Writing the Sabbath: Plans and Invitations

Last updated on: May 7, 2015 at 8:58 am by Caryn Riswold

Writing the Sabbath: Plans and Invitations 2015-05-07T08:58:27-06:00 Caryn Riswold

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about anticipating my upcoming sabbatical. If you haven’t read that, I invite you go back to it and do so. Today, it’s officially one week and three days away! (But, who’s counting…)

As I said at the end of that reflection on the seasonal and theological purpose of Sabbath-ing, no college or university awards a sabbatical for a faculty person to just do whatever she wants, so here’s some of what I’m planning to work on:

1 – I am writing a book. I’ve been working on it for five years because it is something wholly new for my writing life … a novel. What better way to explore the ridiculous possibility that there exists proof that God willed the equality of men and women all along, but patriarchal religions have screwed it up at every turn? The work is bringing me into a whole new world of creative work that I’m taking the time to learn as best I can. I’ll say more about it soon. Since sabbatical as Sabbath is time set apart from the ordinary, then what better way to write the Sabbath than do it in a way apart from the ordinary academic prose on which I typically spend my time?

2 – I’m expanding my opinion writing and plan to participate in a seminar with The Op Ed Project at some point during the year. This initiative seeks “to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world. A starting goal is to increase the number of women thought leaders in key commentary forums to a tipping point.” I’ve been blogging and writing local op-eds for several years now, and am excited to see if I can expand this part of my work. Again, I will be writing the Sabbath by using a different set of skills and strategies.

3 – I’m revising and enhancing several of the courses I regularly teach to integrate more interfaith cooperation and civic engagement work. As part of this, I’m working on writing up a teaching module on interfaith cooperation that might be of use to various parts of our campus community – from first year students to the board of trustees. The small efforts I have already put into incorporating interfaith elements and civic engagement work into classes have been rather successful with students, enough to tell me I need to do more. It now builds on work I’ve been doing in recent years as a scholar and as a teacher. Last summer I participated in a month-long workshop on civic engagement on my campus, and this summer I will be part of a week-long seminar in Chicago in August on Teaching Interfaith Understanding.

Other professional commitments will take me to Chicago for meetings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Theological Roundtable, Atlanta for the American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Nashville for the national conference of the Lilly Fellows Program, among other things.

Not on the official list of writing projects but equally important are things like visits to family for a graduation and a wedding, vacation in the mountains, dinners at the local winery, lunches with friends, reading as many books as possible, and a celebration of our twentieth wedding anniversary this summer.

Sabbath is a rite of passage, and so is sabbatical. Rest is sacred and an alternate way to spend time and do work can be life-giving. Writing the Sabbath is my next rite of passage. What’s yours? Whether it happens once a week, once a year, once every seven years, or once in a lifetime, sabbath-ing matters.

Finally, here’s an offer and invitation: Bring me to your campus or community or group sometime in the next year to talk about feminism and Christianity, vocation and higher education, Christian privilege, religious homophobia, trans* issues and theologies, blogging and writing about religion in public, faith and reproductive justice, or any combination of these and related issues. I’ve got more time than money in the coming year, plenty of energy, and ideas abounding so I’d love to talk about how this work might be of use for you. Click through on any of those topics to read a little bit about what I’ve already done, and email me directly with any queries and questions.

Previous Post

April 28, 2015

At the Intersections: The Sacred Feminine, Medieval Style

Next Post

May 13, 2015 Summer Reading List from a Lutheran Roundtable

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion At the Intersections Atheism Christianity Contraception Education Feminism Gender Getting Theological Honorable Mention Islam LGBT News Our Voices Race Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Why did God reject Saul as king?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He was too old He lost in battle He was tricked by David He disobeyed God