Categories
Women Women in Ministry

Books from 2019-2021 on women and Christianity

Thread of comments on books from 2019-2021 on women and Christianity. They are all worth reading.
Books on: famous women leaders, practical support for women, biblical description, history of masculine militarism, bad sex in Christian marriages, and the history of patriarchy.

The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities
October 1, 2019
by Kate Bowler @KatecBowler
https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1395422302364393475
History of prominent women leaders in American Christianity.

Better Together: How Women and Men Can Heal the Divide and Work Together to Transform the Future
February 11, 2020
by Danielle Strickland @djstrickland
https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1489692609459146765
Practical reflection on empowering women in leadership.

Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
May 5, 2020
by Aimee Byrd @aimeebyrdPYW
https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1491080520448765953
Biblical description of women in the Bible.

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
June 23, 2020
by Kristin Kobes Du Mez @kkdumez
https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1339651133883768832
History of American Christianity as masculine militarism.

The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended
March 2, 2021
by Sheila Wray Gregoire @sheilagregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach @BeccaLindenbach, Joanna Sawatsky @SawatskyJoanna
https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1414355579015999490
Bad sex in Christian marriages.

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth
April 20, 2021
by Beth Allison Barr @bethallisonbarr
https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1407827370564898819
The history of Christianity and patriarchy.

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on February 8, 2022.

Categories
Sociology Women in Ministry

Some statistics on women in church ministry

– 79% of Americans are comfortable with a female pastor, but only 39% of evangelicals.
– 72.8% of evangelicals are fine with a woman preaching on Sunday morning.
– 3% of evangelical congregations and 30% of mainline congregations have a female senior pastor.

See sources below.

According to a 2016 Barna survey,
79% of Americans would be comfortable with a female priest or pastor.
https://www.barna.com/research/americans-think-women-power/
But only 39% of evangelicals would be.

Only 13.5% of U.S. congregations in 2018-2019 had a female as the head or senior clergyperson.
Or slicing the data differently, only 7.4% of U.S. attendees attend a congregation with a female as the head or senior clergyperson.

In 2020, 72.8% of evangelicals approved of a woman preaching on Sunday morning.
https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1485409529676369920
including 76.1% of weekly plus attenders.
https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1419286401363947524,
See Ryan Burge’s 2020 writeup about this:

In 2018-2019, only 3% of evangelical congregations had a female senior or head clergyperson. But 30% of mainline congregations did.

Here was the percentage of ordained clergy for different denominations in 2018, compiled by @ecampbellreed

Here is the percentage of senior and secondary ministerial leaders who are female in each religious tradition, 2018–19.
36% of secondary clergy are female in evangelical churches.
62% in mainline churches.

https://sites.duke.edu/ncsweb/files/2022/01/NCSIV_Report_Web_FINAL.pdf
p. 37

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on February 8, 2022.

Categories
Hobbies Uncategorized

On starting and stopping hobbies and interests

Over the last few years, I have done little explorations through podcasts and YouTube and books into: baseball analytics then baseball scientific training, basketball coaching philosophy, investing in stocks, marathon running, and weightlifting.

Reflections on hobbies:

1. It is fascinating how these are all little circumscribed worlds. They have their experts and heroes. But 95% of people know almost nothing about the topic. Normal people can have a happy life and know nothing about this topic.

2. There is a mix of genuine fascinating new insights and artificial hyping of the same old things in these hobby worlds. When I am new to the topic, I'm astounded at how much I didn't know. But as time goes on, I hear the same assertions repeated over and over.

3. Honest moments eventually pop up in podcasts where the host admits their disillusionment or boredom with the absurd repetitive focus on this topic. "We always talk about this and let's face it, it's a waste of time." Even the expert admits this topic is not that important.

4. Other friends get into other hobbies and interests: cooking, interior design, knitting, fantasy football, golf, biking, travel. Others watch many TV shows. (When you have young kids, they often take that hobby time until they're in middle school and want their own time).

5. Morally,
(a) I think there is learning here in hobbies and it can be used for good, to help others, children, etc. Some of these within moderation can be defended as prudent (financial stewardship, physical health) but often the pursuit is far beyond minimal responsibleness.

Or (b) it may be mostly harmless, a balm, relaxing, healthy. Most businesses and hobbies are not altruistic but are on net a positive outgrowth of human curiosity and physicality and creativity. I don't think we should be overly critical of humans being human.

But (c) there is also some line at which an interest has the effect of being a destructive addiction, harmful to loved ones. Not just wine and gambling but any of these pursuits can be pursued to the extent that there is not time or money for those who need us.

6. For me, I've thoroughly enjoyed these jaunts into these areas of human culture and learning and practice. I'm amazed at the learning and ingenuity. But eventually I come to see that at some point it is unwise to spend more time on this relatively insignificant area.

I realize I need to grow and learn in other areas or use my time and money in ways that are more useful and loving. So I stop listening to those podcasts and those YouTube videos and read some more books of substance or pursue things of more benefit to those around me.

But I still take pleasure in those old areas when they come across my path because I now know something about them. It is a joy when I can comprehend something because I delved into the area a bit in the past. And I may even dip my toe back in to see if there's something new.

I don't view it as having had too many interests that I somehow couldn't follow through with. But rather that I intentionally stepped back from that interest because it was not worth so much time and money. Hopefully the learning from that pursuit spills over into other areas.

In conclusion, I think hobbies, interests, things that strike your fancy, areas you get fascinated by, are a wonderful part of life. You're human and it is healthy to have interests. But is also wise and good to change course and say "that has taken enough money and time."

Final thought: The good life is not just discipline and perseverance and grit and deliberate practice but also curiosity, exploration, learning, and moving on to other things richer than you were before because you learned something about that esoteric topic.

Originally tweeted by Andy Rowell (@AndyRowell) on January 4, 2022.