Unladylike

1 Comment » Written on September 20th, 2013     
Filed under: Book & Commentary, Resources
unladylike 3I picked up this book while attending the CBE International Conference in Pittsburgh a few months ago.

Unladylike, Resisting the Injustice of Inequality in the Church written by Pam Hogeweide is a book that unapologetically advocates for a strong stance (as the subtitle states) against injustice in the church.  In this book she speaks of her own personal journey of trying to be the “good” woman follower of Christ that the church so readily urges and supports to the ultimate realization that the common teachings of a large body of the Christian church is unjust.  She shares about the many years and experiences of keeping silent, in the quest of “not stirring up trouble” despite the gnawing internal pain and incongruencies that was her increasing experience as she endeavored to follow the actual teachings and behaviors of Jesus.  The secular book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (reviewed in an earlier post on this blog) highlights the importance of coming to this place where women can lean in –  going toward the problems that exist, and even speaking out on them rather than simply accepting “what is.”  Pam clearly does this in her book, leaning in and speaking out about how women are often treated in the church.

To quote a paragraph from page 145 of her book, Hogeweide states:

“It pains me that my sisters of the faith who know these things and yet continue to serve a system of Christianized sexism, have become complicit in their own oppression. I say this because for many years that was me.  I was the one aiding the polite oppression of women every time I submitted myself to silence.  I may have been noble in my attitude wanting to avoid being divisive, but I blindly divided my voice and myself. This is not becoming of a spirit of reconciliation, but furthers the disunion of women with men.”

She quotes holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel in saying, “Resignation only leads to indifference.”

She herself states, “Resignation to inequality  serves no one in the kingdom of God except the power system of patriarchy.”

I highly recommend reading Pam’s book. While there could be some editorial improvements to the writing, clearly her message is a timely one for the church in how it treats women in general but especially those that are called by God to serve in a leadership or pastoral role for the kingdom.

You can also listen to Pam speak in her own words about the writing of this book by clicking here.

submitted by:
Jeff Ondrey, CBGE member

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One Response to “Unladylike”

Thanks so much for this review.  I am honored!!

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