Like the other women of advent, Bathsheba also has a troubled past. And Bathsheba also acts righteously, though it’s a story we don’t often hear about. Opinions about Bathsheba tend to fall on a continuum between two extremes: 1) she was a temptress who seduced David, or 2) she was an innocent victim and David raped her. Whether one considers her guilty or innocent, Bathsheba was not in an easy position, as the law and culture were both stacked against her. On the one hand, to lie with David means committing adultery. On the other hand, not lying with him means refusing the king. Both courses of action were punishable by death.
About Ariel Bartlett
In which we’re thankful
The Junia Project has had a tremendous first few months. I speak for all of us when I say that we’ve been challenged and blessed by the conversations and events that have transpired in and around this blog. So in light of the upcoming U.S. holiday, today I want to share what we’re thankful for: […]
Book Review: Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey
But Jesus Feminists are not called to be finger-pointers, accusers, or angry rabble-rousers. We are called to the “hard, unsexy work of setting things right slowly with little visible success.”
Book Review: A Year of Biblical Womanhood
Evangelical Christians toss around the phrases “Biblical womanhood” and “Biblical manhood” as if they are self-explanatory, but Rachel wanted to show that those terms are complex, rooted in context, and sometimes downright contradictory.
32 (+5) Reasons Women Should Attend College
A Junia Project Facebook follower brought this article to our attention: “6 (+2) Reasons to NOT Send Your Daughters to College“. The post is from Fix the Family, a Catholic organization which advocates a strictly complementarian—even fundamentalist—view of the family. Our first reaction was to react defensively. Such a post—which lacks supportive evidence to back up its claims, […]
The Declaration of Sentiments
Believe it or not, I’ve actually had people say to me, “Why do you care so much about women? What’s the big deal? You have the right to vote…” I would laugh if it weren’t so common to meet people with this opinion. As if gaining the right to vote was the only problem women faced—and as if we’ve actually achieved equal political representation. Clearly, the work is not done. If you’ve never read the full text of “The Declaration of Sentiments,” I highly encourage you to do so.
Written in July 1848 as part of the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, it holds some of the most powerful words I’ve ever read.
