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SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice -
WOMEN IN THE BIBLE
FOR PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANS
From the Hebrew Scriptures
Seven-Session Study Guide
by Donald Schmidt
Wood Lake Publishers,
Kelowna, BC. June, 2021
$12.00 CAD paper. $7.50 CAD Kindle
ISBN #978-1-77343-418-6
Publisher's Promo:
Women make up over one-half of the world's population, yet throughout history women have been kept out of power; they have been oppressed and disregarded, and have often had their stories ignored. This is a tragedy not only for women but for all humankind, because we all have much to gain by hearing one another's stories, and by experiencing one another in all of our rich fullness – not from a preconceived notion that one group or sex is superior to another
This is important to note at the beginning, because history has largely been told by men. In particular, the stories we have preserved from ancient times tell things from a male perspective, and often ignore women. Thus, we often need to read between the lines and behind the words to really hear the stories of the women who played such a significant role in the events described in the biblical stories, and by extension, in our tradition.
Of course there are real differences between women and men, just as there are real differences between men, and between women. We are not all the same; as individuals, we are all different from each other. Rather than a problem, however, we can see this as one of the greatest gifts God has given us – the wonderful and amazing gift of difference. The sessions in this study will invite you to explore the stories of some amazing biblical women, to get to know them and to learn from them. How might we live our lives in response to that.
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Author's Bio:
Whenever he can choose what to do, Donald Schmidt likes to spin wool, knit, and weave. In his spare time, he also works in ministry in a variety of settings. He has served parishes in Quebec, New York, Vermont, Washington, and Hawai‘i. He has also worked as an Associate Conference Minister with the United Church of Christ, and is a retired United Methodist minister. Perhaps his favorite ministry has been as an editor and writer of church resources, for worship, education, and church revitalization. He has published 3 books, and has had a few pieces of music appear in various collections around the world. He also loves to travel, finding that visiting anywhere new and different can open us up to learn new things about others and, in the process, ourselves. More recently Donald has served with the United Church of Canada, and was Minister for Worship and Leadership Development at First United Church in Kelowna, British Columbia. He lives in the Okanagan Valley of BC. He is a grandfather of 8, and father of 3.
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Author's Words:
As we read the ancient texts (of the Hebrew scriptures to study the lives of some Hebrew women recorded there) we come to realize that they were written almost exclusively by men in a male-dominated society. It is sometimes astonishing that there is any acknowledgement of women at all. We discover that sometimes it is important to "read between the lines" rather than simply reading the lines presented...
One could almost be forgiven for assuming that there were not women in that world at all. Reading the Bible is almost like reading Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, in which the women were reduced to baby-making entities and little else.
Consequently, when we encounter a snippet of a woman's story, we need to pause and attempt to read what else is there - at times to reconstruct, at others to fill in the blanks, and in general to assume there is always more to the story than meets the eye.
Regardless of our own gender and sexuality, we must remember that we can learn much about the world by reading these stories. These ancient women, rather than being confined to history, are very much alive within the ongoing story of our faith.
We must let our stories enter our being and become part of our lives.
- taken and interpreted in places from the author's preface.
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My Thoughts:
Within the past year, before this book came out, our Bible study group at St. David's Church, Calgary also studied the lives of most of the women in this seven session series.
It is helpful to me to read the stories contained in this book that we did not study. (I'm thinking of names like Eve, Tamar and Rahab.) But I am glad we covered a number of those appearing in Schmidt's book.
There is always a challenge when the study leader is a man and most class-members are women (like me in our church study or Schmidt it this one.) But there is also a benefit when the members of the class are mixed in terms of gender.
When a group has spent a good deal of time together, a lot of honesty can emerge from open discussion. Hidden thoughts and feelings are gradually expressed and more radical views are tempered. Gender is not the key needed characteristic of leadership, but openness to ideas and some new directions of thinking. Integrity is an important quality too.
I thank Donald Schmidt for preparing this study and Wood Lake Publishing for producing it.
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Buy the book from:
Amazon.ca - not yet available
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COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Eldon Godfrey,
Calgary, AB.
