I did a brief review of a new book by Kristina LaCelle-Peterson, professor at Houghton College in New York: Liberating Tradition: Women's Identity and Vocation in Christian Perspective. The link to it is over to the right under the "Books I'm Reading" section.
Kind of funny, you read through a book to do a thumbnail and you get 100-120 words to do it. I'll probably say more here than I could say! But, hey, free book!
I thought it was a great book. I hate to say that I have not made it a priority to read books on gender issues. I wrote a little booklet, Why Wesleyans Favor Women in Ministry that you can get at cost from my denomination (on side also). But great books like John Stackhouse's Finally Feminist are sitting, waiting, pleading, on my shelf.
There were a number of items in the book that I hadn't really thought about and that was great. I wrote in my very brief review that both pulpit and pew should read this book or one like it. Even if you don't change your perspective, you'll at least hold whatever position you have after realizing other ways to look at issues rather than ignorantly by default.
I suppose the chapter I enjoyed the most was entitled, "Mistaking the Industrial Revolution for the Garden of Eden." Here she shows how the so called "traditional family" and traditional family roles propagated by groups like Focus on the Family and John Piper are really post-industrial developments.
For example, the idea of a wife as someone who is there at home when you come home from work and who provides a nurturing and environment safe from the perils of the outside world where the husband works... well, before the industrial revolution everyone was at home and everyone worked at home.
There were a number of things about Genesis 1 and 2 that Kristina points out, like the fact that "subdue" in 1:28 is plural, meaning that the command is for the woman as well, not just for the man. And there is the old misconception of Luther and others that Adam wasn't actually there when the serpent tempted Eve. Not so, the Hebrew says Adam was "with her."
She also has a chapter where she goes through "female" metaphors of God, such as passages in Job and Isaiah where God speaks of His womb. Another on the importance of inclusive language. If you disagree, I dare you to read the book.
A good book, a good read.
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4 comments:
Exactly my thoughts on family & economy when I read one of Dobson's newsletters this summer - thanks for articulating it. I kept thinking... "This is soooo the ideal of the picture-perfect 1950's... is this a Christian ideal or simply a boomer longing for a by-gone era?"
Maybe he should read some Wendell Berry. If you really want to focus on the family, grab the horses and plow whilst your kiddies churn butter on the porch with ma.
I really am sickened by how some Christians define roles and functions so definately. Perhaps, when things are defined tightly enough, it is easier to gauge when one is not "walking in the Spirit" or needs discipling. Then, correction or training can be made speedily and without reflection...
I was guilty of this very misjudgment. There is so much diversity in nature, why do we limit diversity in other areas? This troubles me.
Ken, would you at this point subscribe to the viewpoint that patriarchalism is a result of the "fall?" You know, "your desire shall be for your husband, and he will rule over you....."
Kristina gives an interesting here, namely that this is a description of the consequences of the Fall. It is certainly a consequence of the Fall in Genesis 3, not God's design in Genesis 1 and 2. She hints rightly that no one thinks farmers should not use farm equipment or women use epidurals. In other words, on these other issues no one takes these comments as commands but as descriptions.
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