Jim Rigby – Feminism and Religion

BRINGING IN THE KIN-DOM by Esther Nelson

I’ve mentioned before that I’m quite the fan of Jim Rigby, one of the current ministers at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. Jim writes a short column four or five times a week and posts them on Facebook. I, along with many others, follow him there; however, I’ve also begun to join the Sunday morning service at St. Andrew’s via Zoom.

As a preface to the Sunday morning services I’ve attended, Jim gives a short explanation of his use of the word “kin-dom” instead of kingdom, fully acknowledging that the word kin-dom was coined by Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz (1943- 2012), a Cuban-American, Mujerista theologian. (Mujer is the Spanish word for woman.)

RELIGIOUS POLITICS by Esther Nelson

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a fan of Jim Rigby, a Presbyterian minister, serving a parish in Austin, Texas. I follow Jim on social media and read his posts regularly. I find his take on modern, American Christianity succinct, on-point, and very similar to my own experience growing up with evangelical, fundamentalist missionary parents.

Jim describes his initiation into religion in the following paragraph:

“As a child I learned an a-political version of Christianity. I…was offended if a preacher brought up social issues in a sermon. Religion for me meant a personal relationship with God so I could sing “Jesus loves the little children” but not feel any need to confront the possibility that my nation might be dropping napalm on them. I was taught to pray for world peace but to remain silent about my nation’s polices that made war inevitable. I could talk about Moses telling Pharaoh to set his people free, but was not permitted to break any chains in my own day.”

LOOKING FOR A REVOLUTION by Esther Nelson

I am a fan of Jim Rigby, a minister who serves St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. Among other things, Jim identifies as a humanitarian who believes everybody, no matter their faith tradition, or even in the absence of a faith tradition, can affirm their core values through meaningful symbols in ways that do not lead to intolerance and oppression of our neighbors and all that lives upon the Earth. Sounds wonderful, positive, and life-affirming, yet nothing short of transforming our authoritarian, hierarchical, ecclesiastical institutions will achieve that kind of peace.