Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
The Beauty of this Choir (Thanks Again, RHE)

The Beauty of this Choir (Thanks Again, RHE)

Last updated on: May 10, 2019 at 4:02 pm by Cara Meredith

The Beauty of this Choir (Thanks Again, RHE) 2019-05-10T16:02:15-07:00 Cara Meredith

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.

I noticed something interesting when I was glanced over at the stack of books next to my reading chair a couple of days ago: all of the books were written by women.

Loving My Actual Neighbor (Alexandra Kuykendall)

Becoming (Michelle Obama)

Devotions (Mary Oliver)

Girls & Sex (Peggy Orenstein)

Ordinary Light (Tracy K Smith)

Perhaps this is interesting to you. Perhaps it isn’t. Perhaps this is the exact stack you find next to your reading chair (or bedside table, or in purse or on the side of the dining room table, wherever it is that you do your reading). And perhaps this is the exact opposite of books you normally find yourself engorged in, because you like fiction – which I do as well, but when library loans and book club picks intersect, you just go with the nonfiction flow. Because you prefer male writers. Because, because, because… the list goes on.

Pixabay :: Gellinger

Like many of us, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Rachel Held Evans this last week, reading nearly every tribute to cross my social media path, letting her legacy leave an imprint on my soul, wondering how I might cultivate that same generosity in a world desperate for abundance.

And as I mentioned in my post earlier this week, were it not for her, I doubt my reading list would look like it does today.

Somewhere along the way, I began to believe that women were only supposed to, or really, only could write in a certain way or even for certain audiences. When it came to Christian or theological reading, my bookshelf was filled with mostly white, male authors. These were the books assigned to me to read in seminary and from pastors, when the preacher-man referenced an author’s words on the PowerPoint screen.

Whose names did I become accustomed to see? J.I. Packer. Phillip Yancey. A.W. Tozer. C.S. Lewis. And sometimes, if the pastor was feeling particularly daring, a Walter Brueggemann thought or two.

Of course, when it came to reading fiction, I usually, naturally turned to women writers – after all, these were the ones who held the market on chick lit.

But it wasn’t until I left ministry that I began to discover and intentionally dive into a myriad of voices – including women and people of color – that I hadn’t even thought of paying attention to before. The funny thing, of course, is that I didn’t necessarily realize the gentle, guiding ways of voices like Sarah Bessey and Austin Channing Brown and Kathy Khang, women who were challenging me to think outside the box even though I didn’t understand half of what they were saying.

I wasn’t there yet.

Even though I already considered myself a card-carrying feminist, I didn’t realize how much I still camped out in the land of patriarchy – after all, I wasn’t looking for a new set of theologians to learn from, I was just looking for other bloggers who might, somewhere along the road, become my people.

But I’ll tell you something else, something I’ve said a million times before and I’ll say a million times again: when we only listen to one type of voice, we miss out on the beauty of the choir.

And the beauty of this choir acknowledges the wide array of every color, of women and men, of gay and straight, of black and white, of disabled and able-bodied. I could go on, for my short list is nowhere near exhaustive, but the deal is this…

If you’re a pastor, look at who you’re studying, quoting and therefore proclaiming as truth every Sunday morning. So, if you already have a quote by a white dude, find a quote by a woman of color to fill the next slide.

If you’re a reader, look at who fills your bookshelves and your bedside tables alike. It’s not hard to read with intention, even if we have to do a little research first. Also, this applies to parents of young readers as well! We Need Diverse Books is a great place to start, as is this post of 31 diverse books that I wrote in January.

And if you’re a listener, look at who fills the airwaves of your listening experience. It’s really easy for me to only listen to podcasts by white progressive woman like myself. But guess what? When I only listen to voices of people who believe and think and act like me, I miss out.

In fact, we all miss out.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m done living that way.

In this with you,

cm.

—

What other resources do you need or recommend? Leave a comment below!

*Post contains Amazon Affiliate links

Uncategorized

Alexandra Kuykendall

Austin Channing Brown

Previous Post

May 6, 2019

How Rachel Held Evans Taught Me to Color Outside the Lines

Next Post

May 14, 2019 We Can Act to Fight Racism (Reminds Andi Cumbo-Floyd)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book reviews Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2026 June 2026 December 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 June 2023 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 November 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz