Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Comfort, O Comfort
"Comfort" was the theme of this morning's Eucharistic lessons as well as the Dean's sermon, and it was a message in need of being delivered. In this time of papers, projects, exams, frustrations, and lack of time to do it all, we could use a little comfort. The Dean listed all sorts of comforts he wished for: comfort food, comfort of friends, and Southern Comfort. Now, I've never been a big SoCo fan, but if the Dean would like a snifter, I'll bring some of The Balvenie and we can have ourselves a fine evening! On a serious note, the Dean always preaches a good sermon and always seems to have a relevant point. I may not always like the point he makes, but it is relevant. Today it was both relevant and agreeable to me.
Yesterday's Morning Prayer, which I officiated, went off nicely and I got no corrective remarks from Ruth, which I guess is a good sign. I had the opportunity to serve again today as a Eucharistic Minister, which is always a blessing. It still feels a bit awkward for me though to serve the chalice to ordained persons who also happen to be my professors! Guess that'll just be something I have to get over.
This morning's Old Testament class found us discussing Gunn & Fewell's (for a pair of feminists they have some awfully symbolic names of male power!) feminist article on 1 and 2 Kings. It was a lively discussion, as was to be expected, and it helped me in some ways to better understand their point of view. For instance, I can agree with them that monotheism as it has been enacted in history has been, at times, an oppressive system. Other arguments of theirs, though, I still struggle with. I don't think it is appropriate to say that monotheism is an oppressive sytem en total, for example. We must always remember to separate religious belief from socio-political machinations. Though they often are so interpollated that it can be difficult to keep them separate, there is nothing in the theism of Judeo-Christians that marks it as an oppressive system, by gender or any other lens. What does mark it as that is how it has been practiced, or, enacted throughout history. But to make a blanket statement like monotheism is oppressive to women is unfounded in my estimation.
Furthermore, we discussed the aspects of the article that posited that much of what is described in 1 and 2 Kings texts (such as the Jezebel texts) is "clearly a male fantasy". This irks me to no end. To say that females, especially foreign women, were a threat to male power in the ancient world (and some would argue today) is ok by me, because that was proabably true. However, to say that men reacted against this by fantasizing about the streets overflowing with whores (as a forbidden desire) is ludicrous. Mitch brought up the point that he agreed with this to an extent, because in his experience as a bouncer in a bar, he often saw men walking up to women and sexually objectifying them with crude pick-up lines. Though I don't believe Mitch meant it in the way I interpreted it, I was irritated, and so retorted. Not all men who go into bars talk to women in such ways, and, more importantly, not all women who are on the receiving end of such pick-up lines say "no"! I go into bars often and often talk to people, but never once have I said to an attractive woman, "Nice shoes..."
At WFU, I went out on a date with a very attractive, pleasant young lady from one of my classes once. Upon picking her up for dinner I noticed the shirt she was wearing had emblazoned across the chest of it the word "Guaranteed". Underneath this word was the company's logo, which is the initials of their name "French Connection United Kingdom" (FCUK). So, essentially, she chose to wear on a first date(!) with a fella she only knew from class, a shirt (a very tight shirt I may add) with the words "Guaranteed FCUK" in bold print across her chest. This puts a moral person like me in an awkward position.
All this is to say that I am damn sick and tired of hearing about how everything is the fault of men. Men are far from blameless, but so are women folks! Why can't we move past all this garbage and just treat people as people, accepting all our faults and gifts! Not all men are on the prowl for one night stands and not all women (young or otherwise) are virgin little angels! I've reached my breaking point with it. So, in a way, today's class allowed me to vent some frustration, which was good. I got much more of it out on here. Thanks for listening.
-R
"Comfort" was the theme of this morning's Eucharistic lessons as well as the Dean's sermon, and it was a message in need of being delivered. In this time of papers, projects, exams, frustrations, and lack of time to do it all, we could use a little comfort. The Dean listed all sorts of comforts he wished for: comfort food, comfort of friends, and Southern Comfort. Now, I've never been a big SoCo fan, but if the Dean would like a snifter, I'll bring some of The Balvenie and we can have ourselves a fine evening! On a serious note, the Dean always preaches a good sermon and always seems to have a relevant point. I may not always like the point he makes, but it is relevant. Today it was both relevant and agreeable to me.
Yesterday's Morning Prayer, which I officiated, went off nicely and I got no corrective remarks from Ruth, which I guess is a good sign. I had the opportunity to serve again today as a Eucharistic Minister, which is always a blessing. It still feels a bit awkward for me though to serve the chalice to ordained persons who also happen to be my professors! Guess that'll just be something I have to get over.
This morning's Old Testament class found us discussing Gunn & Fewell's (for a pair of feminists they have some awfully symbolic names of male power!) feminist article on 1 and 2 Kings. It was a lively discussion, as was to be expected, and it helped me in some ways to better understand their point of view. For instance, I can agree with them that monotheism as it has been enacted in history has been, at times, an oppressive system. Other arguments of theirs, though, I still struggle with. I don't think it is appropriate to say that monotheism is an oppressive sytem en total, for example. We must always remember to separate religious belief from socio-political machinations. Though they often are so interpollated that it can be difficult to keep them separate, there is nothing in the theism of Judeo-Christians that marks it as an oppressive system, by gender or any other lens. What does mark it as that is how it has been practiced, or, enacted throughout history. But to make a blanket statement like monotheism is oppressive to women is unfounded in my estimation.
Furthermore, we discussed the aspects of the article that posited that much of what is described in 1 and 2 Kings texts (such as the Jezebel texts) is "clearly a male fantasy". This irks me to no end. To say that females, especially foreign women, were a threat to male power in the ancient world (and some would argue today) is ok by me, because that was proabably true. However, to say that men reacted against this by fantasizing about the streets overflowing with whores (as a forbidden desire) is ludicrous. Mitch brought up the point that he agreed with this to an extent, because in his experience as a bouncer in a bar, he often saw men walking up to women and sexually objectifying them with crude pick-up lines. Though I don't believe Mitch meant it in the way I interpreted it, I was irritated, and so retorted. Not all men who go into bars talk to women in such ways, and, more importantly, not all women who are on the receiving end of such pick-up lines say "no"! I go into bars often and often talk to people, but never once have I said to an attractive woman, "Nice shoes..."
At WFU, I went out on a date with a very attractive, pleasant young lady from one of my classes once. Upon picking her up for dinner I noticed the shirt she was wearing had emblazoned across the chest of it the word "Guaranteed". Underneath this word was the company's logo, which is the initials of their name "French Connection United Kingdom" (FCUK). So, essentially, she chose to wear on a first date(!) with a fella she only knew from class, a shirt (a very tight shirt I may add) with the words "Guaranteed FCUK" in bold print across her chest. This puts a moral person like me in an awkward position.
All this is to say that I am damn sick and tired of hearing about how everything is the fault of men. Men are far from blameless, but so are women folks! Why can't we move past all this garbage and just treat people as people, accepting all our faults and gifts! Not all men are on the prowl for one night stands and not all women (young or otherwise) are virgin little angels! I've reached my breaking point with it. So, in a way, today's class allowed me to vent some frustration, which was good. I got much more of it out on here. Thanks for listening.
-R
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