Evans dedicates the month of July to considering the concept
of biblical justice, specifically how it applies to women and her personal role
as a consumer. Her monthly task list is as follows: “Switch to fair trade
products, especially with coffee and chocolate (Isaiah 58:9-12…); Start
recycling (Genesis 2:15); Read Half the
Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and become a better advocate for
the equality and empowerment of women worldwide (Zecharaiah 7:9-10; James
1:27); Travel to Bolivia with World Vision (Proverbs 31:20; James 1:27)” (Evans
224). She begins the chapter with a Jewish folktale championing the pursuit of
developing justice within oneself as a way to make the world a better place.
She then moves into describing her personal efforts to analyze her habits as a
consumer. This analysis motivates her to reconsider her coffee and chocolate
purchases, which results in her scaling back on her coffee intake and a
subsequent string of withdrawal symptoms. Evans also recounts horrific stories
of women fighting oppression and violence in the developing world included in Half the Sky, forcing the reader to
confront the realities of today’s twisted world. Throughout the rest of the
chapter, Evans repeats the phrase “Women aren’t the problem. They are the
solution,” a testament to the stories of triumph and success brought about by
the empowerment of women across the globe (Evans 237). Evans’ trip to Bolivia
allows her to experience many stories of women bringing justice to their
community out of their empowerment. Evans ends the chapter considering the
implications of Jesus’ actions as they relate to justice: “Justice means moving
beyond the dichotomy between those who need and those who supply and
confronting the frightening and beautiful reality that we desperately need one
another” (Evans 246).
Evans
considers silence during August, remaining silent in church, avoiding teaching,
spending three days at an Abbey, and visiting a Quaker congregation in order to
explore what biblical silence means as a woman. Evans tackles the two verses
that are most often used to silence women: 1 Timothy 2:11-14 and 1 Corinthians
14:34. Her research and analysis related to these passages reveals that perhaps
Christians have turned Paul’s epistles into a version of the Torah, when in
reality, they were written to specific people in specific contexts, for
specific reasons. With this view, the passages silencing women do not apply if
you are not a promiscuous widow attending a church in Corinth. Evans then
transitions into describing her experience with contemplative silence at St.
Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama. What began as an uncomfortable experience
characterized by massive efforts to remain quiet and contemplative, culminated
in a few, deeply quiet moments of simplicity. Evans visit to a Quaker
congregation provided her a new vocabulary word, “Weighty words,” or, “a few
words, when carefully chosen, [that] are so much more powerful than a lecture
or sermon” (Evans 278). August began as a battle against silence, but at the
end, Evans reflects that there is a significant difference between being
silenced and silencing oneself, especially when one is silencing oneself before
God.
September,
Evans’ last month in her biblical womanhood project, serves as a time of
reflection and a time to consider grace. To foster reflection, Evans makes
challah from scratch, observes Rosh Hashanah and the Taschlich ceremony, makes
a list of New Year’s resolutions, and cuts her hair. Her reflections reveal
that she has grown and changed as a Christian and as a woman. Nasty comments on
her blogs don’t bother her has much because her experience with contemplative
prayer has provided a strategy to aid in controlling her reactions. She may
even enjoy cooking. To bookmark the end of her journey, Evans develops ten
resolutions: “Try a new recipe every week. Eat more ethically. Identify and
praise women of valor. Embrace the prospect of motherhood. Nurture the
contemplative impulse. Make room for ritual and remembrance. Champion women
leaders in the Church. Partner with World Vision to work for the education and
empowerment of women around the world. Honor Dan. Keep loving, studying, and
struggling with the Bible” (Evans 294). Ultimately, Evans reflects and
concludes that there is no such thing as biblical womanhood. The Bible is full
of many kinds of women, some warriors, some prostitutes, some prophets, some
mothers etc. Evans asserts that biblical womanhood is not a static role, but
rather, is related to one’s calling, which as a Christian is to love the Lord
with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as
ourselves. She hypothesizes that perhaps she began this project searching for
permission to be herself, to be a woman, but she reached “the end of the year
with the quiet and liberating certainty that [she] never had to ask for it. It
had already been given” (Evans 296).
I sat in
silence for a long while after finishing this final section. Evans has given me
much to consider and explore. I predict the next several weeks will be full of
emotional epiphanies and a great deal of analysis paralysis as I muse on these
topics for myself.
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