Just read an article on how even if Harris wins the popular vote, she is still in jeopardy of losing in the electoral college. Then the article spoke about how the electoral college came into being so that slave states, which were less populated, could still have sway in an election.
Diana, have you done any research on this aspect of our voting process and can you give any perspective to the importance of swing states? Also, can you clarify whether the electoral college is a continued vehicle of white supremacy and in fact should be dismantled?
I also just did a eulogy for a congregation member using Proverbs 31 because she was a very accomplished seamstress in the community as well as being a single mom working full-time.
The link for tickets to the Southern Lights event notes that the sales have ended.
I recently watched the Netflix movie His Three Daughters. It's a story of three sisters cohabitating together awaiting their father's death. It intrigued me as I have worked in a retirement community and around families going through this grieving process. The story is raw and about how we as women, even sisters, don't really know one another.
It made me wonder if the work needed is for women to slow down and see each other. I mean really see each other. It made me wonder if the best way to debunked misogynistic maleness is by lifting one another up, by being in awe of one another's big and small steps towards wholeness, and by truly knowing one another better. Perhaps then we will forget to compete with one another, and instead, cheer one another on towards being our best and fullest selves.
Men---and other women---develop disdain and disrespect for women either because they are, and have been since time immemorial, afraid of women (in the case of men). Or because they rightly discern that the way to acceptance, inclusion and (pseudo) power-sharing is to fawn upon men who are the power brokers in every society (in the case of women). No one looks back far enough into human history to notice and acknowledge a time when many societies were matriarchal. The elevation of patriarchy came into full force with the arising of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Though Wisdom is represented in the Christian Bible as feminine, I have never heard a sermon preached in my church on the values and delights of Wisdom as a way of life.
"...did shows like Real Housewives make misogyny funny or did they make misogyny glamorous?"
Shows. That word. Shows. I'm certain that we all have spent untold hours (or more) sitting at home just relaxing the our favorite "show". Webster lists that word as both a noun and a verb, all ow which I agree with. Back to your question of did shows like that "make" misogyny funny or glamourous? My take is more along the lines of a final normalization of misogyny, which at its core is a cousin to both hatred and evil. Proverbs 31 was written in Old Testament times in a culture oh so different than the one depicted in those shows 14 years ago as well as today. Yet those lived out qualities had to be present then as well as now and I'll offer eve since the creation of man and woman as they make visible God's " invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." I think the shows USED misogyny to mock the most beautiful creation on the face of the earth. Women.
I think the hardest thing for me to grasp is how long and hard women have worked to make progress. I appreciate all that you do Diana to expose the challenges this world faces. For my part as a white male, I remind people that in the last 20 years the primary reason this economy and its people have thrived as well as they have is women. Women who entered into the field of technology. Women in medicine. Women in scientific research and for darned sure archeology. Women in leadership roles have made a difference and when we give them their credit due? Why must this be so hard?
Diana, thank you for all that you are doing to help all of us in the next several weeks. I am grateful for your wisdom. I am reading The False White Gospel currently and it is giving me much hope and strength for these times. You and your family are a gift and you will remain in my prayers. Thank you.
It is important that you consider Proverbs 31 to not be about "a woman" or "a wife," but to be about women in general. In that sense, it rings so true, ages ago and today too, cf. Mother's Day.
Dear Diana, I am very grateful for all you do to support women & democracy, explain the written word in a way that it relates to current times and write so eloquently about matters of importance. You are in my prayers as you continue your significant contribution to inform and educate the world in a manner that is respectful and loving and factual.
Please be prudent in taking care of yourself as you work tirelessly, the world needs Diana Butler Bass to remain healthy! Thanking you and praying!
We need to be doing what needs to be done to empty our life of all that is preventing us from seeing what we look at and doing what is called for in each situation as it arises. We could start by sitting looking out the window and noticing what arises out of nowhere to startle us awake and call our name. That would be our intrinsic intuition (Always confused with "the voice of God") trying to get our attention. Give her all the attention she needs, and see where it goes!
