Shawna R. B. Atteberry

I have a habit of reading seven or eight books at the same time. I really try to just read one fiction and one nonfiction at a time, but that never happens. It starts with two books, and before I know I’ve got a stack I’m reading. Here’s what I’m reading now.

Non-fiction

10 Lies the Church Tells Women J. Lee Grady

Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA) by Caroline Walker Bynum

Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of Their Stories by Tikva Frymer-Kensky

The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life by John Assaraf and Murray Smith

Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

Fiction

The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel by Salman Rushdie

In a Glass Darkly (Oxford World’s Classics) by Sheridan Le Fanu

Quite the collection, huh? What are reading?

Photo by ijsendoorn.

Singing Owl said: Back in the day, before I went to seminary, I worked in the Children’s Room at the Public Library, and every year we geared up for Summer Reading. Children would come in and record the books read over the summer, and the season included numerous special and celebratory events. As a lifelong book lover and enthusiastic summer reader, I find I still accumulate a pile of books for the summer.

This week, then, a Summer Reading Friday Five.

1) Do you think of summer as a particularly good season for reading? Why or why not?

Yes, I think it’s because I was in school for so long, and summer was when I could read whatever I want.

2) Have you ever fallen asleep reading on the beach?

No, but I’m willing to give it a try.

3) Can you recall a favorite childhood book read in the summertime?

Anything by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

4) Do you have a favorite genre for light or relaxing reading?

Urban fantasy. Last weekend I read Jim Butcher’s White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) and Francis Clark’s Waking Brigid. I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning reading, and read both books in two days. I love doing that! Although it doesn’t happen as often as it used to. But there’s nothing better than being curled up in bed lost in a book as the wee hours tick tock by.

5) What is the next book on your reading list?

A book my friend Jen wrote. I’m eagerly awaiting for her to finish the second draft.

I swiped the picture from Singing Owl.

After watching the Food Network in PJs all morning, I went to the library. It’s been a good day. Here’s what I checked out:

Fiction
White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) by Jim Butcher (I need a Bob fix)
Waking Brigid by Francis Clark

Feminist books for Career Women of the Bible
Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility and The Whole Woman by Germaine Greer

Thinking and Creativity
Serious Creativity Using the Power of La and De Bono’s Thinking Course, Revised Edition by Edward De Bono

When I came out of the library, I heard music and walked a block to the park by the library, and there was a Cool Jazz Festival going on, so I enjoyed that for awhile. It’s a gorgeous day here in Chi-town. It’s sunny with big, fluffy white clouds gliding by, in the 70s with a great breeze. Perfect weather for the pizza party that will be happening on the roof of our building this evening.

What are you doing this weekend? What are reading?

This is one of the many reasons why Neil Gaiman absolutely rocks!

I know that David Tennant’s Hamlet isn’t till July. And lots of people are going to be doing Dr Who in Hamlet jokes, so this is just me getting it out of the way early, to avoid the rush…

“To be, or not to be, that is the question. Weeelll…. More of A question really. Not THE question. Because, well, I mean, there are billions and billions of questions out there, and well, when I say billions, I mean, when you add in the answers, not just the questions, weeelll, you’re looking at numbers that are positively astronomical and… for that matter the other question is what you lot are doing on this planet in the first place, and er, did anyone try just pushing this little red button?”

I can hear David Tennant as The Doctor saying this in my head at this moment! And David is going to be Hamlet? Okay, that I am going to have to see. Anyone think he’ll be as broody as Kenneth Branagh was?

If you’ve never read Neil, I suggest you make a trip to the library. He’s a wonderful sci-fi, urban fantasy, modern fairy tale, with a little horror thown in for good measure writer. The man knows how to tell a good story, and you can see from above he knows his way around words. My favorite book is Neverwhere: A Novel and my second favorite is Stardust. I cannot wait until The Graveyard Book comes out. His blog is a very good thing for all writers. Writing is always hard work even for those who are published multiple times and famous. They still have to put their butts in a chair and do the work, whether they feel like it or not, or feel inspired or not.

Now I need to hit the button on my Doctor Who Tardis 4 Port USB Hub, so the light will flash, and it makes the Tardis sound. My Wonderful Geek of a Husband got it for me as part of my anniversary gift. *que Dr. Who theme*

The image is from ThinkGeek.com.

I have upadated my book review after comments Susan left. Please make sure you read her comment. There’s somef good stuff there. Thank you Susan for stopping by!

Today is the release date of Susan McLeod-Harrison’s first book Saving Women from the Church: How Jesus Mends a Divide (Barclay Press, 2008). Upfront I have to say I’m not sure I can review this book objectively. Susan’s story is very close to my own. Reading this book, I wished it had been published about eight years earlier. That is when I was going through my own struggle on whether or not to remain in the Church. And I do mean Church with a big C. I wasn’t thinking of only leaving my denomination, I was thinking of leaving the Church period. I was in seminary and on the ordination track. I did not see a place for myself in Christian ministry. I was single; I was evangelical; and I was called to preach and pastor. I was also asked in various churches if I was going to seminary to be a pastor’s wife. I had come to the point where I wanted to leave. I wanted to walk away. I just did not see a future for myself in the Church.

Saving Women from the Church addresses several of the myths that woman hear in church. Some of the chapter titles are: “If you’ve felt alienated and judged in the church,” “If you believe women are inferior to men,” “If as a single woman, your gifts have been rejected or overlooked,” and “If you’ve been encouraged to deify motherhood.” In the Introduction, she starts with my favorite starting point on women in the church: creation. Both men and women are created in the image of God, and therefore, image God with their gifts and talents God has given them. In each chapter she starts with a fictional account of a woman who is experiencing and living one of the myths. She follows it with a imaginative portrayal of how Jesus treated women in a similar position in the New Testament. She follows the biblical story by explaining what Jesus was doing and with questions for discussion. Each chapter ends with a meditation meant for healing. Saving Women does a great job of translating theology into practical, everyday examples in language normal people use. The history and sociological work she does for each passage, explaining the culture of the people, at the time is also well done.

