J
“this book is based in Black radical, feminist, queer, and anti-capitalist theories and practices.”
“Though Unapologetic reflects insights gained on my journey thus far as an activist, community organizer, and leader, it is not a comprehensive history of my community organizing experiences, BYP100, or my personal life. The book about the history of BYP100 has yet to be written, and it's not time for me to write a memoir about my life and organizing. My intent is to balance stories of my community-organizing experiences, BYP100, and my personal life in order to inspire revolutionary action. This book is an invitation and guide, not a final plan.”
None of us are free until all of us are free!
“I learned from theologian N. T. Wright to regard the very form of hymns and poetry as central to the gospel message. He mentioned Philippians 2:6–11 as a New Testament passage that is clearly poetic. “It isn't the case that first people sorted things out theologically and then turned them into poems,” Wright observed, “but that from very early on some people—perhaps especially Paul—found themselves saying what needed to be said in the form of short poems.”3 What if the entire Bible is a work of art, rather than the dictates of predetermined “check boxes” for us to get on God's good side? What if we are to sing back in response to the voice of eternity echoing through our broken lives? To be human is to be creative: “The characteristic common to God and man is apparently . . . the desire and the ability to make things,” observed the writer Dorothy Sayers.”
“My friend Lisa Sharon Harper observes in her exegesis of Genesis: “It's important to note that God does not obliterate the darkness; rather, God names it and limits it—puts boundaries on it. The boundary is the light.”
“The word “dominion” (Hebrew radah) has been misused to mean “practicing domination over” or ravaging creation for industrial purposes. But, as Lisa notes and theologian Ellen Davis affirms, a more accurate understanding of radah is “loving stewardship.” Proper stewardship is based on love of the land and its peoples. Proper stewardship is part of our poetic responsibility to Creation. I connect this Hebrew word radah to the Greek word poietes (maker), as I detail in the following chapters. One aspect of our stewardship is to become poets of Creation, to sing alongside the Creator over Creation.”
“in the beautiful writing of Norman Maclean in A River Runs Through It: “My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him all good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.”15 “Art does not come easy”: this sacred, God-given impulse, poieo/poiema/poietes, both “doing” and “becoming a poem.”16
It is hard work to live into this generative love, and it is what we are made for: to paint light into darkness, to sing in co-creation, to take flight in abundance. A beautiful native brown trout, or the eternal presence of the Maker in the rushing waters brimming with life, comes by grace, and such is the artistry of the Artist who creates for, in, and through us.”
“Art is another way of knowing the world, and artists are being pushed to the margins because of their intuitive knowledge. Artists know instinctively that no discussion is purely an exchange of information. The moment we start discussing an idea, we use words, and words involve interpretation, metaphors, and expression that stir the imagination. Even the distinction of “right brain” and “left brain” starts to break down as an antiquated notion of how the complex brain functions. We paint using words, employing artistry and metaphors to communicate. We must use integrated language toward knowing if we are to capture the flow of the rational to the intuitive.”
This is a very accessible, very short book (116 pages) that could serve as a helpful introduction for someone not familiar with these common misunderstandings of the Bible. Honestly, I got a lot more out of Pete Enns' books but if someone wants something less academic than Enns, I might point them to this one.
The 10 “lies” (which are also the chapter titles) are:
1. The Old Testament Is ‘Someone Else's Mail'
(This chapter argues against the idea that the Old Testament doesn't belong to Christians, emphasizing its relevance and relationship with the New Testament.)
2. The Old Testament Is a Boring History Book
3. The Old Testament Has Been Rendered Permanently Obsolete
4. The Old Testament God Is Mean...Really Mean
5. The Old Testament Is Hyper-Violent
6. David Wrote the Psalms (and Other Unhelpful Historical Assertions)
7. The Old Testament Isn't Spiritually Enriching
8. The Old Testament Isn't Practically Relevant
9. The Old Testament Law Is Nothing but a Burden and Impossible to Keep
10. What Really Matters Is That ‘Everything Is about Jesus
I'm glad Amber wrote this book. I wish she didn't have to. I wish she, like so many of us, did not have to live through such traumatizing theology and the actions taken out of that. Huge content warning for sexual assault, abuse, self-harm and suicide, and of course horrible homophobia, including “conversion therapy.” I might go as far as to say that if you are also queer and have trauma from similar experiences, you might not want to read this book. It was difficult for me to get through at times because of all that resonates with me and all it brings up for me.
