Instagram Posts from the Week of Sept. 1, 2019

Podcast Rec. - Sept. 3, 2019

Current Listen - You Have Permission to Think Seriously About (Biblical) Patriarchy (#9) (Released February 18, 2019)

“Even though the patriarchal cultural norms are a part of the story, there is this shift going on and there is this movement going on…God hasn’t given up on the vision (from Genesis 1 and 2), and that’s why Jesus has come. His Kingdom is not of this world…If you go to Genesis and your goal is to establish the authority of a man over his wife, then you’ve broken up what God says in Genesis 1 when He gives them both the same identity and calling. It’s the same. He is not saying that the men are to rule and subdue and the women are to be fruitful and multiply.” - Carolyn Custis James

In the episode of YHPT, Dan Koch talked with author Carolyn Custis James to discuss questions such as: Does the Bible teach a soft, ‘kind’ version of patriarchy, or was patriarchy the unquestioned cultural backdrop of the Biblical text?; Does God prescribe a loving patriarchal system, or is God against it?; What does God call his daughters to be and do in the world?

I started exploring Egalitarian theology last year and experienced every emotion as I processed, questioned, and doubted. If I am honest, it is currently difficult for me to talk with people who ardently defend Complementarianism without getting angry, even though it wasn't that long ago I identified as Complementarian. Pride is real, and it's a struggle over here. But hearing Carolyn Custis James graciously expound on her positions filled me with hope for future conversations. I may never figure it all out, but I want to walk in humility with others, even if we disagree.

What podcasts have you listened to recently?

#dankoch #carolyncustisjames #youhavepermissionto #podcast #podcastrecommendation #patriarchy #egalitarian #hermeneutics #theology #loveyourneighbor #broadeningthenarrative



Account to Follow - Sept. 4, 2019

I recently discovered the Sincerely, Lettie Instagram page. As you can see, Lettie is a historian and social justice advocate. She also hosts the Sincerely, Lettie podcast. As someone who is learning to connect historical events to current realities, I appreciate Lettie’s discussions that explain how the past is intertwined with the present.

Like Lettie, I didn’t like history growing up, but her Instagram posts and podcast episodes demonstrate why history matters. We need to know a more comprehensive historical account than the white-washed history we are often taught, and Lettie is an essential voice stepping in to broaden the narrative.

Follow @sincerely.lettie, and support her as she educates and advocates.

#sincerelylettie #accounttofollow #historian #socialjusticeadvocate #socialjustice #podcasthost #educator #avidreader #blacklivesmatter #supportblackwomen #antiracism #antiracist #antiracismwork #dismantlewhitesupremacy #endwhitesupremacy #seekjustice #restorativejustice #reconciliation #lovemercy #walkhumbly #facethepast #healthefuture #broadeningthenarrative



Additional Rec. - Sept. 5, 2019

On Aug. 16, 2018, an article by Rachel Cargle was featured in Harper's Bazaar. The title is “When Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels.” Rachel Cargle wrote about the backlash of white feminists when called on to stand in solidarity with women of color. She explained several strategies utilized by white feminists from “The Toxic White Feminism Playbook,” which include tone policing, spiritual bypassing, white savior complex, and centering. I have included several quotes below and urge you to read the full article.

“If there is not the intentional and action-based inclusion of women of color, then feminism is simply white supremacy in heels.”

“As these things play out over and over again, it is made painfully obvious that many white women believe that the worst thing that can happen to them is to be called a racist. Let me be clear, it is not. Seeing your child gunned down in the street by the police unjustly is much worse, being turned away for medical care due to race and underlying biases by medical staff, resulting in death, is much worse, being harassed by authorities only to be charged yourself instead is much worse.”

“Racism is as American as pie. In order for the feminist movement to truly be progressive and intersectional, white women must face this fact and begin to take on their load of work. We are long overdue to dismantle this system, which, if it is not intentionally and aggressively addressed, will defeat us all in the end.”

I am thankful for black, Indigenous, and women of color for holding me accountable. White women, let’s encourage one another to not get defensive when our actions or intentions are confronted by women of color. Let us humbly receive instruction and correction, ask for forgiveness, and thank the women of color in our lives who challenge us.

#rachelcargle #whenfeminismiswhitesupremacyinheels #dismantlewhitesupremacy #endwhitesupremacy #antiracism #antiracist #feminism #feminist #progressive #intersectional #equality #learning #socialjustice #seekjustice #restorativejustice #lovemercy #walkhumbly #repent #repair #loveyourneighbor #challengethenarrative #broadeningthenarrative



Book Rec. - Sept. 7, 2019

Past Read - We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“It is not so much that I logically reasoned out that Obama’s election would author a post-racist age. But it now seemed possible that white supremacy, the scourge of American history, might well be banished in my lifetime. In those days I imagined racism as a tumor that could be isolated and removed from the body of America, not as a pervasive system both native and essential to that body” (Coates, 2017, p.37).

“There were direct advantages to black atheism, to a disbelief in dreams and moral appeal. First, it removed the weight of believing that ‘white people,’ en masse, were interested listeners. ‘White people,’ en masse, are not. They are - like any other people - mostly self-interested, which is why mass appeals to conscience, minus some compelling, existential threat, generally end in disappointment. But I was armed against disappointment because, in defiance, I had no expectations of white people at all” (Coates, 2017, p.113).

“Imagining the smallness of my own life span against the span of American history, and thinking how many lifetimes went in to the creation of the problem of white supremacy, meant that any solutions I gave would likely require the work of generations. Moreover, my solution might seem crazy in the moment - much as abolition seemed ‘crazy’ for decades, right up until it happened - but must be considered anyway” (Coates, 2017, p.152).

“The sins of slavery did not stop with slavery. On the contrary, slavery was but the initial crime in a long tradition of crimes, of plunder even, that could be traced into the present day” (Coates, 2017, p.158).

 We Were Eight Years in Power is a compilation of eight essays written by Ta-Nehisi Coates during President Obama’s years in office. Each essay is preceded by notes from years one through eight. “The Case for Reparations” resulted in a major paradigm shift for me, providing voice, experience, and history to the plunder Coates described in detail. I am deeply grateful for the brilliant mind and writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Has anyone else read this book?

#pastread #wewereeightyearsinpower #anamericantragedy #bookrecommendation #bookrec #tanehisicoates #reading #learning #dismantlewhitesupremacy #endwhitesupremacy #antiracism #antiracist #thecaseforreparations #reparations #reparationsnow #broadeningthenarrative