Thank you Diana - as equally relevant now as 2010 and your epilogue was excellent as well. I pray every blessing on all the conscientization work you continue to work so hard on and I pray that all of us women can sustain our dignity from deep within our spirits and souls so that we might continue to be that critically nourishing, nurturing energy and presence on this beautiful, precious planet.
Amen to your concerns. What I mean is - we have need - as those who are not ‘feminist’ but through our faith seek to live for Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I’ve stopped calling myself a feminist and instead quote St Paul - ‘In Christ is neither male nor female as we are all One through Baptism ‘( paraphrasing). In other words the Holy Spirit works through those who seek the Lord and are faithful to him.
ONLY through my total commitment to the Lord after a career in Education could I face and accept ( and be redeemed from) my self hatred as a vulnerable female. Only in Christ can I love, forgive and persevere in prayer for men and encourage women to accept who they ARE in and through Christ- we are all Children of God-
But so I seek to do things in compassion and pray BLESSINGS on my enemies.
Lord have mercy- give us courage to pray and Speak in You. ‘
Thank you Diana for the grace you are given to speak the truth in Love.
Thanks Diana, well said. I would presume that Proverbs was written by someone in the patriarchal community as most of the Bible was written by men. That in and of itself would not be surprising given the fact that most of antiquity was born out of a patriarchal culture. I am surprised that Proverbs 31 would have even been accepted in the writing, hence, the modest sense of appeasement for a good woman probably seemed like good idea. Since the chapter reeks so strongly with misogamy and bigotry, and you have found it very offensive, why don't you rewrite it for the 2025 reader. I'm sure that you would be doing your readers and the culture at large a great service. Give it some thought.
I wonder if it might be better to say "retranslate" rather than "rewrite." Fixation on one, "inerrant" version of the Bible in a translated language is at the root of the issue. It's a minority view in the Christian fellowship that no instruments should be used in worship, and those whole hold to this seem not to have problems with the use of microphones, amplifiers, or artificial lighting, nevermind air conditioning. The rest of us are not playing Freeze Tag. Those who built and manage the Kentucky theme park featuring the life sized replica of Noah's ark to help promote their views on biblical literalism seem to be trying to put a stake down in the timeline of history, also a minority view at present (at least in the Western world, as I'm ignorant of what our siblings in the developing world hold to.) The rest of us are persuaded by now that creation unfolds in time, in response to stimuli, and that stewardship is our responsibility as the self-aware creatures to curate the stimuli as we can to help everything to rise and converge in the Kin-dom. It seems like human culture is the only part of creation where going backwards happens. The deficiency is not one of historical scholarship but of imagination and contemplation.
Thank you, Diana for reminding me of the feminine Wisdom in Proverbs. While I didn't know about this passage when I was young, learning about it while in Seminary in my 30s was a Blessing! I am retired, now, from more than 30 years of Pastoral Ministry. I am a paid subscriber and just wanted to express my appreciation for your Wisdom! Rev. Leah Oxley Harness
I'm just an ordinary woman from the Arizona desert who happened to turn blue, a reason I now live in Oregon. When I went through my evangelical period, it was excruciating to watch other evangelical women wield wooden spoons against their small children and "submit" to husbands who slapped them around or were drunk on the power of bossing their "helpmeets." I kept my husband's alcoholism a secret, because how can you be a Proverbs 31 wife if your guy drinks up the rent money? I finally rejected the whole Saran Wrap submission garbage and took my kids and left. I was very thankful to have the education/skills to be independent. The Proverbs 31 excellent woman advice should have included legal separation/divorce tips, getting on food stamps and how to find childcare on one income. I was very lucky that my husband woke his sorry self up and quit drinking and lording it over the woman he loved. We're celebrating 47 years in December. Wisdom say: Don take no chit and vote blue.
Just read an article on how even if Harris wins the popular vote, she is still in jeopardy of losing in the electoral college. Then the article spoke about how the electoral college came into being so that slave states, which were less populated, could still have sway in an election.
