Most days at I try to get out and walk around our neighborhood. Our suburban town has a nature trail I sometimes walk but other days I opt for the sidewalk that takes me by rows of older homes, bits of main street, and some historical remnants of what used to be Salem. Even with…
Spiritual direction (SD) is a term for something we look for all the time: companionship. In various forms, companionship is essential for physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual flourishing. Isolation in any season of life, such as a period of transition, parenting, grief or illness, or evolving faith, can be painful. Spiritual direction is a formal…
This post follows Traditional Gender Roles in the Handmaid’s Tale. The driving force behind the growth of Gilead’s fictional theocracy is surrogacy. In the Handmaid’s Tale, young, fertile handmaids are forced to bear children for other couples desperate for a family of “their own” to fulfill the command to “be fruitful and multiply.” Most handmaids…
(If you’re not familiar with The Handmaid’s Tale, either the TV series on Hulu or the 1984 novel by Margaret Atwood, here’s a five minute summary on YouTube. The TV series alters and adds a few details but remains true to the general themes and events of Atwood’s original book.) In both the book and…
In this series we’ve covered many topics within purity culture, but you may be left wondering what your role is in preventing sexual violence. This post contains several resources to empower you and your community to make informed advocacy decisions. Survivor Advocacy & Community Prevention The Importance of Pastoral Advocacy in Preventing Sexual Violence Members…
(This post uses #ChurchToo to compare responses from evangelical leaders, both pastoral and political, in the U.S. towards sexual violence. Additionally, the term “evangelical” has become political in recent years. Evangelical Christianity is a broad category with many different perspectives and is not monolithic. Simply because someone self-identifies as an evangelical does not mean they…