Is Your Pastor Sexist?

From The New York Times-

The fight among Christians over the status and role of women is usually buried out of view. Anger at continuing inequality is not deemed pious or pretty by the faithful. Disputes usually stay private.

But this pattern was broken recently by a very public uproar when a prominent theological college announced its award of a prestigious prize to a high-profile preacher who does not believe that women or L.G.B.T. people should be ordained.

On most grounds, Princeton Theological Seminary’s decision to give the Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness to the Rev. Tim Keller would seem a safe one. Dr. Keller is the founding pastor of the flourishing Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, a gifted preacher and a best-selling author of theological works. I attended his church for some years when I lived in New York, largely because of the high caliber of his sermons.

More here-

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/opinion/is-your-pastor-sexist.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

My feminist strategy for dealing with criticism as a Christian leader

From Faith and Leadership-


What do you do when you’re called shrill, hysterical or bossy? The executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches responds by feeling deeply and sharing her pain.
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Christians say awful things to one another. I wish I hadn’t had to learn this as the leader of a Christian institution.

In my ministry, I’ve been called all sorts of cruel things: shrill, hysterical, bossy, manipulative, emotionally unstable. I’ve been likened to farm animals. I’ve had Christian colleagues repeat untrue rumors. I’ve had Christian colleagues stand in the sacristy and “joke” about cutting my mic when I speak. I’ve been called a name that is not printable here.

And this is not even counting what people have said about me online, anonymously or without my knowledge.

Navigating these particularly gendered criticisms is especially problematic for women in public Christian leadership. Our gender already puts us in a position of being perceived as overly emotional. Others will presume we’re additionally weak, volatile or angry based on their biases about age, sexuality, perceived abilities, class, educational status and race.

More here-

https://www.faithandleadership.com/laura-everett-my-feminist-strategy-dealing-criticism-christian-leader

Could feminists save the Anglican Church?

From The Conversation-

The Anglican Church is experiencing internal angst – again. For those looking in, the endless debates about gender and human sexuality seem unreasonable, outmoded and downright unjust.

Challenges that rattle the “divine order” are difficult for the church. For centuries doctrine has been fixed on notions of a “natural” order; God made man, then woman as the second sex, and he made them heterosexual.

As Rosemary Radford Ruether, a brilliant theologian of the feminist movement, reminded us, Christianity has always absorbed cultural change to match people’s real lives – thankfully. Yet Christian doctrine seems to be continually out of step with social progress.

More here-

http://theconversation.com/could-feminists-save-the-anglican-church-53235

A Growing Number of People See God as a Woman

Fro
m The Guardian-

A growing number of people across the world see God as a woman. Many religions such a Wicca, or people who are Pagan have always worshiped the feminine divine for centuries, but recently even Christian denominations have begun to embrace God as a woman.

Alternative religions have seen an increase in numbers among those who they count as followers. Wicca is now the fasting growing religion in the United States. There are approximately 200,000 registered Wicca members with an estimated eight million unregistered members. It is believed that membership increases double every thirty months. Wicca emerged in the middle of the twentieth century but many believe it has ancient roots that go back thousands of years with many practices dating back to ancient Babylon.

More here-

http://guardianlv.com/2015/06/a-growing-number-of-people-see-god-as-a-woman/

God is neither 'she' nor 'he' say Anglican priests

From The BBC-

God is neither "she" nor "he" says Watch, a group which represents women in the church.
The organisation has been accused of trying to "rewrite" Christian doctrine by encouraging people to use the female pronoun when talking about God.

Rev Jody Stowell, vicar at St Michael & All Angels Church in Harrow, says she was "dismayed" by recent reports.

"This is not about making God a woman. This is about creating those proper, Biblical images of God," she explains to Newsbeat.

The ideas surrounding which pronouns to use when talking about God were discussed at a committee meeting in Lambeth Palace, according to Hilary Cotton, chair of Watch.

More here-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32958213/god-is-neither-she-nor-he-say-anglican-priests

Feminist theology still has followers

From North Carolina-

About 30 women gathered this weekend to talk about Mother God,Lady Wisdom and other female images of God.

But what many of them shared, apart from an interest in exploring the feminine aspects of their Christian faith, was their age. The youngest was 41. The oldest wouldn't say.

Feminist theology is hardly mentioned in churches these days. At Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, there is still a cadre of women for whom the issue resonates. At Sunday's service, this group highlighted the forgotten women of the New Testament, and particularly the nine women praised by the Apostle Paul, including Junia, Phoebe and Priscilla.

"One of the frustrations I have with the church is that we don't talk to the younger women all that well," said Sheryl Scrimsher, 63, of Durham, a member of the church who attended seminary in the late 1960s, when feminist theology was beginning to challenge male dominance in the church. "We need to make more inroads that way."

Feminist theology peaked in 1980, said Reta Halteman Finger, a feminist theologian and a retired professor of the New Testament from Harrisonburg, Va., who led a workshop at Binkley on Saturday and preached a sermon there Sunday.

Finger, who is 69, suspects other issues, such as rights for gays and lesbians and a growing concern with the environment, have taken center stage in many mainline Protestant churches where feminist theology was once popular.

Read more:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/28/554904/feminist-theology-still-has-followers.html#ixzz0s9dgYaMR