This sermon, which I gave this morning, has haunted me all week. Initially I was excited about it and had tons of ideas where to go with it. As the week drew on, I became more and more worried. Talking about feminism doesn't usually meet with a particularly positive reaction. Men often find it aggressive; women often choose to distance themselves from it. Many people, men and women alike, feel that it just isn't necessary to talk about it any more. We've come a long way since the 1970s. We have maternity leave, the pill, access to jobs at the very highest level in pretty much all fields and anti-discrimination legislation - what more do we want?
As I was preparing this week, I found myself thinking about women who are not middle class, white and western, and asking myself what arguments over the biblical teaching on the place of women have to say to their situations. I found myself drawn to Jesus' 'Nazareth manifesto' in Luke 4:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favour has come. ” (Luke 4:18-19 NLT)
The fact is that, taking a global perspective, women are oppressed, held captive - both literally and metaphorically - and very, very poor. Globally, the average Christian is a poor young black woman. Do arguments about submission and headship have anything to say to her situation?
The reason, I think, that feminists come across as aggressive sometimes is that the women's movement was born out of oppression, and oppressed people are hurt and angry. So let's hear the pain and work together for a solution - men and women together - rather than having a theological tennis match.
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