Month: June 2011

Sorry for the Radio Silence

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The blog has been very, very quiet. There’s a reason for that: I had a two week sinus headache/migraine. I’m feeling better after changing sinus medicines, but the last couple of weeks were rough. The headaches were also caused by eye strain due to a significant change in my astigmatism. Until the new prescription comes in computer time is limited due to eye strain. I hope you had a better June than I did. I plan on being back for July and the new Customer Love challenge for that month!

Please remember:

To go take a look at my ebook–What You Didn’t Learn in Sunday School: Women Who Didn’t Shut Up & Sit Down.

When you sign up for my newsletter, Shawna’s Newbies &  Deals over in the right sidebar, you get a free chapter of What You Didn’t Learn in Sunday School: Women Who Didn’t Shut Up & Sit Down. You will only receive a newsletter from me when I have new products or am offering my list a deal. This is not a regular newsletter.


Women Bloggers You Should Be Reading: Suzanne McCarthy

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I’ve followed Suzanne McCarthy’s blog, Suzanne’s Bookshelf for at least three years. First I have to apologize to Suzanne (as I do with most bloggers I follow) because I tend to be a lurker and don’t comment that much. I know that’s not what you’re supposed to do, but that’s how I am. I do a lot of reading, and if the planets are aligned just right, I leave a comment. Most of the time when I read Suzanne’s posts, I think: “This woman is freaking brilliant.” And she is.

Suzanne’s knowledge of both Koine Greek (the everyday Greek that the New Testament is written in) and Classical Greek is broad and deep. The woman knows her dead languages, and she knows how to communicate that knowledge, so you don’t have to have a degree in linguistics to understand what she’s talking about. She’s also a strong advocate for women’s full equality in the church and women in ministry. Suzanne was voted as one of the Top 10 Bibliobloggers in May. Congratulations Suzanne!

Suzanne has two current blogposts that I wanted my readers to know about it. The first one is about one of my favorite women in the Bible: Phoebe. Suzanne points out that one of the words Paul uses to describe Phoebe, prostasis, one of the early church fathers, Clement, uses to describe Jesus. She shows how this word is used for leaders in the early church.

Her second post is compiling lists from Bible Archaeology of the kind of work women did in the Bible to support themselves and their families, which included food preparation; carding, spinning and weaving wool and flax, as well as making tents, setting them up and breaking them down. (Again I highly recommend the book Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years by Barbara Wayland Barber.)

Go read the posts and explore Suzanne’s Bookshelf. You’ll find all sorts of goodies there.

 

 

RevGals Friday Five: Summer Reruns

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For the last two months I’ve had my nose to the grindstone getting Women Who Didn’t Shut Up & Sit Down written and published. Now it’s time to have some fun. I’m part of a marvelous group of women called the RevGalBlogPals. It’s a blog ring for women in ministry and leadership positions in the church, women in seminary or college, and those who support them. Every Friday there’s always a fun meme to help us get to know each other and meet new people. Here is this week’s Friday Five.

Songbird muses: “It’s that time of year when the only new things on television are music/dance competitions (the 21st century answer to variety shows?). Yes, it’s the season of reruns.

This week the clock turned back to last fall and the Glee kids went back to school and still got “slushied,” and Michael hired his nephew on The Office, which was not something even he would be likely to repeat.

In honor of this annual Time Warp, please share five things worth a repeat. These could be books, movies, CDs, recipes, vacations, or even TV shows.”

Here are my reruns; things I can read, watch, or listen to over and over and over again.

  • Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. One of my favorite books. I reread it this spring for One Book One Chicago, and got to hear Neil Gaiman speak at the Harold Washington Public Library. I stood in line for three hours to make sure I’d get a good seat. I am such a fangirl.
  • Firefly and Serentiy. Wash and Zoe have what I consider to be the perfect biblical marriage. When River decided to fight, she decided when, where, and why. Female sovereignty at its best. Need I say more?
  • CSI:NY. I tuned in for Gary Sinise. I stayed for the rest of the sexy cast. The boyfriend/fiance of my main character in the novel I’m working on is based on Det. Don Flack. Yes, I know how fangirl pathetic this makes me sound. See 1st rerun.
  • Anything by The Cure. I’ve been bopping out and dancing to The Cure since the 80s, and I have no plans to stop. When I need a break I throw in one of my many CDs and become a Love Cat (YouTube video) bouncing all over the living room.
  • Little Women. This has been a favorite book since my early 20s. I don’t know why I didn’t read it earlier, but I’m glad I did read it. It’s one of those books I go back to again and again and again to visit old friends.

I’m also going to post this over at Home Sanctuary for the Company Girl Friday Coffee to start having fun with that group again too. Warning: when developing and launching a product, you will lose contact with everyone you ever met  online or in real life. Just so you know.

What is Home Sanctuary and who are the Company Girls? It’s a wonderful community Rachel Anne Ridge created to help us make our homes sanctuary. You won’t find any Martha Stewarts here; just women who want their houses/apartments/condos to be homes, and Rachel shows how to do that.

It’s Friday. Take a break. Relax. Have some coffee, and tell me:

What are some of your favorite reruns? Who are some of your old friends?

The 1st Review of Women Who Didn't Shut Up & Sit Down Is In

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J. K. Gayle at Aristotle’s Feminist Subject has posted the first review of Women Who Didn’t Shut Up & Sit Down.

J. K. is a wonderful advocate of women’s equality and women in ministry. He makes sure we have a voice in the biblioblogger web world as well as telling his readers what feminist theologians like me are blogging about. I’ve also met some incredible women through him like Suzanne McCarthy and Rachel Marszalek. Go read what he has to say about Women Who Didn’t Shut Up & Sit Down.

Women Who Didn't Shut Up & Sit Down: More than an E-book

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Two weeks ago I let my baby out into the world: my first E-book, Women Who Didn’t Shut Up & Sit Down. Now the E-book isn’t by it’s lonesome; in fact, it’s the star of two different packages. The first package is the E-book and four podcasts with Catherine Caine, Sandi Amorim, Lainie Petersen, and Mark Mattison. We talk about why interpretation of biblical passages about women is so important in today’s world. Whether we’re Christian or not (two of my interviewees aren’t Christian), the way these verses have been traditionally interpreted by Western Christianity effects women and their roles in the world.

The second package includes the E-book and podcasts plus two spiritual direction sessions. Have you been trying to figure out your place in the world? Are your dreams taking you into roles traditional views of women say you shouldn’t go? Are you confused about what you think you can and can’t do based on your sex? Then get the third package, and I will be happy to listen and help you discern what Godde might be saying to you. We’ve all grown up hearing that Godde doesn’t allow women some roles because we are women. It takes some doing to undo all those lies. Let me help.

You can go here to find out more about Women Who Didn’t Shut Up & Sit Down along with the packages. (And don’t worry: if all you want is the E-book, there’s an option for that too.)

I’m available for interviews, podcasts, and guest posts: Email me .