of restorative justice and the many factors at play preventing its application.

Branwen, Celtic Goddess painting my Judith Shaw

Branwen was the sister of the giant, King Bran of the Isle of the Mighty. She was loved by her people for her gentleness, compassion and beauty. In the tradition of the Old Tribes of the British Isle — most likely a hold-over from the days before kings, when Goddess was supreme — her son would become king upon the death of King Bran.

Emergence and Death of the Goddess by Sara Wright

In the beginning, of course, there was no separation; an intimate relationship existed between all humans and the rest of Nature.

The Earth and every living being was considered whole, sacred, animated with soul.

I think of soul as being embodied, that is, living through a body. I think spirit surrounds and interpenetrates each animal/plant being, but soul is born within the individual.

If I am correct, it’s not surprising that the origin of all religions began with humans worshipping birds and mammals because they live through their bodies, and had to be attached to instincts, intellect, intuition, sensing, feeling to survive. They were also here long before people. In every pre-literate culture, there are stories about animals teaching humans how to forage, deal with health problems, and protect themselves.

Legacy of Carol P. Christ: A CLASH OF CULTURES IN OUR GENES

This was originally posted on February 27, 2012

I carry the exact replica of MDNA handed down from mother to daughter since the depths of the last Ice Age 17,000 years ago. My father carries the YDNA of the Indo-Europeans handed down from father to son since the time when his male ancestors invaded Europe about 5000 years ago.

My female ancestors moved with the seasons as they gathered fruits and nuts, roots and greens to feed their families. Some of them may have blown red ochre around their hands to leave their marks in ritual cave-wombs.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed down exclusively from mothers to their children. My MDNA “T2b” was given the name “the clan of Tara” by Bryan Sykes in The Seven Daughters of Eve. According to Sykes the earliest female ancestor with this gene lived about 17,000 years ago, perhaps in Tuscany.

Most Europeans–male and female–are related to only eight or ten female ancestors. Going further back, all Europeans, Asians, and Aboriginal Australians are related to the women among the San “bushmen” who left Africa 100,000 years ago. The San are one of 13 lineages in Africa that can be traced back to a single African foremother. We really are one big family.

Herstory Profiles: The Queen of Gospel Music, Mahalia Jackson by Anjeanette LeBoeuf

February, the month designated as Black History Month, will see us focus on the voice, the faith, and the heartbeat of one of the greatest singers in all of US History. Many have stated that the voice and songs of Mahalia Jackson can be considered one of the most influential voices of the 20^th Century. She not only became one of the most modern voices to bridge popular music, blues, and religious hymns but she also became intrinsically linked to the Civil Rights Movement and became one of the first commercially successful Black musicians of the modern era.