Faith Dance

I like this...

"It seems to me that both egalitarianism and traditionalism, as commonly construed, are much more about the distribution of power than they are about cooperation.  The traditionalists want to see power concentrated in the hands of one spouse or one sex (the male one); the egalitarians want to see power distributed evenly between both spouses and sexes.  But both see relationships between the sexes as a zero-sum game, in which power held by one spouse can only come at the expense of power held by the other."

Margaret Kim Peterson, "Identity and Ministry in Light of the Gospel," in Women, Ministry and the Gospel"

10 Red Flags of an Emotional Affair

In Beliefnet, you will find 10 red flags for an emotional affair.  I will pass these on with no comment in this post about them:

Changing Relations

From the new book, Changing Relations: Achieving Intimacy in a Time of Social Transition: "Social diversity has also allowed for the development of new ties that go beyond the local area.  Friendship patterns may also become increasingly undifferentiated by gender, despite some persistence in the tendency for friendships to be primarily single-sex." 

Beautiful Day

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Chicago today.  The first 80 degree day for the year.  Jennifer and I went down into the city--specifically the Lincoln Park area.  It was no easy feat finding a decent parking place during that time of the day but we did.  We first went walking along Lake Michigan.

Two Weeks

In two weeks I will be joining David Fitch in discussing gender in his sexual ethics class.  David has graciously invited me to present my side of the question, "Does gender define roles in marriage, and/or the Church, and/or society?"  He will present his view.  Then we will open it up for questions and reactions.   

Facebook

If you are on facebook but we haven't connected as facebook friends, shoot me an email at dbrennanj@gmail.com.

Susan Boyle and Invisible Women

Unless you have been living in some deep forest away from all media outlets the past week, you know who Susan Boyle is.  When we entered this month, a relatively small insignificant number of people (especially compared to the number who know about her now) knew Susan Boyle.  

But Susan Boyle is no longer among the ranks of invisible women.  

Ellis Paul

Back in December, I saw that folk singer Ellis Paul was going to be in the Chicago area playing tonight.  Ellis is not a household name but he has some great lines in his songs and was influential in pouring new life and meaning in the folk scene in the '90s.  It was my friend Jennifer O. that introduced me to Ellis' music.  When Sheila and I drove down to Winston Salem back in 2002 to meet Jen f2f for the first time, she sent us home with a cassette tape (those were still around in 2002) with some Ellis Paul songs.  This week Jen has a birthday so it seemed fitting that we go see him tonight as part of her birthday celebration.   

Crossing the Line

"Have you had female friends?" Sheila asked our male friend.  We were sitting in our living room chatting about many things when the conversation turned to my book.  "I've had many cross-friends but I haven't crossed the line like Dan has.  My friendships have been confined to within work and school, not beyond them.  I haven't crossed over in my friendships to what others would see as "coupling" behaviors in a romantic context, i.e. go to movies as a pair, etc." 

One can argue there are scripts for men and women friends--especially in some Christian communities.  These scripts are for the depth of friendship to happen within the clearly defined boundaries of work.  In these communities, there is an unspoken violation or movement if you will, of crossing the line if you begin to doing things that some assign romantic meaning and attachment.  Whike some may say there is no such thing as a script for cross-gender friendship, others would argue there are clearly defined scripts for male and female friendships. 

Yesterday was a day where I happily crossed the line again. :-) 

Aroma Workshop

Good Friday

I hope and pray that all of us will see fresh meaning and significance of our Lord's dying as we remember his death on this holy day.