The people I want to read this book are the parents, mentors, teachers, and friends of queer people - the ones who are still holding onto theology that is literally killing LGBTQ+ people every day. I need them to read it with an open heart. I need them to understand that their theology, based on bad interpretation of the Bible, is deeply harmful, at best. (Not to mention the mistranslation/insertion of the word “homosexual” that was not even in the Bible! And they didn't even have our same understanding of being gay or queer back then as we do today!) But the good news is, they don't have to hold onto that horrible theology! It is NOT from God! They can let it go!
Oh, another content warning, as another reviewer brought up: Amber's father was a bigshot at Focus on the Family, and founder James Dobson, prior to starting Focus on the Family, was an assistant of Paul Popenoe, the eugenicist who founded the American Institute of Family Relations, advocated for compulsory sterilization and “social hygiene,” trained pastors and psychologists to follow his patriarchal, white supremacist, homophobic vision, and was directly involved in the eugenics program that influenced the Third Reich!!! So horrible! Rotten fruit from rotten theology.
So if you can read this book without being further traumatized, she does offer a raw, courageous account of navigating sexuality, shame, and the deeply harmful impact of Evangelical theology. Through her vulnerability, Amber sheds light on the struggle for acceptance and healing within conservative Christian communities. It's a powerful memoir that encourages empathy, understanding, and self-acceptance.
Chapter 4: The Style of Color Blindness - “Since a full discursive analysis of the stylistic components of color blindness is beyond the scope of this chapter,3 I focus instead on showcasing five things. First, I document whites' avoidance of direct racial language to expressing their racial views. Second, I analyze the central “semantic moves” whites use as verbal parachutes to avoid dangerous discussions or to save face. Third, I examine the role of projection in whites' racial discourse. Fourth, I show the role of diminutives in color-blind race talk. Finally, I show how incursions into forbidden issues produce almost total incoherence in many whites.”
It's so helpful and healing when we other people's stories that help us see and feel that we are not alone.
“Gender is a slippery illusion. Like the flat outline of a cube, you can perceive its shape as either concave or convex, extruding or withdrawn. If you're especially adept, you can see both simultaneously, or perhaps, even for a moment, neither at all. Upon deeper inspection, you might deduce the truth at the heart of it all: there is no one “correct” form. Yet all of them are real.”
“Because our language has been using “singular they” for centuries, this has become the most common pronoun for referring to anyone whose gender is not known, not specified, or not in the male/female binary. As of 2017, the official stylebook for the Associated Press now recommends using the “singular they/them” for nonbinary individuals.”
“Best practices include specifying pronouns in email signatures and business cards, mentioning a person's pronoun alongside their name when introducing them, and always asking for someone's pronoun.”
“I've started taking a kitchen sink approach to my gender: it all goes in, except the things that don't. Motorcycles are, in fact, part of my gender. So are boots. Whiskey is still a part of my gender. Eye shadow and blue lipstick have gotten mixed into it, but red lipstick and nail polish feel like drag, and not the fun kind. Turtlenecks might have been part of Steve Jobs's gender, but not mine. Practicing martial arts has been a long and complicated part of my gender. The kind of shirts that your gay uncle wears on his yearly visit to Key West? Definitely part of my gender. Cats are integral to my gender. The necklace my mother gave me. DIY haircuts. Calluses, scars, and tattoos. Gray dresses cut in the same style as a burlap bag. This one pair of high heels I bought last month. Baking, but not cooking, and definitely not reality TV shows about cooking.
How can these things be part of gender? I can hear some snarky critic getting ready to school me already. Motorcycles are not inherently masculine. I agree! My gender isn't inherently masculine either. It just really fucking likes motorcycles.
My gender surprises me—it dressed down for a long time, in gray corduroy and a peacoat. It kept its eyes averted. Now it has all kinds of demands.”