I think this book would make an excellent woman’s study or small group study. It addresses most of the myths women in the evangelical church have grown up with and still deal with. It would be a great conversation starter, and it is a valuable addition to other books on this subject. The language and tone of the book make it much more accessible and understandable to the typical lay person than most books in this genre. In the conclusion, Susan recommends women in abusive churches leave and gives a list of churches that are egalitarian and open to women in ministry. Saving Women does a good job of acknowledging and describing the myths, and encourages women to get out of these environments. The Recommended Reading at the end of the book also has books that would help in this regard.

Overall I am very pleased that this book is on the market. It starts with the premise that women are made in the image of God and called to build God’s kingdom. Then it deals chapter-by-chapter with the destructive myths that have prevailed in evangelical culture to keep women as second-class citizens and powerless in the pews. It is an excellent resource to begin busting these myths and helping women find their God-given ability to be equal partners in building God’s kingdom with their brothers.

I went to my OB-GYN and had an ultrasound done this week. It looks like the lump I found is an enlarged lymph gland. It has nothing to do with my breast; it is under the pectoral muscle. I have made an appointment with my primary care doctor to see what she thinks we should do. I see her Feb. 22. Thank you for all you prayers, comments, and emails.

Julie tagged me to do this book meme:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

The book nearest me did not have 123 pages: Carol Meyers’ Households And Holiness: The Religious Culture Of Israelite Women (Facets). But the book under it does: Phyllis Bird’s Missing Persons and Mistaken Identities (Overtures to Biblical Theology) (I’m doing sociological research for Career Women of the Bible). I had to go to page 124 because 123 only has two sentences. It’s a title page with a lot of footnotes.

A legacy of the long and intense theological interest in the imago Dei has been an atominzing and reductionist approach to the passage, in which the attention is focused on a single phrase or clause, severing it from its immediate context and from its context within the larger composition, a fixation and fragmentation which has affected exegetical as well as dogmatic discussion. A further legacy of this history of speculation has been the establishment of a tradition of theological inquiry and argument with a corresponding body of knoweldge and norms separate from, and largely independent of, exegetical scholarship on the same passage. The rise of a biblical science distinct from dogmatic theology resulted in a dual history of scholarship on the passage with little significant dialogue between the respective specialists.

Now you know why it’s been awhile since you saw any original posts from me. Between this and sermons, I haven’t had much time. The other books I’m reading right now are Carol Meyers Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context and Carolyn Osiex and Maragret MacDonald’s A Woman’s Place: House Churches In Earliest Christianity. If you want to do the meme consider yourself tagged.

Just when you think there are ten people reading your blog, including family, you find out differently. Last week I mentioned in a post how disappointed I was in the last chapter of Carolyn Custis James’ Lost Women of the Bible. Today I received an email from Carolyn:

I deeply appreciate your comments about my book, Lost Women of the Bible. I take feedback seriously and am always interested in finding ways to improve and communicate more effectively. I must confess, however, to feeling saddened by your disappointment in the final chapter on Paul and the Women of Philippi, particularly because your disappointment was tied to something my book (and that chapter in particular) never intended to address.

In the chapter in question, I am addressing an aspect of the problem women face in the church that impacts every Christian woman, and not simply the women who feel called to pastoral ministry. My goal is to establish the fact that men (even men who are senior pastors) need women in the battle with them—ministering at their side and also ministering to them personally. That is why I’m talking about male pastors. So the logic goes, if these men need us, then surely every man needs the spiritual ministries of women. I doubt female pastors would have any difficulty in valuing the ministry of other women with and to themselves, so I wasn’t addressing them.

My books address a general audience. I purposely do not address specifics about what women can or can’t do in the church. I intentionally do not take a public position on the ordination question. I leave that discussion to others. I know this frustrates many readers. My purpose is to get both sides to look at the deeper issue of why the spiritual gifts and contributions of women are not just permissible, but essential to the whole body of Christ. I hope my books cause church leadership to wrestle with how that looks in their particular setting. It won’t look the same in every church, but every church needs to think this through and hopefully, begin to make progress in how men and women serve God together.

I think it is very cool that Carolyn, not only keeps track about what is being said about her books, but takes the time to email to correct reader mispercecptions. This was my response:

Thank you for writing me about Lost Women in the Bible. Thank you for clarifying what your purpose was for the book. I will re-read the last chapter with what you’ve said in mind. I really did like the book, and the scholarship you did was excellent (I’m a geek and a sucker for really good scholarship). You are also a great storyteller. I’m studying both Lost Women and When Life and Beliefs Collide because I am still trying to figure out how to keep a conversational tone throughout my writing instead of vacillating between conversational and academic.

I do think you are filling a huge gap for women with this book. When it comes to books about women in ministry it seems women are caught between women’s and children’s ministries or going for ordination. It’s good to see a book for women that does holistically address women’s spiritual gifts and both women and men working side by side to build God’s kingdom. I am glad that how I read the last chapter was not what you intended. More than likely I was reading through my own experience and what I thought should be there instead of staying with what you stated in the introduction was your intention with the book.

Thank you so much for taking the time to email me. It means a lot that you keep an eye out on what is being said about your books and taking the time to respond.

I am going to re-read the last chapter, and I have a feeling that my response is going to be different. I also have a feeling that the book review is going to be different as well.