Diana, have you done any research on this aspect of our voting process and can you give any perspective to the importance of swing states? Also, can you clarify whether the electoral college is a continued vehicle of white supremacy and in fact should be dismantled?
I also just did a eulogy for a congregation member using Proverbs 31 because she was a very accomplished seamstress in the community as well as being a single mom working full-time.
The link for tickets to the Southern Lights event notes that the sales have ended.
Works for me. Sent you an email.
I recently watched the Netflix movie His Three Daughters. It's a story of three sisters cohabitating together awaiting their father's death. It intrigued me as I have worked in a retirement community and around families going through this grieving process. The story is raw and about how we as women, even sisters, don't really know one another.
It made me wonder if the work needed is for women to slow down and see each other. I mean really see each other. It made me wonder if the best way to debunked misogynistic maleness is by lifting one another up, by being in awe of one another's big and small steps towards wholeness, and by truly knowing one another better. Perhaps then we will forget to compete with one another, and instead, cheer one another on towards being our best and fullest selves.
Men---and other women---develop disdain and disrespect for women either because they are, and have been since time immemorial, afraid of women (in the case of men). Or because they rightly discern that the way to acceptance, inclusion and (pseudo) power-sharing is to fawn upon men who are the power brokers in every society (in the case of women). No one looks back far enough into human history to notice and acknowledge a time when many societies were matriarchal. The elevation of patriarchy came into full force with the arising of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Though Wisdom is represented in the Christian Bible as feminine, I have never heard a sermon preached in my church on the values and delights of Wisdom as a way of life.
Thank you. Amen!
"...did shows like Real Housewives make misogyny funny or did they make misogyny glamorous?"
Shows. That word. Shows. I'm certain that we all have spent untold hours (or more) sitting at home just relaxing the our favorite "show". Webster lists that word as both a noun and a verb, all ow which I agree with. Back to your question of did shows like that "make" misogyny funny or glamourous? My take is more along the lines of a final normalization of misogyny, which at its core is a cousin to both hatred and evil. Proverbs 31 was written in Old Testament times in a culture oh so different than the one depicted in those shows 14 years ago as well as today. Yet those lived out qualities had to be present then as well as now and I'll offer eve since the creation of man and woman as they make visible God's " invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." I think the shows USED misogyny to mock the most beautiful creation on the face of the earth. Women.
I think the hardest thing for me to grasp is how long and hard women have worked to make progress. I appreciate all that you do Diana to expose the challenges this world faces. For my part as a white male, I remind people that in the last 20 years the primary reason this economy and its people have thrived as well as they have is women. Women who entered into the field of technology. Women in medicine. Women in scientific research and for darned sure archeology. Women in leadership roles have made a difference and when we give them their credit due? Why must this be so hard?
Diana, thank you for all that you are doing to help all of us in the next several weeks. I am grateful for your wisdom. I am reading The False White Gospel currently and it is giving me much hope and strength for these times. You and your family are a gift and you will remain in my prayers. Thank you.
It is important that you consider Proverbs 31 to not be about "a woman" or "a wife," but to be about women in general. In that sense, it rings so true, ages ago and today too, cf. Mother's Day.
Dear Diana, I am very grateful for all you do to support women & democracy, explain the written word in a way that it relates to current times and write so eloquently about matters of importance. You are in my prayers as you continue your significant contribution to inform and educate the world in a manner that is respectful and loving and factual.
Please be prudent in taking care of yourself as you work tirelessly, the world needs Diana Butler Bass to remain healthy! Thanking you and praying!
We need to be doing what needs to be done to empty our life of all that is preventing us from seeing what we look at and doing what is called for in each situation as it arises. We could start by sitting looking out the window and noticing what arises out of nowhere to startle us awake and call our name. That would be our intrinsic intuition (Always confused with "the voice of God") trying to get our attention. Give her all the attention she needs, and see where it goes!
