Arthur has almost finished reading David Eddings’ The Belgariad aloud to me. I’ve loved this ‘sword and sorcery’ fantasy series since I was a teenager. They’re not particularly well-written fiction (seriously, every wind is a ‘gusty wind’!) but they’re still a rollicking good read with lively characters, witty exchanges and a […]
Christianity has a difficult relationship with secular feminism. Feminists see a danger in a religion that privileges the story of a patriarchal line and a male God. They ask how such a Christianity can be good for women. Christians blast feminism for the supposed disdain of vulnerable human life of […]
Diana Lynn Severance takes the moral high ground in Feminine Threads, asserting that her work ‘aims to equip the reader to refute the distortions of women in Christian history which are often being made in academia.’ This book is rich in primary sources and that’s a great strength. Its focus, […]
It’s been a big couple of weeks for equality in militaries around the world. In the US, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ended (hurray!) and in Australia this week it was announced that women will now be able to serve alongside men in all frontline roles. Cue opinion columnists.
Red Twin is doing a course on feminism in Islam at MST. I’m disappointed I can’t go but she’s filling me in on what she’s learning. Thinking about their own viewpoint, on the first day, students were sent home to ask people the question ‘Is the patriarchy of the Bible […]
Here’s my theory about the acceleration of a love story in a TV series. Most narrative in our society is told through male eyes. (That’s not the theory part—that’s pretty well-attested.) But the speed with which the love story develops and the attention given to it are proportional to the […]
Muriel Porter lives in Melbourne and is a familiar speaker at Anglican meetings such as Synod. She’s written ‘The Christian Origins of Feminism’, found in Maryanne Confoy, Dorothy A Lee and Joan Nowotny’s Freedom and Entrapment: Women Thinking Theology. Porter has an agenda in writing this piece: she’s an avid supporter of women’s […]
Meet Jesus at uni 