What if the Bible Featured Feminists?

That’s a paraphrase of one of the questions featured in the book Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards.

It’s not a new book, but over at Globalizati, we get a snippet from it that could lead to an interesting discussion:

After the ladies loosen up around the table, Mary Magdalene would begin by talking about sex workers’ rights, and returning belly dancing to its origin as an exercise for giving birth. Leah and Rachel would resolve their longtime sisterly competition by ditching Jacob, the man their father married them both to, and agitate for women to be able to inherit their own property. Rather than being synonymous with evil, Jezebel would be lauded for her business acumen. Hagar would receive palimony and child support from her lover, Abraham. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, might even befriend Hagar, Abraham’s concubine and Sarah’s slave; at the very least, she would empathize. Bathsheba, tired of looking for love from a poetic boy who couldn’t commit, would have the presence of mind to leave King David. Delilah would teach them about orgasms and exhort her friends to make sure they got what they needed in bed. Lilith would be full of first wives’ club advice for Eve, and Eve would be pontificating about the politics of housework. Eve would also recognize that she had been framed, and refuse to take the Fall for her man or her God. Ruth wouldn’t be saying “Whither thou goest, I will go” to her mother-in-law or anyone anymore; she’d be blazing her own trails. Meanwhile, they’d all begin to question why the hell Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt when her husband was busy offering up their virgin daughters to the marauders. (And why the hell she didn’t have a name.)

All that, and they haven’t even discussed what God would be doing…

[tags]atheist, atheism, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future, Jennifer Baumgardner, Amy Richards, Globalizati, Mary Magdalene, Jezebel, Bathsheba, Delilah, Eve, God, Lot’s wife[/tags]

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Mriana

He would be a She and would nourish the earth. It would probably be a creator goddess, the mother of all mothers. 😆
globalizati

Man, I love the Lot part…
Jen

Incidently, I just got that book from the library, but I haven’t yet read it because I have been reading Don’t Know Much About the Bible.

That’s always bugged me about the Bible- the boringness of the women. Oh, there are a few that are pretty cool- Ruth, Judith if you are Catholic or just like Caravaggio paintings, Moses’ wife, and I always liked Jezebel. But most of the women in the Bible are boring, and all they do is either have a baby or stay virgins (though that’s more saints than anyone). I have yet to find an interesting woman in the New Testament. I had high hopes, but then I found out that Mary Magdalene wasn’t a hooker.

I know, historical times and all that, but I can’t possibly be expected to follow a religion that can’t even give me interesting women.

BTW, I read a devotions books called Bad Girls of the Bible. It was awesomely cheesy, but even most of the bad girls the author named were pretty passive.
Kelly

That’s brilliant! I’ll have to pick that book up.
Charlotte Fairchild

HI all,

My name is Charlotte, and I tell people my name is in the Bible. Just take the C off, and it starts in Genesis and ends in Revelation. I am not an agnostic or the A word. I can’t spell it right now, but tomorrow I will try.

The Red Tent, and then The Unanointed will give you a look at some interesting women. One theologian said we all wake up agnostics, and then we choose every day what we shall be. Who said that, anyway?

Do a search on the Threshold Choir for some non religious music that will help anyone when they are breathing their last. There is a video clip if you want to hear them.
Peace,
Char