Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month! (Its also Colon Cancer Awareness Month but that's for another post). There's so much to celebrate and so much still to do....

Those of us who are well off might consider a donation to worthy causes. One of mine is news about women around the world including cheers and jeers of the week.

This month on March 21st at the seminary Prof. Amy-Jill Levine from Vanderbilt lectures on "Jesus and Judaism: the Connection Matters." From the point of view of historical accuracy, what could be more important? Amy-Jill is always lively and engaging so come along! Its free!

Other things to do:-

• ask your local place of worship to hold an event featuring a woman speaker
• ask your local bookstore to feature women authors signing books
• ask your community center to host an event celebrating women in the local community
• write a letter to the editor of your local paper explaining why its important to mark this month
  

Last month in the New Yorker magazine, Joan Acocella wrote an article on Mary Magdalene. Current interest in her centers around the London trial in which Dan Brown is being accused of plagiarism. Here's my take on the Acocella piece, particularly the conclusion:-

Joan Acocella in “The Saintly Sinner” reserves to the gospel of John the spiritual implications of Mary’s encounter with a gardener/resurrected Jesus. But Mary’s fragmentary vision of the ascent of the soul in the Gospel of Mary is woven of the same cloth: death, despair and weeping followed by revelation and commission. This vision clearly pertains to the “matters of the soul” Acocella prefers to attach to John. But the issue is not which text contains more spirituality. The issue is why Mary’s vision in John comes to represent gender conflict. This is not a Gnostic problem. There’s more to Mary Magdalene’s story than a pitch for the priesthood of women based on authority in matters of the soul; what’s at stake is the authenticity of all women’s religious vision, in every religious tradition.

Happy Women's History Month!