biblical characters – Page 2 – Feminism and Religion

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: Rider, 1975.)

“DIVINATION IS A SACRAMENT!!” – Chastity S. Jones

This is beautiful to me because it reminds me of how when the prophets would begin to prophesy in the bible or even the explosive forward movement of the spread of the gospel- driven by the Holy Spirit, as well as those who documented the gospel are all described as being inspired by God.

The most popular form of divination right now is tarot cards but we will discuss how there are many other forms- including forms that are acceptable in the church RIGHT NOW.

There are many bible verses cursing those who divine but I want to reiterate that one bible verse cannot be a comprehensive ethic or set of ethics, especially when there are other verses that contradict that verse.

Asherah, Blessed, Asherah by Janet Maika’i Rudolph

Once upon a time, the Great Goddess was the spiritual focal point of ancient culture. Her worship included honoring women, living in harmony with the earth, and cherishing the processes of the cycles of nature. Asherah was one of those Goddesses. When the Patriarchs moved in and worked to suppress the old goddess religions, Asherah and her fellow Goddesses were diminished, and in a propaganda coup we might recognize today, defined Her as evil. I imagine that some brave people fought to hold onto the Goddess in Her glory but when they saw they were losing the battle, they encoded Her and Her Sister Goddesses into their cultural mythology. Hidden in this manner, She found Her way into the bible. If we can uncover those codes, we can reclaim Her, others and their Earth-based spirituality.

Dr. Seuss, Multiple Hats, and Advocacy: Reading Broadly By Corinna Guerrero

The ten students in my fall 2011 class at ABSW, Reading OT Biblical Characters, are currently being instructed to read broadly. I tell them to develop their sensibilities as a reader so that they have a greater capacity to serve the needs of their communities. I challenge them with a question like-How do you liberate a biblical character that is not in a biblical story because they/he/she are/is never directly mentioned, given voice, or described? Or,what is the value of investigating the tensions between the story and the discourse exhibited through minor and major biblical characters? I ask them these questions because half of the students are advocating on behalf of a group that is socially, politically, economically, and/or spiritually underserved. The other half is training to develop themselves as scholars and educators of biblical literature. In the class room, regardless of path, everyone is required to be both scholar and servant.

Each student is asked to develop her or his final project with an ideal audience in mind. To whom do you see yourself presenting this semester-long project? The larger question behind that is whom do you serve? Continue reading “Dr. Seuss, Multiple Hats, and Advocacy: Reading Broadly By Corinna Guerrero”