Calgary Herald,
June 5th, 2021
"Synagogue, mosque and church
all under one roof in Germany"
--
Laura Locke,
Calgary, AB
Kolbe Times,
June 19th, 2021
June Issue
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Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log
June 13th, 2021
"Our Values Come from Our Communities"
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
June 21st, 2021
"What is Love Asking of Me Now?"
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NET NOTES
DIVERSITY AND RACISM
Canada is Deeply Divided
Angus Reid Poll
June 21st, 2021
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CALLS GROW TO CANCEL CANADA DAY
Some Canadians are Serious About This
Kitchener Today,
June 16th, 2021
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HOW TO DEAL WITH VIOLENT SCRIPTURES
Respecting the Bible Through the Challenges
Christian Century,
June 21st, 2021
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GERMANY GETS FIRST MILITARY
RABBI IN OVER A CENTURY
A Historic Development
Religion News Service,
June 22nd, 2021
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CATHOLIC CHURCH TO BLAME
FOR CANADA'S RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
Leger Poll Results
Catholic Register, Toronto
June 16th, 2021
https://tinyurl.com/yzx9mpmu
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LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION ELECTS
FIRST FEMALE GENERAL SECRETARY
To Lead Global Communion
Religion News Service,
June 21st, 2021
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FOUR QUESTIONS CHRISTIANS NEED TO ASK
If We Truly Support the Call for Reconciliation
Broadview,
June 18th, 2021
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TIBET AFTER THE DALAI LAMA
Here is a Current Chinese Scenario
Religion News Service,
June 16th, 2021
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MENNONITE TEACHER, PREACHER
BATTLING VACCINE HESITANCY
Manitoba Church Leader is Focused
The Canadian Press,
June 18th, 2021
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WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
God loves, yea is love. Therefore hell itself must be subservient to that love and must be an embodiment of it.
- George MacDonald
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Christians cannot protest for their religious freedom one day and protest against a mosque opening up down the street the next. Not only does that undermine Christian witness in politics, it undermines religious freedom.
- Michael Wear
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The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people. Wherever things have become more important than people, we are in trouble. That is the crux of the whole matter.
- Thomas Merton
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It is better to be silent and be, than to talk and not be.… Those who possess the word of Jesus are truly able to hear even his very silence, that they may be perfect and may both act as they speak, and be recognized by their silence. There is nothing which is hid from God, but our very secrets are near to him. Let us therefore do all things as those who have him dwelling in us, that we may be his temples, and he may be in us as our God.
- Ignatius
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Most people are worth knowing, if you will take time to understand them. Unfamiliarity with other people, ignorance of other people, is what makes war possible and violence possible, and it drives all the social divisions in a school or in a town, nation, or world. When you understand people well enough, you can’t help but love them, even if you hate them too. If you think those are incompatible emotions, I remind you to think about your relationship with almost any close family member. Understanding people is indeed loving them.
- Doris "Granny D" Haddock
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The poet Stifter once said, “Pain is a holy angel, who shows treasures to people which would otherwise remain forever hidden; through him people have become greater than through all the joys of the world.” It must be so and I tell myself this in my present situation over and over again. The pain of suffering and of longing, which can often be felt even physically, must be there, and we cannot and need not talk it away. But it needs to be overcome every time, and thus there is an even holier angel than the one of pain; that is, the one of joy in God.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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We need the tonic of wildness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only the wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground. At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be infinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
- Henry David Thoreau
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The prophet, therefore, is somebody whose role is always to be challenging the community to be what it is meant to be – to live out the gift that God has given to it. And so the baptized person, reflecting the prophetic role of Jesus Christ, is a person who needs to be critical, who needs to be a questioner. The baptized person looks around at the Church and may quite often be prompted to say, ‘Have you forgotten what you’re here for?’; ‘Have you forgotten the gift God gave you?
- Rowan Williams
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CLOSING THOUGHT - Henri J.M. Nouwen
I am with people who are poor in spirit. They teach me that being is more important than doing, the heart is more important than the mind, and doing things together is more important than doing things alone.
- Henri J.M. Nouwen
CLOSING THOUGHT II - Jacques Ellul
I am convinced that all the works of humankind will be reintegrated in the work of God, and that each one of us, no matter how sinful, will ultimately be saved.
(end)
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