*****
“I identify as gender nonconforming because I've never been privileged by white cis-gender constructs. I have never seen a space for myself within the confines of cis manhood. What is cis-manhood? Am I a cis-man in a dress, in a shirt, with short hair, with a wig? What if I was assigned male at birth but I don't feel like there is a man or a woman inside of me? What if I was assigned male at birth but I feel like there is a peacock on fire flapping its wings on the beach inside of me? What if tomorrow the peacock is dead but a baby fawn walks out of the ocean of my gut and that is how I feel? Can that not be my gender? If not, why not?
Maybe someday this feeling, this resentment toward such strict notions of gender, will change.”
[...]
“Right now, I would rather not identify with any gender at all.
I walk down the street and I feel the peacock kick inside my stomach, I feel a little girl inside of me dead. I walk down the street and I imagine my breasts growing after estrogen. I want to keep them hairy. I have a dream where I'm pregnant and then give birth in a bathtub. The whole bathtub is filled with my placenta. There is a dream where I'm more brave and I look the way that I feel. There is a dream I have where to be brown and to exist outside the binary does not feel like I'm being hunted anymore.”
[...]
“I tell my friend who still presents outside the binary that I want to be alive. I want to live. And so this is my gender: a desire to live. And if trans and gender nonconforming people were not killed and incarcerated and starved so constantly then maybe I would be more legitimately trans or nonbinary. Maybe if it weren't for capitalism then I wouldn't be so afraid of existing outside the binary. I wouldn't be afraid of dying poor and young.
I'm wearing pants today, my hair is short, you can call me sir. I know what's in my belly. She'll wake up someday.”
Y'all. Where to start!?
If you know me at all you know that I have been going to the Evolving Faith Conference since the first one back in 2018. You already know that I love Sarah Bessey and her books and all of her writing. You might have heard me say that RHE, Sarah Bessey, and Nadia Bolz-Webber and their writings and sermons and podcasts helped me so much when I was really struggling “in the wilderness” of my own HUGE EXISTENTIAL SPIRITUAL FAITH CRISIS / DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL/ DECONSTRUCTION... whatever words you want to use to describe it. Those 3 women in particular helped me figure out how I could hold onto Jesus when so much of my theology and all of my certainty had “crumbled like sand ‘neath the waves” (yes that's a Bible & Jennifer Knapp lyric reference.)
I finished listening to the audiobook while driving home from work today. (It is read by Sarah and I highly recommend it!) a word of caution though: if you are often moved to tears by beautiful, healing words of encouragement, blessings, and her benedictions, you probably shouldn't be driving while listening to those parts! I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes so many times as I listened.
A few quotes from her benediction/blessing at the end of the book:
“So here, take this with you for the journey along with my love and hope. Sometimes when we don't know what we think about anything, it's nice to just rest in someone else's faith for a while anyway, especially when we feel a bit out of sorts. Open your hands and receive whatever lands. Everywhere we are is already held in the love of God, even in those times when the night gathers and you are on your own.” (217)
“First, I pray for you to know, to believe, to make your home within the love of God. May you be stubbornly convinced of your own value and belovedness. May you know that you aren't a problem to be solved, you never were.” (217)
“Receive the patience and kindness of the Spirit, offer it freely to everyone, including yourself. May that gentleness deliver you to an unforced rhythm of grace that reawakens you, recovers you, and restores you. May you receive losing your religion like the gift it will be to you in the end.” (218)
“May all of the meaning you find and create bring you comfort and peace.”(219)
I have more to say but you should really just go read her book!
Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs & In-Betweens offers a refreshing and honest perspective on living with uncertainty and finding joy in the midst of pain. The author, who was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at the age of 35, shares her insights and experiences on topics such as gratitude, grief, hope, fear, love, and faith. Each day's meditation is accompanied by a quote, a scripture, a prayer, and a reflection question that invites the reader to explore their own feelings and beliefs. The book is not a guide to overcoming or escaping suffering, but rather a companion for embracing it and learning from it. Kate Bowler writes with humor, wisdom, and compassion, and her words challenge the reader to live each day fully and authentically. Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day! will inspire and comfort anyone who is facing a difficult situation or who simply wants to grow in their spiritual journey.
