Hospitality: The Biblical Commands (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

Okay, so I said here that I would review Hospitality: The Biblical Commands around Halloween of last year. It’s now March, so obviously my posting schedule got a little thrown off. But hey, better late than never, right? So let’s get going and take a good, long, belated look the topic of hospitality, as explained by Alexander Strauch.

Christian Modesty (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

There are a few topics on which any anti-patriocentric blogger will eventually be obligated to comment, because they are such a prominent part of patriarchal culture. Courtship, militant fecundity, submission – you probably know the lineup if you’ve been reading in this corner of the blogosphere for any significant amount of time. Modesty is one of those topics.

To be honest, Jeff Pollard’s Christian Modesty was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be. The first half of the lecture actually contained some decent advice – for instance, the idea that you can focus so much on purely external matters that you develop a holier-than-thou attitude. Not just patriarchal culture, but also many megachurches and their smaller spinoffs and wannabes would do well to reduce their focus on externals (are you cool enough?). That being said, however, we do encounter a familiar and predictable set of contradictions and tensions, which I’ll explore in the rest of this post.

Happy Birthday, Scarlet Letters!

As you’ve probably guessed by now, today is what you might call a “red-letter” day. That’s because exactly one year ago, I posted the introduction to the Big Box series and thus, Scarlet Letters was born. The rest, of course, is history.

Jennie B. and the Pilot (TBB)

The “TBB” in the name of this post means that it is part of The Big Box series. If you’re new to Scarlet Letters, read the introductory post to see what the Big Box is all about.

It’s been a while since we got to meet a new speaker in the Big Box, but today we’re going to break that streak with Jennie Chancey, co-author of Passionate Housewives Desperate for God (she is, as you probably guessed, the “Jennie B.” in the title of today’s post). The pilot is her father, Jeff Ethell (you can read about him here), and a good percentage of the lecture was about their relationship. However, I’m here not to review Jennie Chancey’s childhood, but the patriarchal doctrines she used her family story and personal history to promote. And boy oh boy are there some doozies this week.