Emerging Bloggers I Love (who happen to be women)
One of the things I’ve noticed is that, of all the great sites listed in a lot of emerging blogrolls, very few of them are authored by women. As I mentioned in a previous post, of 179 bloggers listed at http://emergingchurchblogs.info/, only 11 of them are women. While there certainly seem to be fewer gals blogging than men, I think part of the problem is that they’re just not as well known. So, seeing as how this blog reaches so many people, I thought I’d enlighten all eleven of you with a list of some of the many emerging bloggers I love who just happen to be women.
Dan McCredden (http://www.signposts.org.au/) Thanks to the pseudo-anonymity of the blogosphere, her typically-male first name meant that most people assumed she was a man for over a year. Her "coming out of the closet" post about being a woman in ministry stirred up a lot of discussion—153 comments and counting, some of which are quite shocking. I understand that women in ministry is a complex issue, and I’m perfectly able to listen to differing views, but I would hope we don’t have to resort to name calling. Her husband posts at signpost as well—yesterday’s post about converting to the cult of Mac was written just for you, James K!
Rachelle Mee-Chapman (http://www.monkfish-abbey.org/blog/) Okay, I know most people have already heard of Rachelle, but she’s worth the publicity. I admit I don’t always agree with her. But I really like smart people who disagree with me. And her thoughts on roadblocks for women in the emerging conversation, found here and here , are brilliant.
Lynne Taylor (http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/lynne/) Many of you have probably heard of emergent kiwi Steve Taylor, but did you know his wife’s been rockin’ it for years too? Her posts are thoughtful, poetic, and above all honest—and she’s not afraid to stir up a little controversy. (For Easter this year she used a photo of an Abu Ghraib prisoner being tortured by an American soldier to represent the suffering of Jesus—click here to find out why).
Maggi Dawn (http://maggidawn.typepad.com/maggidawn/) I’ve heard some people say there isn’t enough theology in the emerging church. Those people need to meet Maggi Dawn. Her most recent posts include thoughts on Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, and the Ascension, as well as some rather amusing thoughts about God calling the vestry and the chapel catching fire on Pentecost Sunday. And you’ve got to read this hysterical poem called Da Vinci Code Dr. Seuss Style.
The Hard Soap Gals (http://www.hardsoap.net/) Four young women contribute to this blog, and I honestly don’t even know how they know each other. They all come with different denominational backgrounds (from Baptist to Pentecostal to Catholic), and they all live in different parts of the world (from Oxford to Mississauga to Texas). Their different traditions, locations, and experiences are all reflected in their posts, making for very interesting reading. Where else can you find four different descriptions of celebrating Easter, including receiving communion at St. Paul’s Cathedral and thoughts on the humdrum of Holy Saturday? As for the title, here’s their explanation: “There has been a great deal of soft soap talked about God for the last hundred years. That is not what I am offering." -C.S. Lewis
There are so many more I could list, but I’ll have to restrain myself. For now, I hope you can all take some time to find out what these chicks of the church are up to.
Dan McCredden (http://www.signposts.org.au/) Thanks to the pseudo-anonymity of the blogosphere, her typically-male first name meant that most people assumed she was a man for over a year. Her "coming out of the closet" post about being a woman in ministry stirred up a lot of discussion—153 comments and counting, some of which are quite shocking. I understand that women in ministry is a complex issue, and I’m perfectly able to listen to differing views, but I would hope we don’t have to resort to name calling. Her husband posts at signpost as well—yesterday’s post about converting to the cult of Mac was written just for you, James K!
Rachelle Mee-Chapman (http://www.monkfish-abbey.org/blog/) Okay, I know most people have already heard of Rachelle, but she’s worth the publicity. I admit I don’t always agree with her. But I really like smart people who disagree with me. And her thoughts on roadblocks for women in the emerging conversation, found here and here , are brilliant.
