first at the Cradle, last at the Cross

[lindseypayton]

Throughout the records of the Gospels, I saw how Jesus didn’t treat women any different than men, and I liked that. We weren’t too precious for words, dainty like fine china. We received no free pass or delicate worries about our ability to understand or contribute or work. Women were not too sweet or weak for the conviction of the Holy Spirit, or too manipulative and prone to jealousy, insecurity, and deception to push back the kingdom of darkness. Jesus did not patronize, and he did not condescend.

Sarah Bessey - Jesus Feminist (via lindseypayton)

[thatismighty]

Women’s bodies thus provide a model for the body of the Christ; women’s suffering provides the model for the suffering of the Christ, and women’s healing provides the model for the resurrection of the Christ.

Amy-Jill Levine, Discharging Responsibility (via thatismighty)

[daughtersofabraham]

As a Christian, my highest calling is not motherhood; my highest calling is to follow Christ.

Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood

[carazuri]

When Jesus first appeared, he appeared to two women, during a time when female testimony was illegitimate, and he asked them to testify to his return. That’s huge – the biggest news in the universe, and two women, whose word was not considered trustworthy, were instructed to carry the news. That, to me, is the most important vision of equality that Christians can have – that is the affirmation that women are equals, that we are valued in the eyes of Christ, that we are necessary to the Gospel story. And that is the lens through which I interpret everything else, as that is the eschatological tale I believe God is weaving.

Dianna Anderson, Ask a Feminist (via carazuri)

[daughtersofabraham]

Harvard researcher Karen King's unveiling of a fourth century Coptic text containing a reference to Jesus' wife has launched intense speculation about hi...

[christianstuffs]

[simonschusterca]

“World, meet Sarah Bessey. Settle in and get to know her because this woman has arrived. Reading Jesus Feminist is like drinking a warm cup of tea while taking a cold shower–Bessey manages to comfort the reader and wake her up at the same time. I cried and nodded and said ‘preach, sister!’ again and again. Bessey is a treasure and a prophet and I’ve notified all of my friends (both men and women) that Jesus Feminist is a must read.”

– Glennon Doyle Melton, author of the New York Times bestseller Carry On, Warrior and founder of Momastery.com

Read an excerpt. 

[themanxxreview-blog]

Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man - there never has been another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them as “The women, God help us!” or “The ladies, God bless them!”; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows pungency from female perversity; nobody could guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything “funny” about woman’s nature.

Dorothy Day, Catholic social activist and journalist (via themanxxreview)