These are my notes from the talks at Summer Encounter, the annual conference of CMS in South Australia. Dr David Williams is the head of development and training in CMS. His talks covered the three parables in Luke 18:1-30.
Exum raises a number of questions about how we read biblical texts that seem to oppress women. One question is what they say about women. Another is what they say about God. One problem is that there is no perfect culture. All human interactions are tainted by sin. But what […]
In The Pleasure of Her Text Alice Bach counters those who believe that gender is too narrow a lens for re-interpreting the bible: “Resistance comes usually from those who have never thought of gender as influencing reading. The male gender has dominated the voice of the text, including also its […]
Sudan is Africa’s largest nation. As I write this, it is about to split in two. This time it will be official. The South is currently holding a referendum that will almost certainly result in a call for its independence. I have friends among the Melbourne voters for whom this is […]
An important feminist principle is to self-define womanhood rather than defining woman according to men. For example, women whose primary self-understanding is as wife, mother or widow are defined by their relationships to men; sister and daughter are often not very far behind. If women are described positively in masculine […]
I noted after reading Cheryl Exum’s work on Deborah that the Old Testament’s conception of motherhood is broader than family or biological ties. Though the Reformation elevated and celebrated biological motherhood, there were some women who claimed a larger title of mother. Katharina Schütz Zell (KSZ) was one such woman […]
One of Kirsi Stjerna’s conclusions in Women and the Reformation is that “more than any other factor, gender determined a woman’s ability and avenues to respond to the Reformation.” However, their responses were not uniform and she stresses that it would be a mistake to see women as responding en […]
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