Fashion magazines annoy me when they try to tell us who is beautiful and who is not. The advertisements, glamorous fashion runway shots, and girls featured on the cover of fashion magazine all try to convey the standards of beauty that their customers need to follow. Some of these standards are Western, unattainable by the […]
It’s spring time! Time for young love, allergies—and commencement. Last week, I once again put on my academic regalia. In terms of cost-per-wear, it is my most expensive item of clothing except for my wedding dress. I wear my regalia only at opening convocation in the fall and at closing convocation in the spring. Otherwise […]
Lately, it seems the news is plagued by stories of sexism and violence related to young women and girls globablly and in the U.S. While I think we all need to express collective outrage at such blatant and systemic acts of gender-based oppression and violence, we also need to see the daily impact of sexism […]
A little more than a year ago, I received an invitation to participate in the Inaugural Clarence N. and Betty B. Frierson Distinguished Scholars’ Conference at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The generosity of the Frierson family of First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport, Louisiana made the conference possible. They endowed a faculty chair that will allow future […]
I speak fluent English, conversational Korean and textbook French. I am proud to be trilingual and I always encourage my children to speak Korean with me. They never do. I do my best to speak to them in Korean, unless I am disciplining them. Then, only English comes out of my mouth. We live in […]
Writing is a difficult task for me. Some days when I try to write, nothing comes. I could spend hours just surfing the internet. I can mindlessly stare into my laptop as if I am drifting into nowhere land. Other days, I just sit there giving up for the day. Some days, when I […]
Valentine ’s Day has been civilized and capitalized, hallmarked and disneyfied, all in an attempt to clean up love and signify sexuality into a compartmentalized relationship standard, tied nicely with an over romanticized bow. As a cradle Catholic, the veneration of saints has been part of my religious heritage. I still remember elementary school projects […]
Several weeks ago I submitted my manuscript for my upcoming fifth book, Contemplations from the Heart: Spiritual Reflections on Family, Community, and the Divine (Wipf and Stock, Summer 2014). I submitted the final manuscript with lots of excitement as well as with some reservation. There are certain joys and pleasures from writing a book. There is joy […]
by Katey Zeh Having grown up in a Protestant tradition, I had never really given Mary much thought. If anything, I saw her as a kind of troubling figure for women, embodying passivity, purity, asexuality. But now, as someone who spends her days thinking and praying and theologizing about maternal health, I realize that there […]
Want to discuss the future of women for the study of religion or women as the subject of religious studies? Learn the history of and contribute to the future for Women and Religion in the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Join the live discussion on twitter – follow #AARWR40. Women and Religion Section Theme: Over […]