5 books that made their mark

In the order in which these books came into my life:

1) The harlot by the side of the road: Forbidden tales of the Bible by Jonathan Kirsch.
Reading this book led me to realize, for the very first time, that the Bible needed to be read with some scholarship in order to be truly understood. This is the polar opposite of the approach that I was familiar with: that the biblical text is flat, black and white-- and that all the meaning is there on the page. I began to see that instead of asking what a biblical text tells us about God, it might be just as interesting and perhaps even more appropriate to ask, "What does this passage tell us about the culture that created it?"

2) Reviving the ancient faith: the story of Churches of Christ in America by Richard T. Hughes.
I'm newly arrived at the University of Maine, working as a science librarian. Familiarizing myself with their electronic catalog, I type in the phrase I always use to test out a literature database: church of christ. Usually nothing comes up (besides for United Church of Christ stuff, which is vastly different) but this time, something does. I devoured this book, then my husband did the same, then we bought a copy for ourselves and another for my parents, who were still members of the Church of Christ. In Hughes' history of the Churches of Christ, I felt that I had found one of the keys to my own personal history. Suddenly, so many attitudes, teachings, and even snippets of conversations from years past were finally understood in the context of history -- a history that is rarely, if ever, acknowledged by the church itself. Anyone who is now or ever has been a part of this church should read this book -- not because it will make you want to leave the church as I did (Hughes' is a sympathetic portrayal) but rather, will help you understand the church on a much deeper level.

3) The historical Jesus: the life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant by John Dominic Crossan.
Ironically, this member of the "Jesus Seminar"--a group much despised by many evangelicals for its pronouncements on the authenticity of the statements attributed to Jesus -- is the author of several books on the historical Jesus that revealed to me the full humanity of Jesus, which led me to truly love Him as never before. In this book I got a glimpse of just how radical Jesus' message really was -- much more than anything imagined by all the white-bread, middle class churches I had ever attended. I also faced, for the first time, the possibility that Jesus Christ is a mythical figure and the realization that it is possible to love, believe, and find salvation in that myth (as I believe Crossan himself does).


4) Albion's seed: Four British folkways in America by David Hackett Fischer.
My father introduced me to this book, which was my first encounter with the social sciences side of historical studies. Fischer describes in detail the folkways of the four majority cultures comprising pre-Revolutionary America: the Virginia cavaliers, Delaware Valley Quakers, New England Puritans, and backcountry Scots-Irish. Again, I felt as if I had uncovered another key to my personal history; so many details Fischer includes about Scots-Irish folkways are still evidenced in my extended clan today--down to the baby naming patterns and characteristic speech patterns of my grandmother. I constantly refer to this book when reading works about any of these cultures.

5) A religious history of the American people by Sydney Ahlstrom
I'm still in the middle of Ahlstrom's magisterial work, but early on in my reading I knew it was going to be a Bible of sorts. It provides crucial background information required to understand much of the other religion-oriented books I'm reading. Plus, I'm hoping, by osmosis, to achieve some degree of Ahlstrom's masterful use of the English language.

A Recurring Nightmare: 1 Corinthians 14:34-35

Mike Cope's blog has a great discussion going about his latest post regarding women's roles in the church, "Avoiding Counternarratives." Several commenters there suggest that even in churches (as in Churches of Christ) where there is no open dissatisfaction with women's non-role in the church, there may be silent pain about this issue. That reminded me of one of my recurring nightmares when I was a girl. I really did have this dream many times when growing up, and each time I woke up terrified. In order to understand this dream, you have to first understand that the church in which I grew up interpreted 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 quite literally.


<start nightmare>


I'm in Sunday morning worship service. The ceiling fans whir; lights gleam on the back of the polished wooden pews; the congregation contentedly settles back to listen to a sermon and perhaps, doze off.


The preacher gets up to deliver the sermon and begins to speak. The voice sounds a little higher than normal and I look up, startled, to find that instead of a man, there is a woman at the podium. I sit straight up in my pew and after the initial shock subsides, I take a look around at my fellow listeners. While I am horrified by this unsilent female, no one else seems to be bothered by the fact that they are listening to a woman preach.


Astounded and beginning to panic, I stand up and try to get the attention of other people around me...A woman should remain silent....Stop it...We shouldn't be listening to you...You shouldn't be up there! My pleas grow louder and louder, and eventually I'm shouting, demanding the woman to stop speaking and begging the onlookers to make her stop. But no one listens to me. The woman keeps preaching over my screams.


<wake up>


Years later, my husband surprised me with his own analysis of my nightmare: "Little did you know, the woman was you." Maybe that's why I was so frightened.


So the commenters on preachermike's blog post are correct. Even though you may not be able hear any complaints about the silencing of women in your churches, look around. The female half of your congregation --were they to be truthful with you -- might have their own nightmares to share.