Laura Beimers on Amateur Theology
About Laura Beimers
Part way through her training to be a midwife, Laura enjoys pondering women's health and life experiences, the liturgical year, and alternative forms of prayer. At most points in time you will find books written by Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton and Rowland Croucher on her beside table, though she also reads a lot of feminist works. If she ever stops procrastinating she's hoping to learn how to create henna body art rather than daydreaming about it. Otherwise she's pretty ordinary and sells hiking shoes to get by.
Laura's site: http://accoucheur.blogspot.com
why I’m a feminist
Posted on October 18, 2007 by Laura Beimers
Filed Under Emerging Questions, Why I... | 6 Comments
(Laura initially wrote this as a comment on “What Does Christian Feminism Look Like“, but I thought it deserved being highlighted as its own post - Geoff)
At the start of last year some of the units I took in my Midwifery degree required us to keep a reflective journal on various womens issues: feminism, sexuality, body image, sexual/physical abuse, the double shift, pornography, aging, female genital mutilation, the list goes on.
We were asked to answer the question, “Would you describe yourself as a feminist?”
My answer turned out to be yes, but it took a lot of digging to come to that answer. Feminism is made up of so many different branches and streams many of which disagree with each other (sounds like the church hey!). ‘Feminist’ is not an easy label to pick up and give ones self on a whim. Baggage comes with it, baggage to be dealt with.
So I sat down and out lined all the streams of feminism I could find so I could identify what I agreed with in each and what I didn’t. I came to the conclusion there was no way I could not call myself a feminist.
Being a feminist to me means that I’m concerned about gender inequalities and discrimination against women, and oppression of women. I think that women are oppressed by a society built on patriarchy, but that the solution does not present itself in the form of matriarchy. We are people, it’s a human problem, a sin problem not solely a gender problem.
Patriarchal influence and dominance affects women’s psyche, and life experiences. I’m very concerned about this in the health sector (being a midwife I’m highly passionate about this stuff). I’m also very concerned about heavy patriarchal influences on the Christian faith. How we see God, defines our experience of God.
A year ago I realized I thought of God as being a certain gender: God was a ‘He’. Actually God is beyond gender. Yet gendered language gives us clues about the character of God and the role God has in our lives. We are created in the image of God, male and female. As a feminist I’m concerned about the language we use to describe God. I am happy to call God, ‘Father’, but in the same breath I also happily call God, ‘Mother’.
In seeking out the feminine part of God (which I believe is only perfect because God is also perfectly masculine) I think our relationship with God changes drastically. Earlier I felt a male God could only ever understand my life experience as a woman by playing a distant role that had some how created women. When I see God in a female capacity I realize my experiences as a woman, physical and otherwise, are actually a small reflection pointing to the larger more amazing nature of God.
Complex is really the only way to put it… reading back over these last few paragraphs, I know some feminists would take issue with my use of the word gender. Which just goes to show you feminists don’t even agree amongst themselves.
failing sunday school
Posted on October 1, 2007 by Laura Beimers
Filed Under Bible Study, Emerging Questions | 5 Comments
Sam is a pranic healer, studying to be a naturopath, and has some church background. Whenever I take a casual shift at work with Sam, conversations tend to run down wildly complex and thought provoking paths. Amidst my questions about pranic healing, chakras, auras and enery, and his about church, Jesus, how I view God and the spiritual encounters I’ve had; we often end up taking a lot longer to get our work done.
In talking about Jesus a few weeks ago he said something I’ve been pondering over, “I believe Jesus has so many good teachings to help us live.”
In thinking on it further that evening I realized how much emphasis my church experience has placed on what Jesus does for me, an individual. We accept grace so easily, so much more easily than we accept the teaching of Jesus about how to live out the Kingdom of God practically. The phrase “the teachings of Jesus” sat with me for a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever come across something that sounded so strange in the light of what I’ve seen Christianity made out to be…. and that scares me.
The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, leaves me wondering if the eternal life we are given by Jesus actually eventuates with us practicing the life Jesus taught (and lived).
Quite disturbingly at the end of the Sermon on the Mount I came across a seemingly familiar story I thought I knew, the story about the man who built his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand (Matthew 7:24-27). I can still recall the Sunday school song we use to sing and to be honest I think I could pull out all the actions to it as well. But it seems Sunday school taught the wrong story. I never knew it came at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.
So what is it about? It’s about choosing God (building on the rock) or not choosing God (building on the sand), right? Right? Actually, it’s not. Verse 24 says it all, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Go read the story (four verses… it won’t take long).
The story becomes even more challenging when linked with the words Jesus brings to the crowd just before it:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
