Sunday, June 3, 2018

Sunday Salon ~ two authors, two tee shirts, two words

John Pavlovitz

Donna and I each have a copy of John Pavlovitz's book A Bigger Table, which he signed for us on Friday.  We have attended three of his presentations this weekend at Parkway United Church of Christ:
  • Friday evening, his seminar was "Building a Bigger Table."
  • Saturday morning, it was "Rebounding from Compassion Fatigue."
  • Sunday morning, he preached at their regular church service.
On the first evening, Donna and I bought these tee shirts, which we wore to Saturday's seminar.

SPEAK LOVE ~ while you still have breath (Donna's tee)

RESIST ~ bigotry, racism, zenophobia, homophobia, 
transphobia, antisemitism, misogyny, hatred, fear, lies (my tee)

Sexism and Misogyny

When I taught EEO compliance (Equal Employment Opportunity) to managers in the 1970s and 1980s, we focused mostly on racism and sexism.  I noticed my new tee shirt had one, but not the other.  There's that word "misogyny" on the list, but in my mind sexism and misogyny are not the same.  So I went in search of answers.  I like these remarks from an article in the Guardian:  Sexism and Misogyny: What's the Difference?:
"Sexism is to misogyny what antisemitism is to Jew-hating. ... Misogyny has ... contempt and violence in it." ― Naomi Wolf

"Misogynists are always sexist, but sexists are not always misogynists." ― Julie Bindel
Mysogyny seems to be about hating.  Okay, then my tee shirt does need "sexism" on the list.  My friend Sheila thinks the list also needs the word "greed" on it.  What other things do you think we should resist?

Paul Coutinho

My new friend, Sandy S., came for lunch at our Circle@Crown Café on Friday, bringing four books for Sheila to peruse.  I was able to flip through them before passing them along to Sheila on Saturday when we met for our discussion of Unbelievable by John Shelby Spong.  All four books are by Paul Coutinho.
  • How Big Is Your God? : The Freedom to Experience the Divine (2007)
  • Just as You Are: Opening Your Life to the Infinite Love of God (2009)
  • An Ignatian Pathway: Experiencing the Mystical Dimension of the Spiritual Exercises (2011)
  • Sacred Darkness: Encountering Divine Love in Life's Darkest Places (2012)
More Sunday Salon posts on Facebook

4 comments:

Helen's Book Blog said...

Sounds like it's been a great week with lots of thought-provoking events.

AuntyDon said...

It was an uplifting weekend, and I think I found my church home after searching for a while.

Debra said...

Great t-shirts.Thanks for the reflection and book list by Paul C. I am not familiar with him. When Pavlovitz came here to St. Elmo, I met him briefly. I would have enjoyed the other topics too.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Debra, I haven't read any of the books by Paul Coutinho. I'd never heard of him, either. While I had them in hand, I wanted to list them for myself, so I'd remember the books later. I can't really recommend them, not knowing anything more about them ... or him.