Thank you Diana - as equally relevant now as 2010 and your epilogue was excellent as well. I pray every blessing on all the conscientization work you continue to work so hard on and I pray that all of us women can sustain our dignity from deep within our spirits and souls so that we might continue to be that critically nourishing, nurturing energy and presence on this beautiful, precious planet.
Amen to your concerns. What I mean is - we have need - as those who are not ‘feminist’ but through our faith seek to live for Christ and the Holy Spirit.
I’ve stopped calling myself a feminist and instead quote St Paul - ‘In Christ is neither male nor female as we are all One through Baptism ‘( paraphrasing). In other words the Holy Spirit works through those who seek the Lord and are faithful to him.
ONLY through my total commitment to the Lord after a career in Education could I face and accept ( and be redeemed from) my self hatred as a vulnerable female. Only in Christ can I love, forgive and persevere in prayer for men and encourage women to accept who they ARE in and through Christ- we are all Children of God-
But so I seek to do things in compassion and pray BLESSINGS on my enemies.
Lord have mercy- give us courage to pray and Speak in You. ‘
Thank you Diana for the grace you are given to speak the truth in Love.
Thanks Diana, well said. I would presume that Proverbs was written by someone in the patriarchal community as most of the Bible was written by men. That in and of itself would not be surprising given the fact that most of antiquity was born out of a patriarchal culture. I am surprised that Proverbs 31 would have even been accepted in the writing, hence, the modest sense of appeasement for a good woman probably seemed like good idea. Since the chapter reeks so strongly with misogamy and bigotry, and you have found it very offensive, why don't you rewrite it for the 2025 reader. I'm sure that you would be doing your readers and the culture at large a great service. Give it some thought.
I wonder if it might be better to say "retranslate" rather than "rewrite." Fixation on one, "inerrant" version of the Bible in a translated language is at the root of the issue. It's a minority view in the Christian fellowship that no instruments should be used in worship, and those whole hold to this seem not to have problems with the use of microphones, amplifiers, or artificial lighting, nevermind air conditioning. The rest of us are not playing Freeze Tag. Those who built and manage the Kentucky theme park featuring the life sized replica of Noah's ark to help promote their views on biblical literalism seem to be trying to put a stake down in the timeline of history, also a minority view at present (at least in the Western world, as I'm ignorant of what our siblings in the developing world hold to.) The rest of us are persuaded by now that creation unfolds in time, in response to stimuli, and that stewardship is our responsibility as the self-aware creatures to curate the stimuli as we can to help everything to rise and converge in the Kin-dom. It seems like human culture is the only part of creation where going backwards happens. The deficiency is not one of historical scholarship but of imagination and contemplation.
Yes, retranslate makes more sense.
I don’t find it offensive. I find the evangelical misuse of it offensive.
Thanks for the clarification. It could still use a rewrite.
Thank you, Diana for reminding me of the feminine Wisdom in Proverbs. While I didn't know about this passage when I was young, learning about it while in Seminary in my 30s was a Blessing! I am retired, now, from more than 30 years of Pastoral Ministry. I am a paid subscriber and just wanted to express my appreciation for your Wisdom! Rev. Leah Oxley Harness
I'm just an ordinary woman from the Arizona desert who happened to turn blue, a reason I now live in Oregon. When I went through my evangelical period, it was excruciating to watch other evangelical women wield wooden spoons against their small children and "submit" to husbands who slapped them around or were drunk on the power of bossing their "helpmeets." I kept my husband's alcoholism a secret, because how can you be a Proverbs 31 wife if your guy drinks up the rent money? I finally rejected the whole Saran Wrap submission garbage and took my kids and left. I was very thankful to have the education/skills to be independent. The Proverbs 31 excellent woman advice should have included legal separation/divorce tips, getting on food stamps and how to find childcare on one income. I was very lucky that my husband woke his sorry self up and quit drinking and lording it over the woman he loved. We're celebrating 47 years in December. Wisdom say: Don take no chit and vote blue.
Speaks volumes about the quality of your love and patience. Nurturing... congrats on the 47 years coming up.