Posts Tagged ‘Sarah Bessey’

15 Nov

My Interview with Sarah Bessey about Jesus Feminist

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Community, Vocation. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

In my last post I mentioned my friend Sarah Bessey and her new book, called Jesus Feminist. I recently had the opportunity to interview Sarah about the book for Life & Liberty!

>>>Click here to listen to the interview.<<<

Sarah Bessey, author of Jesus Feminist

Sarah Bessey, author of Jesus Feminist

I’ve known Sarah Bessey for more than a decade, since before either of us had kids, before she had her blog and waaaay before she signed a two-book deal with Howard Books. But a decade is a long time and now here we are with her having just released Jesus
Feminist, her first book.

As an old friend I am super excited for Sarah getting a book published. And as a woman of God, I resonate with the particulars of this book. I read an e-version of the book from Net Galley and was moved deeply by the beautiful vision that Sarah casts for the mutuality that is possible among God’s people.

Sarah coined the term “Jesus Feminist” and it boils down to the idea that being a follower of Jesus has led to an understanding that women are people too. My own study of scripture affirms this conviction as Jesus and the gospels routinely lift up women.

I credit Sarah with helping me see feminism in a positive light. You can read more about why I identify as a “Jesus feminist” in my previous post titled, I’m a Jesus Feminist Because I Don’t Have to Be One.

Jesus-Feminist-CoverSarah lives in Canada (her homeland) with her husband Brian and their three “tinies.” She’s a non-denominational charismatic and just overflows with the love of Jesus in every aspect of her life.

Sarah calls herself “a liberal to the conservative and a conservative to the liberal” and she often takes what she refers to as “the third way” on difficult issues. Her writing–on her blog (sarahbessey.com) and in the book–is both poetic and prophetic.

It’s an excellent book and I highly recommend it for anyone who cares about the church and the movement of God in our world. This book would also be ideal for a group study or a retreat. Click the book cover to learn more about the book and to order yours from the Life & Liberty Amazon store.

Disclaimer: Links in this post will take you to the Amazon store at Life & Liberty, an online magazine where I am a contributor. Any purchase you make there will help support our work at Life & Liberty.

13 Nov

I’m a Jesus Feminist Because I Don’t Have to Be One

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Community, Leadership. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

I'm a Jesus Feminist

My friend Sarah Bessey coined the term “Jesus Feminist” and recently published a book by that name. She has invited others to reflect on the ways they identify with this term. Here’s my take: I’m a Jesus Feminist because I don’t have to be one.

I grew up in a time and place and in a home where, as a young woman, I had every opportunity. This was so completely true that I took feminism for granted.

I even bought into many of the negative stereotypes of feminists. I could disparage feminism in my youth because of the rights and opportunities that past feminist movements afforded me.

I didn’t have to be a feminist because of all the hard work for women’s rights that had already been done.

While I never knew a woman pastor growing up, I was in a denomination where women were permitted to serve in every capacity in the church. But I became acquainted with other denominations where this was not the case.

My own first experience in which I felt I was treated differently because of being a woman wasn’t until college. A guest-lecturer utterly dismissed an insightful comment I made after class only to go right back to chatting away with the male student that was still in the room.

But this was only the beginning. Over time I began to learn more about the plight of women around the world and I realized that I was very fortunate to have the rights and opportunities that I have.

When it came time for me to have my son, I made the seemingly “backward” decision to be a stay-at-home mom–not because I had to but because I wanted to. By this time I recognized that making this decision was a privilege afforded me by the work of feminists ahead of me.

When my friend Sarah Bessey announced that she was writing Jesus Feminist and she talked about her interest in feminism being motivated by following Jesus, it resonated deeply with me. I didn’t want to be an angry, man-hating feminist, but I do care about women being treated as people! And my own personal study of scripture led me to believe that God highly values daughters and sons alike.

I think I took the long route to come to terms with my own feminist streak. But the long and the short of it is, I am a Jesus Feminist because I don’t have to be one.

This post is part of Sarah Bessey’s “In which we are Jesus feminists synchroblog.” >>>Click here to read other stories of how and why folks became Jesus feminists.<<<

I also had the opportunity to interview Sarah about the book for Life & Liberty! >>>Click here to listen to the interview.<<<

Order Jesus Feminist from my section at the Amazon store at Life & Liberty.

Disclaimer: Your purchase via this link will help support Life & Liberty, an online magazine where I am a Spirituality Editor.

12 Mar

Living & Sharing

Posted by Jennifer Clark Tinker in Inspiration. Tagged: , , , , .

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. I like to write a range of things: a personal journal that no one sees, short stories to share with my son, and serious sermons that I am going to deliver out loud in front of a crowd of people.The trouble with my writing so far is that it is all so sporadic. I feel like I have more to say and I need a more consistent platform to say it. I think blogging can be that for me.

For a while now I have been following the blog of a friend of mine, Sarah Bessey.  I love reading about her spirit-filled life and seeing what she has to say about life, faith and church. The really big thing about Sarah is I love her guts to keep sharing her heart. What she does there inspires me to share my heart as well.

I want Living Faith to be a place where I write about what it means to me to live out my faith day-to-day. I don’t just go to church on Sunday and then forget about God the rest of my week. Rather, my relationship with God spurs me to be a kinder mom, be a better listener with friends, and faithfully manage the resources of my household.

I am not a Super Christian, able to leap roadblocks to my faith in a single bound. I struggle to figure out what is the right thing, and I sometimes even struggle to do what it is that I think is right. This blog isn’t going to be a how-to manual of Christian living. it is simply a log of my journey to do it the best I can and my encouragement to others to do the same. When there are things I think I’m doing well, I will probably write more confidently about them but I never want anyone to think for a moment that I think I have it all figured out.

If I had to identify a target audience, first off, I will be happy if anyone besides my mother reads it. What would be really great though is if everyone reads it! Honestly though, I am probably mostly writing to fellow Christians. Still I hope my writing is down-to-earth enough to be approachable for non-Christians. I am Lutheran and studied theology at a Lutheran university, but I have had a lot of different influences on my faith (more on that another day), I am not sure how “Lutheran” my writing here will be because when it comes to day-to-day living in Christ I don’t think denominational distinctions separate us all that much.

I look forward to sharing more as time goes on and I hope you will be inspired in how you live out your faith as well.

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