An Unfair Review of The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr I thought the title should just reflect what white evangelical critics of my work will probably call it. I’m all about the preemptive strike. So here goes... When I first heard about this book, the title made me hopeful. When I heard … Continue reading An Unfair Review
Christianity
Politeness as a Weapon
Whether they're silencing women or leavers, white evangelicals will do anything to protect their reputation and the patriarchy. “Why are men?” I ask this question no less than fifty times a day on Twitter. But what I’m really asking is: Why are men always demanding politeness from women, and then get defensive when we refuse … Continue reading Politeness as a Weapon
White Christians vs White Atheists: Two Sides of the Same Coin?
If you’ve followed me for any amount of time on Twitter, you probably know by now I have strong feelings about atheists who pick on Christians. I’m just as critical of elitist atheists as I am of toxic Christian theology and abusive doctrine. But one of the particular behaviors that sets me off is when … Continue reading White Christians vs White Atheists: Two Sides of the Same Coin?
Why Power Dynamics Matter in Evangelical Spaces
There has been some interesting pushback on some of the responses to Beth Moore’s slow awakening, as it were. And I wanted to take a deeper dive into why this isn’t just a story of a woman in the patriarchy seeing the light for the first time. Beth is not an ordinary white evangelical woman. … Continue reading Why Power Dynamics Matter in Evangelical Spaces
One White Pastor vs A Generation of Leavers
It's the battle of the century, and no one is waving a white flag anytime soon. This series of tweets last week came as a barrage of sex-negative, heteronormative world salad from none other than Timothy Keller himself. Pastor, author, theologian, who in the past has not been quite so controversial in the Twitter-verse. He's … Continue reading One White Pastor vs A Generation of Leavers
Tackling Core Beliefs: Sin
Something I've been working on in therapy lately is addressing all the negative things I believe about myself. Those pervasive, absolute truths that provide our default way we feel about ourselves, and ultimately how we view the world around us. Being born into Christianity, some of our core beliefs about ourselves are formed by indoctrination. … Continue reading Tackling Core Beliefs: Sin
The Problem of Grace
"Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That sav'd a wretch like me!"John newton (1772) Evangelical Christians love to talk about grace. It’s this blanket word, used to comfort and also clobber believers. Not ready or willing to forgive your abuser? You need to offer grace. You made a mistake that caused real harm? Thank goodness … Continue reading The Problem of Grace
Longing To Belong (in the wrong place)
Well that escalated quickly. Yesterday a tweet I posted went as viral as I'll probably ever be, completely by accident. The funny thing is, anyone who knows me knows that I'm a happily married woman (to the same guy I was married to back when I was trying to be the perfect Christian wife). I … Continue reading Longing To Belong (in the wrong place)
My Spiritual Deconstruction: Part 2
[This post is a follow up to Part 1 which I posted last year, you can read that here first if you want to get caught up.] Onward and Upward When I was twelve years old my family moved to a new town a few hours away where we didn’t know a soul. It was … Continue reading My Spiritual Deconstruction: Part 2
Love in the Wilderness
"I'm not the enemy, religion is." That specific sentence popped into my head, the first morning of Evolving Faith, when Barbara Brown Taylor was speaking. She was talking about the wilderness. How God is in the wilderness if we allow her to be, just as much as she is anywhere else. She spoke of the … Continue reading Love in the Wilderness
