or “Is the premise of The DaVinci Code really true?” Originally posted September 2004 Credits: For Lou, who asked first and made me decide for myself. Thanks also to Dan Brown, the author of The DaVinci Code (link leads to my review of the book). Short answer: Quite possibly, but we’ll never know for sure….
The Oxford Study Bible: Revised English Bible with Apocrypha However, one must keep in mind what one is studying. The situation for women may have been either better or worse than is actually shown by the included books of the accepted New Testament. It is a sure bet these books have been either edited or…
The Oxford Study Bible: Revised English Bible with Apocrypha A quick review of how women’s treatment in the early Christian church changed, as the fledgling church moved from ‘cult’ status to being part of the societal ‘status quo.’ The evolution of a cultural phenomenon can often be tracked by its response to independent thought, minorities,…
I was enthralled by my correspondent’s enlightening statement to me, and I spent some time trying to figure out where my spirituality was. Eventually I concluded it was not a particular location or animal in which I found the sacred — it was more the concept of the wilderness, of Nature itself as iconic of…
I was already working hard on mental independence, unconsciously using Gross’s “hermeneutics of suspicion” (121); looking back, I think my fierce desire for physical independence, and my complete disinterest in certain sexual positions I considered demeaning, stemmed from that understanding. Since then I’ve also had recommended (but not yet read) Peggy Reeves Sanday’s Femininity &…
It was no surprise, therefore, to discover the other two Religions of the Book (Judaism and Islam) seemed equally reprehensible in their treatment of women. I was boggled to discover Judaism seemed to consider women not only “unclean” whenever they performed the absolute miracle of birth — but that a girl child was somehow filthier…
Childhood Spirituality & Implications Durkheim’s definition of religion was a huge relief to discover in my early college years; it was a clear explanation for vague and inchoate beliefs I’d held since childhood. At that time, of course, I was not consciously aware of the iconic, near-reified nature of the various flavors of christianity my…
Paper written Fall 2008 for the Women’s Spirituality Master’s Program class Women, Religion, & Social Change; with professors D. Grenn & M. Rigoglioso. Bibliography (with amazon.com links included) at paper’s end. Introduction My final paper for the “Women, Religion, and Social Change” class is based on the question: “What are the social, ecological, spiritual, political,…
Paper originally written for a fascinating The Bible as History & Literature class, circa the late 1990’s. In the time of the Diaspora, the Jews must have suffered a great crisis of faith. In fairly rapid succession, they got to see their lands overrun by foreign barbarians, their property confiscated, their families enslaved or sent…
5. Homosexuals are destroying the institution of marriage The social ritual of marriage in the United States today is highly unstable, as the 50+ % divorce rate shows. I don’t think it’s fair to blame that instability on late-comers to the institution of marriage. That’s like seeing a tire is getting low on your car,…