Feminism – Page 6 – Feminism and Religion

To See Ourselves In Others: Part One by Beth Bartlett

I have felt both a responsibility and a reluctance to write about the escalating conflict in the Middle East. The situation is so complex and such an unspeakable tragedy – acts of such terror and violence on the part of Hamas toward civilian populations met with even greater violence and repressive measures on the part of Israel toward the people of Gaza. It is a perplexity of the human condition that a people with such a deep history of being displaced and oppressed rather than refusing to oppress in turn, instead engage in the displacement and oppression of others that then erupts into more violence. Both are traumatized peoples acting out of deep pain and woundedness. Thousands have died, more are wounded and displaced, all will carry more trauma into generations to come. The very earth bears the scars of war. In the face of such unspeakable suffering, any kind of analysis feels distancing at a time when what we most need is to let the suffering move us to our depths.

My Life as a Prayer by Elizabeth Cunningham, book review by Janet Maika’i Rudolph

Our own FAR sister, Elizabeth Cunningham has written her marvelous memoir which came out yesterday. It is titled My Life as a Prayer with the subtitle, A Multifaith Memoir. For those of you who may not know Elizabeth, she wrote regularly for FAR for many years. She is the author the The Wild Mother and the award-winning Maeve Chronicles. Her Chronicles envision the Celtic Mary Magdalen named Maeve. Throughout the four books of the Chronicles, Maeve is filled with vivacious energy and her own life of spirit. The books are Magdalen Rising, The Passion of Mary Magdalen, Bright Dark Madonna and Red-Robed Priestess (which in full disclosure is one of my favorite series of all time.)

In My Life as a Prayer, Elizabeth’s writing is lush and poetic, clever and clarifying, multilayered and depthful. I hope I can convey all those elements in this short blogpost?

Crete as the cradle of a culture of peace – Part Two by Laura Shannon

Part One of this article spoke of our collective yearning for peace, and the difficulty of imagining a peaceful world when we are taught to believe that “patriarchy and with it war and domination are universal and inevitable.” (Carol Christ, 2015)

But this is a myth. The peaceful civilisation of Bronze Age Crete lasted two thousand years with no sign of violence, slavery, or war. Most likely matriarchal, matrifocal, and matrilineal, ancient Crete embodied the final flowering of Old Europe. Art and archaeology reveal a life-loving people who honoured the earth, the Goddess, and nature, particularly mountains, caves, and trees. Key values and symbols of this culture of peace survive today in Cretan women’s dances and folk arts including pottery, textiles, baskets, and bread.

Crete is the Cradle of a Culture of Peace – Part One by Laura Shannon

These are difficult days. We awaken daily to the ongoing horror of senseless killing. My heart is filled with a yearning for peace. Now is the time to dream of peace, to choose peace, to practice peace – within our selves, with those we love, in our communities and in our world.

But what might a peaceful world look like? It can be hard to even imagine – not only because we live in a world filled with war, but because we have been taught to believe, as Carol Christ explains, that “patriarchy and with it war and domination are universal and inevitable.” However, she goes on, “this is a myth perpetrated by those who do not want to give up the power and privilege the patriarchal system has accorded to them.” War is not inevitable. Peace is possible.

“I Don’t Want to Be “More Feminine”: Deconstructing Gender Together by Elizabeth Jenkins

Long, long ago, back before I met my husband, I met another young man at (my former) church.

I thought he was cute, fun, and funny. We spent a few months meeting up regularly for lunch, dinner, or boba. Always talking, always laughing.

Never doing anything that clearly wasn’t just friendship. Never defining the relationship.

Eventually, I noticed that he wasn’t initiating as much as he used to. I figured he was probably losing interest in anything potentially romantic, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding. So, over bubble tea drinks, I asked if he could clarify how he understood what we’d been doing these last few months—did he see it as a friendship or as dating?

Herstory Profiles: Remember their Names, Buffalo Calf Road Woman and Mollie Kyle Burkhart by Anjeanette LeBoeuf

This month saw the release of a Martin Scorsese film which was based on the book written by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon. While the book and film did try to be more intentional and more inclusive of its representation of the Osage peoples, the film is largely told through the perspective of white men. And if you have been following the Herstory Profile series this year, you know that where there is a historical event, there is a woman who has been overlooked, rewritten, or lost.

Indigenous Women and Non-Binary Peoples are one of the largest populations of missing and murdered peoples in the US. This Herstory Profiles will focus on two Indigenous Women who embody strength, courage, determination, and compassion.

A Thealogy of Land and Roots by Kelle ban Dea

I am my Mothers
My Mothers are me
I am the Goddess
the Goddess is within me
As blood
as bone
as the spirals
of nuclei
as ova
as tears
as breath
I carry my Mothers
as my Daughters will carry me

And the Goddess carries us all

The Importance of Including our Girls in Our Women’s Circles by Caryn MacGrandle

The other night I hosted a First Moon Circle for my fourteen year old daughter. I have been hosting Circles almost a decade, but outside of having them on the ‘periphery’, walking through the sunroom where I host, talking and laughing with all of us after Circle as we eat, occasionally a short ‘sit-down’ in Circle, but nothing where they are included beginning to end.

Because my attitude up until now has been that Circles are work and so are they. Why mix the two?

But I find myself at new juncture: when you become very strong on who you are, feedback becomes so less relevant. And I have learned how to hold the rim of the Circle allowing it to flow and sway with minimum effort on my part.

Nowadays I find myself ‘receiving’ from Circles no matter who else is sitting in them and what they are contributing.

It is quite inspiring.

I Am Kaleidoscope by Janet Maika’i Rudolph

Art work designed by Jaysen Waller – http://www.jaysenwaller.com/

FAR was founded in June 2011 by four women, Xochitl Alvizo, Cynthia Garrity-Bond, Caroline Kline, and Gina Messina. They are and have been revolutionary thinkers in the world of feminism. Below is a portion of what they write on our “About” page

“There is no single definition of feminism and this is a place of many voices. Important work in women’s studies in religion continues as more attention is paid to the intersection between gender, race, culture, and sexual identity, within feminism and religion.” They go on to say: “We establish this blog in the hope that feminist scholars of religion — and all who are interested in these issues — will use this forum to share their ideas, insights, and experiences, so that this community of thinkers will be nurtured as we explore diverse and new directions.”

The Queen of Heaven Cakes: Asherah and Ishtar by Michelle Cameron

When one nation conquered another in antiquity, vanquished peoples typically switched allegiances to that country’s gods, since those deities were clearly stronger than their own. In my novel, Babylon: A Novel of Jewish Captivity, the prophet Daniel warns against this tendency, so the Judean exiles would remain faithful despite their captivity:

“You may be tempted to slip away from your Hebrew roots. Many of us struggle to remain steadfast to our faith. We are seduced by the lure of the gods of Ishtar and Marduk, Sin, Damkina, and Ea. Their temples overflow with riches and their ways are strange and compelling.