Power, Patriarchy, Women, and the Church

Ok, ladies. It’s happening all around us, and we’re making space to talk about it. Between the CT podcast about Mars Hill, Kristen duMez’s book Jesus and John Wayne, and Beth Allison Barr’s book Making of Biblical Womanhood, there is a lot of ground to cover to process our own stories (now and ongoing) in light of the sometimes funky intersection of power, women, patriarchy, and church life.

First, we admit that we are all coming to this conversation from very different places. But many of us in the Kaleid community have been shaped by political, cultural, and religious forces that have conflated to create certain images and expectations of ourselves as women.

At Kaleid, we desire to tackle hard questions—not so that we can judge ourselves and others more harshly but so that we can love ourselves and others more boldly. Sometimes this process involves getting confused, mad, sad, or discouraged before we find our way to settled, open, and confident territory. This circle is likely going to involve spending time in the messy first space for many of us, but we promise to do our best as a community to listen well, process well, and edify well as we go.

This circle will meet four times. During the first week, we will talk about power and its expression as well as consider some framing concepts to take to the conversation. Then, we will read or listen to the three resources mentioned above and process each of them, in turn, together.

We don’t believe that this circle is the end of a conversation about power, patriarchy, and the church, but we think it’s important to have a place where we can begin to have this conversation. We desire to cultivate a thoughtful and open conversation that will lead us toward a better understanding and use of our own power in the world.

We hope you’ll join us. It won’t be boring.