We are delighted to be running our next Pivot Point on Wednesday June 8th at St James the Less Centre, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2PS. The event starts at 6pm for 6.30pm and will end at 8pm.
It is a joint event with SPCK where Elaine Storkey will be exploring issues of image, body, power and God which she has written about in Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women (SPCK). Copies of the book will be available for purchase on the evening. Fulcrum has published an extract from the book and a review by Natalie Collins
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You can download the poster below to publicise the event.
Bowman hello! I think that what we as ‘re up against is a religion based on a patriarchal societal beginning, which failed to adapt to life on equal terms with others first and foremost This was those who took land by force as we see in the old testament, then we see they put people to work to maintain the ‘land. There was no such thing as contraception and women gave birth, everyone gets caught up in a cycle of hate and greed, that leads to fighting and force, when people failed to distinguish between people and property. But really if we look at it it was always about people taking from others there was Joseph and his coat for instance , anything that was special, then it was about grief destroyed relationships through murder, somehow in all that , the most precious thing was the people so th a t was what they took. All based on the bible , they harmed because they believed it was what G o d wanted.. There is the difficulty if they did not accept Christ as saviour then and they did not accept his values preferring to see Christ like simply a man who challenged authority. That is the root of it . No one wants to lose what makes their life worthwhile to the point where they destroy what they love so no one else can have it. I still hope for a society where peace is possible, even though I know it’s unlike l y in totality I know it can be achieved temporarily in the society we live in now. But still the roots of the loss of ability to protect ourselves and some men see and read and experience that as controlling everything around them, with equality we know that this can include women controlling other human beings too now , it is a growing problem but as with all growing problems, awareness grows also and thus preventative and healing strategies can be put in place. It starts with us all realizing we are not God and we have no right to behave as though we were. in the controlling of the people who he created the way he wanted them innocent.
“… if they did not accept Christ as saviour then and they did not accept his values preferring to see Christ like simply a man who challenged authority. That is the root of it.”
Hello, Angela! And yes, there are many who like the Jesus who criticizes the Pharisees but have not met the Jesus who demands– and also gives — a new heart. Accepting Christ as Saviour, but not as Lord, can make it more difficult for them to navigate a new society in which women have power and purposes of their own.
Quite a difficult concept to accept Bowman “accepting Christ as Saviour but not as Lord”?? We find ourselves scrutinizing the word Lord. I.e. giving control over too in the full knowledge that abuse would not follow in the state of vulnerability. We are called by Christ to be vulnerable YET we are called to be warriors for our faith? Women like men will have or will desire to have purposes and power of their own but not in isolation, for that power would be alongside men who equally have power of their own. It is the co ordination of two aspects of power which opens the gospel of Love and care for one another as described in Pauline theology. This and always was God’s intention for the world.
We explored the meaning and purpose of the title “Lord” a few years ago we have specialized its meaning and made the understanding of it more difficult. There is not really a word within our human understanding that can describe the power of what happens when we are United in the purpose of Worship and service of one another which we describe in the word of “Lord” which almost fails to express the all encompassing nature of God who commands that we serve the weaker and love one another.
“…As the statistics calmly tell us, acts of violence to women aged between 15 and 44 across the globe, produce more deaths, disability and mutilation than cancer, malaria and traffic accidents combined.
“The truth is that violence on such a scale could not exist were it not structured in some way into the very fabric of societies and cultures themselves. It could not continue if it were not somehow supported by deep assumptions about the value of women, or some justification of the use of power. In many cultures such assumptions are reiterated every day in the absence of legal protection for women, or indifference towards issues of human rights. Even in advanced democratic societies, where women play a significant part in public life, the level of domestic violence and sexual abuse suggests that these assumptions remain powerful and effective, even though they are concealed behind closed doors.
“So what is it about human societies that tolerates the kind of animosity and violence towards women which is *greater than that found in animal communities*? What is it about *some* human cultures and tradition which makes it normal for women to undergo rape, beatings, cutting, molestation, infanticide, trafficking, bride burning, child prostitution and sexual slavery? It seems ambitious to hope that we can find an answer to these questions. But if violence to women is ever to be eliminated, we need to know what it is that we are up against.”
— from the book, emphasis added.