Lynne Taylor (http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/lynne/) Many of you have probably heard of emergent kiwi Steve Taylor, but did you know his wife’s been rockin’ it for years too? Her posts are thoughtful, poetic, and above all honest—and she’s not afraid to stir up a little controversy. (For Easter this year she used a photo of an Abu Ghraib prisoner being tortured by an American soldier to represent the suffering of Jesus—click here to find out why).
Maggi Dawn (http://maggidawn.typepad.com/maggidawn/) I’ve heard some people say there isn’t enough theology in the emerging church. Those people need to meet Maggi Dawn. Her most recent posts include thoughts on Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, and the Ascension, as well as some rather amusing thoughts about God calling the vestry and the chapel catching fire on Pentecost Sunday. And you’ve got to read this hysterical poem called Da Vinci Code Dr. Seuss Style.
The Hard Soap Gals (http://www.hardsoap.net/) Four young women contribute to this blog, and I honestly don’t even know how they know each other. They all come with different denominational backgrounds (from Baptist to Pentecostal to Catholic), and they all live in different parts of the world (from Oxford to Mississauga to Texas). Their different traditions, locations, and experiences are all reflected in their posts, making for very interesting reading. Where else can you find four different descriptions of celebrating Easter, including receiving communion at St. Paul’s Cathedral and thoughts on the humdrum of Holy Saturday? As for the title, here’s their explanation: “There has been a great deal of soft soap talked about God for the last hundred years. That is not what I am offering." -C.S. Lewis
There are so many more I could list, but I’ll have to restrain myself. For now, I hope you can all take some time to find out what these chicks of the church are up to.
posted by julia at 1:08 p.m.
9 Comments:
Gah... I just read throught comments on Dan's post. I guess I knew people still held very conservative positions on leadership. I just wish we as a collective community following Christ were past that. As far as I'm concerned if someone (male or female) has something to say, who am I to stop them. That God speaks through women who teach should be judged on the merrit of those teachings. I think the discussion should end there.
Hi Julia, here are some great thought that came out of the Emergent Womens Conference south of the border...
http://emergent-us.typepad.com/emergentus/2006/06/emerging_women_.html
I think it is vitally important the women be an integral part of an emerging conversation. Pax...Ron+
Thanks Julia,
I liked the hard soap bloggers....will bookmark them for sure.
hello - just chatting on maggi's blog about this post
i was saying to her that . .
"our family is dominated by female bloggers - i am the only male blogger since my son refuses to follow in his father's footsteps. Two of my daughters (10 and 13) blog and my wife was blogging but stopped because she believed her husband had a blogging addiction - something he found excuse for by pointing to his wife's blogging habits . . . why am i speaking in the third person??? . .. and something that had an element of truth
but my research on the blogosphere shows that 52% of bloggers are female
up from 48% female in 2003
but this may be different in the christian blogoshere where male bloggers [may] tend to get more cred than female
i actually have a number of female commenters that pose as males to get themselves heard more in discussions.
.. . interesting."
hey - great post and great to see some familiar [female] names.
oooohhhh . . i notice your blog only allows blogspot bloggers to comment - any chance of going to your dashboard and allowing Other non-blogspot bloggers [typepad, wordpress, etc] the chance to use their real names and blogs? thanks.
Andrew--
Thanks for the interesting thoughts! I think there are lots of great women blogging out there--many of them are just not as well known (yet.) Hopefully that will change.
By the way, I checked my settings, and you're right, only blogspotters could leave comments--thanks for the heads up! I changed the settings.
hi julia
i came here via maggi's blog... i love the artwork below. fantastic.
Hello Julia! Thank you so much for visiting Hard Soap and for putting a plug for us on your blog! There's a long story about how we all know each other... basically 3 of us all went to Middle School together for one year when we were 13 :) The past few months Hard Soap has been in a bit of limbo period... but I hope to have us all back posting again. Once again, thanks for your visit!
Oops, I forgot to sign in! This is "C" from Hard Soap...
Hey Julia,
Thanks for the link, I appreciate it. People still often assume that I am a guy which can be a lot of fun. Glad you enjoy the blogging.
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