My Latest Reads

Since I continue to reference Radical Womanhood, I thought maybe I should do a book review.  While I would not go around recommending Twilight (previous post), I can whole-heartedly endorse this book.  It is probably one of the best books I have ever read.

Carolyn McCulley manages to write on topics ranging from the historical roots of the feminist movement, biblical roles within male and female relationships, and specifics such as home life.  I love this book for several reasons.  First, it is honest information.  There are a lot of women’s books at Christian bookstores that have ideas about womanhood, but they still have not gone  back to Scripture to delve into what God thinks.  God, after all, created women!  I think the historical basis behind everything in this book backs up biblical truth by showing that the feminist movement, while it had good intentions at times (right to own property and vote, for example), went looking in the wrong places for truth.  Many feminists are lauded for their contribution in work for women, but often women are unaware that many feminist leaders only believe women should have certain choices (homemaking not being one of them), and that some were advocates of eugenics.  Hello!  It is good to investigate truths/history behind any movement.

I also loved this book because it is gracious.  Differing roles for men and women has become a taboo subject in our culture.  However, it is Biblical.  McCulley approaches the book as a woman who used to be a feminist, but searched out God’s Word for truth.  She shows throughout the book that God’s ways are not shackling, but instead, freeing.  She does not shy away from hard issues, however.  In the midst of graciousness, she tackles tough questions.  She also takes on the “raunch” culture in which we live, exploring how we got here.

It has just been in the past couple of years that I realized the value of biographies.  My sister let me borrow her copy of “A Chance to Die,” by Elisabeth Elliot and I loved it.  Soon after, I read, “The Hiding Place,” by Corrie Ten Boom (autobiography).  I realized that biographies are like sitting down and chatting with old saints of the past.  It is like having a mentor to go back to again and again.

In Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God, Noelle Piper uncovers the lives of five women of God from the past: Sarah Edwards, Lilias Trotter, Gladys Aylward, Esther Ahn Kim, and Helen Roseveare.  I have a feeling that any woman who reads the book might be especially drawn to a specific biography for whatever reason.  I loved reading about Lilias Trotter.  I had never heard her story before.  She was not even supposed to be healthy enough for travel, but she labored in Algeria for 40 years.  While other missionaries shied away from the desert life, she ventured into it.  It was her goal to share the Gospel with the people in Algeria, who were mostly Muslim.  She especially wanted to talk to the women, and found out ways to reach them with some truth.  But Piper points out that she was not a missionary who saw tons of spiritual fruit in her lifetime.   And that is how life is- we work for the Lord, and trust that He is the one who brings the “increase.”  We are just told to be faithful, not matter what the results.  At the end of each biography, Piper makes the information applicable to our lives.

What I love about both McCulley and Piper’s books is that in all things, their goal is to draw your heart closer to your Savior, and bring glory to the Gospel.

What’s Up with the Twilight Craze?

I did it.  I saw Twilight.  Now before anyone gets excited or disgusted, let me just state that I actually didn’t even want to see it initially.  I really only had one purpose in watching the movie.  I saw a preview before it came out to theaters, and I had a seriously weird nightmare from just the preview.  My imagination is a bit wild at times.

So back when it was released, I noticed teen girls were getting really excited about it.  I figured it was just about the guy in it.  After it came out, people went bananas with facebook buttons and bumperstickers with the main character’s face plastered all over the place. My students were continually talking about it, especially the actual book(s).

To tell you the truth, I read several reviews in hopes of telling my students to stop this freakish addiction, and go watch or read something that has an inspiring tale to it.  Only, I really couldn’t find majorly negative reviews.  I found out that the movie isn’t a scary thrasher flick, but really, just a love story.

Is it anything special?  Yes and no.  Would I recommend Twilight?  I’m pretty hesitant to recommend movies.  I can think of others which I would be more willing to recommend.  So it was with much hesitation that I even considered the idea of watching the movie when my roommate told me it was sooooo good.  We didn’t end up watching it then, but I saw it last night.  I saw it so I could figure out the craze with my students.  The reviews said it was relatively clean, but they honestly weren’t helping me to process if this is a good or bad craze.

So I watched all two hours of it, pretty much gripping the armrest the whole time.  I don’t know why, because it was not scary.  It was intense, however.  And it was dark.  If a parent asked me what I thought, that would be my warning: watch out for dark things.  The problem with dark movies or books is that kids (and adults) can get too interested.  They want more.  And it’s not a good thing.  The movie has many supernatural elements that are not good.  However, this was on the lighter dark side, because the vampires did not want to eat people, they ate animals instead.  They wanted to be good little vampires (ironic…)  And one fell in love with a human.  When the movie ended, all I could say was, “That was weird…”  I think the weirdest part to me is why it is so popular.  It just seems like any other movie.  Why are kids so crazy about it?

Since my brain was on overload last night, I had some time to think about it.  I came up with a possible idea for why there seems to be an unusual obsession.  I remembered a speaker joking that, “We forgive Edward Cullen for ruining it for the rest of the guys.”  As in, girls were idolizing this male character and wanting a guy like him.  Once again, I just assumed it was because he had cool hair and a mysterious personality.  However, when I saw the movie, and after thinking through some things, I think it might be something on top of the hair…

So here is my theory for what is up with the craze.  I think there are two reasons, beside the fact that it is fantasy which many teens like.

1.) The heroine.  The main character is an ordinary girl, instead of a supermodel wearing the absolute latest styles (she doesn’t seem to feel she has to showcase her body, either).  She isn’t aggressively outgoing, and in fact, she’s somewhat quiet and likes to be by herself.  I think it’s highly possible that girls like her as a heroine because she’s different than what the culture is pushing with a feminist agenda: you need to be independent, aggressive, and gorgeous.  That is not really the theme of this girl’s character.  I think girls feel like they can breathe– and feel that heroines do not have to be what the media usually portrays.

2.) The hero.  But it is not just his looks.  A teen tried to tell me that is the only reason why girls really like it, but I think there has to be something else going on here- because there are a lot of “pretty” boy teen stars.  I think girls like who he is.  The main character is protective and will fight for his love (and not eat her…)  He has a moral compass.  In fact, he said that a bunch of guys were thinking horrible lustful thoughts and he was disgusted and angry.  He desires to do the right thing.  He is self-sacrificing.  And he is strong and calm–he is not acting out to just get attention.  He’s not lazy.  He’s a thinker.  The boy listens to Debussy.

So my theory is that this movie appeals to people because it actually has as part of it a counter-culture worldview on manhood and womanhood.  But the worldview is something intrinsically in men and women.  It cannot be changed no matter how much feminism wants to change it.  For example, it cannot be changed that women want to be protected by a trustworthy, moral man.  I read in Radical Womanhood that even Simone de Beauvoir, feminist of the early 20th century who tried to have relationships with many men throughout her life instead of marriage, realized that her work with Sartre (her partner in this idea) was the only thing that actually mattered at the end of her life, nothing else.  Historians have concluded from her letters that it was just one man she really ever wanted.  Wow.  Take that, Carrie Bradshaw.

Pity that so many Christians (teen girls) do not realize that the Bible already hales these characteristics (we are made in God’s image to reflect Him in an honorable way), and they do not just happen in fantasy books!  God created them.  Strong manhood is not a fantasy thing that only happens in an immortal vampire.  Being a woman who cares about more than just her appearance is not something that only a book heroine can actually live.  It is interesting how we often are drawn to something, but do not even know why.  We have forgotten that we are created a certain way, and when we see true characteristics of honorable traits, we long for it.

Now, as for the Jonas Brothers…I cannot say I have a theory on that one