Thank you to the author, Convergent Books, and NetGalley for the eARC.
This audiobook was absolutely delightful to listen to. I think anyone with an appreciation of Star Trek Next Gen, Picard, or theater in general will really enjoy this memoir. I loved hearing stories from all throughout Sir Patrick Stewart's life and I have no idea how he was able to remember so much in so much detail!
Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew is a book by Hans Boersma, a professor of theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary. In this book, Boersma argues that biblical scholars often neglect the theological implications of their work and that they should pay more attention to the insights of the church fathers and the tradition of Christian interpretation. He also criticizes the historical-critical method of biblical scholarship, which he sees as too skeptical and naturalistic. He proposes a more sacramental approach to Scripture, which views the Bible as a means of encountering God's presence and grace.
Boersma's book is an attempt to bridge the gap between biblical studies and theology, (a divide I have often complained about!) but it also reveals his own bias and agenda. He seems to assume that his own theological perspective, which is influenced by Reformed and Anglican traditions, is normative and superior to other views. (I found this very frustrating!)
He also dismisses or ignores the contributions of modern biblical scholarship, especially from feminist, liberationist, and postcolonial perspectives. He does not engage with the diversity and complexity of the biblical texts but rather imposes his own theological framework on them. He also fails to acknowledge the historical and cultural contexts of both the biblical authors and the church fathers, and how they shaped their interpretations.
Boersma's book is not a fair or balanced assessment of biblical scholarship or theology in my opinion.
In The Purpose Gap, Patrick B. Reyes reflects on a family member's death after a long struggle with incarceration and homelessness. Reyes asks himself why his cousin's life had turned out so differently from his own, and he realizes that it was a matter of conditions. The book is a guide that moves from why the purpose gap exists, how to overcome it, and what the world looks like when we work to close the gap.
Reyes writes about the purpose gap, which is the combination of conditions that create a gap between those who can achieve their dreams and find lives of meaning and purpose, and those who must overcome great adversity just to imagine a better life. He wrote this book for those who want to eradicate this gap and build new worlds where our children can thrive.
The book is a love letter to the dispossessed, marginalized, ignored, the Chicano and broader Latinx/e/o/a community, Black, Indigenous, and people of color. It is also for those whose lives of meaning and purpose have been cut short through violence and incarceration, and for those whose imagination about the meaning and purpose of their lives is limited by the personal and systemic pains of hunger, poverty, and abuse.
Reyes provides studies, stories, and visions that provide insights about how to create conditions for people to thrive in your community. He draws on spiritual and intellectual wellsprings to close the purpose gap.
The book is a valuable resource for anyone who is seeking to live a meaningful and fulfilling life, especially in times of crisis and uncertainty. It is also a powerful reminder of the importance of solidarity and compassion in a world that often devalues and dehumanizes people based on their race, class, gender, or religion.
Straight White Male is a collection of essays from contributing writers who lack various types of privilege, including straight, Black man William J. Barber II, straight, white woman Melissa Florer-Bixler, queer, nonbinary Latinx Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, and gay, white man Matthias Roberts. The essays offer insights into how particular types and combinations of privilege (and the lack thereof) shape the way we move through the world.
The book aims to help Christian men who identify as straight and white to examine their privilege and power in society, and to use them for good. The book is divided into three parts: the first part explores the concepts of privilege, oppression, and intersectionality; the second part examines how privilege affects various aspects of life, such as relationships, work, church, and culture; and the third part offers practical steps and resources for deconstructing privilege and living with integrity. The book is written in a conversational and accessible style, with personal stories, biblical references, and discussion questions. The author acknowledges his own journey of learning and unlearning and invites the readers to join him in the process.
The book is a valuable resource for straight white male Christians who want to grow in their awareness and understanding of social justice issues, and to align their lives with God's vision of justice and love. The book challenges the readers to confront their biases, assumptions, and blind spots, and to take responsibility for their actions and choices. The book also encourages the readers to listen to and learn from the experiences and perspectives of marginalized groups, such as women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. The book does not offer easy answers or quick fixes but rather invites the readers to embark on a lifelong journey of transformation and solidarity.
