Reality Check: Becoming Her

In 1988, the Council for Biblic¬al Manhood and Womanhood published the Danvers Statement, affirming that "In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men." I am hesitant to single out one organization for focused argument, but this statement accurately represents a sentiment within the faith that I find disturbing. In this paper, I will use the redemptive trend hermeneutic to deconstruct the CBMW's affirmation, while providing my own views on why I find both women in ministry and the redemptive trend hermeneutic as valid.

What is Metamorphosis? In strictly technical terms, it is a change in the form and habits of an animal during normal development after the embryonic stage. For instance, a caterpillar would change into a butterfly, a tadpole into a frog.

Throughout my selected text, Johnson focuses on the church along with the subsequent androcentric image of God, and how it impacts woman around the world. She explains that throughout history, with the help of the church’s patriarchal nature and society’s values as a whole, woman have been seen “as a ‘defective male’…that must live in obedience to her [male counterpart,]…[ and who are often also referred to as the] ‘second sex’” (Johnson 92). This

I have always found human evolution very fascinating. I think it is incredible how we have evolved from caveman to complex modern-day humans. The fact that such an enormous change did not occur overnight, but through a slow process that took place over hundreds of thousands of years, gives me the urge to continue researching. I am curious about how we have evolved dramatically in terms of appearance, characteristics, lifestyle, and many other aspects. Not only are these adaptations interesting, they are also essential to our entire existence. Without evolution, humans would’ve died out due to the various diseases we are exposed to daily. Evolution is a constant undergoing process as our surroundings continue to change. We must adapt to these changes in order to successfully survive. I want to

However the central theme of the masterpiece “The Metamorphosis” is change. The novel illustrates the idea of change and transformation through its main character Gregor Samsa who transforms into a large insect. The real

When Stanton wrote this document, women had many different expectations than men did, many of them just kept their head down and followed the orders of men as if men were shepherds and women were merely sheep. Stanton writes, “He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her and her god.” (Stanton 2) As Stanton wove ethos into her writing, she complimented it with the symbolism of the sphere of action that represents the actions a women is allowed to take. Stanton takes the idea that people, including women, should

Macroevolution (the change of one species to another through natural selection over a long period of time) is currently taught exclusively in many public high schools as the leading theory for the variety of species on Earth, including human life. Everyone who has sat in a high school biology class has heard that humans have evolved over time from a single cell to more complex organisms such as apes to our current state of humans. There is much controversy on the validity of the macroevolution theory which has numerous evidentiary shortcomings. Unlike microevolution (successive changes within a species due to natural selection) which is easily proven through examining bacteria, macroevolution is a best-guess science. Because macroevolution

Evolution has been a topic for many years in the field of science. According to the Theory of Evolution, humans have been once apes and are still categorized as descendants of the ape family. This evolution was caused by variations and mutations in `order to fit into the environment and to survive. However, in the story “Devolution” by Edmond Hamilton, there is a completely different and opposite view of how humans have changed after millions of years. Whether humans were once a higher form of life and have been degrading into lesser beings or have derived from a more advanced type of being is a large discussion to take into consideration. Clifford D. Simak and Edmond Hamilton emphasize how changes evolution have caused an increase or decrease effect on human beings.

The most obvious metamorphosis is that of Gregor. Throughout his entire life, Gregor has let other people make his decisions for him. The physical metamorphosis that he undergoes is the first occurrence in his life that no one in his family has told him what to do. This change allows Gregor to find his inner self and disconnect himself from the orders and hardships brought out by his family. By means of his transformation into a giant insect, Gregor has been released from his responsibility to support his family without having to assume the guilt of letting them down. He has also changed from the provider to the dependent. Richter brings up the point that the transformation of Gregor was not necessarily a bad one.

story. While he had expressed earlier satisfaction with the work, he later found it to be flawed, even calling the ending "unreadable." Whatever his own opinion may have been, the short story has become one of the most popularly read and analyzed works of twentieth-century literature. Isolation and alienation are at the heart of this surreal story of a man transformed overnight into a kind of beetle. In contrast to much of Kafka's fiction, "The Metamorphosis" has not a sense of incompleteness. It is formally structured

The topic of metamorphosis in literature is not a unique concept, in fact more than one great piece of literature have used this topic to talk about the theme of morality and identity. to show In his novella The Breast Philip Roth uses the story of the fantastic and somewhat ridiculous transformation of Professor David Kepesh into a 155 lb human breast to show the changes in one’s moral identity and the identities of those close to them over a period of metamorphosis. Roth uses three stages or crises in The Breast, new and insatiable sexual urges, exposure to less virtuous persons & the struggle with madness and yearnings for earthly delights & the acceptance of reality, to highlight these changes in morality and identity.

Through solitude, we have the opportunity to retreat and be alone with God. We are away from the hustle and bustle of our chaotic days. We are not concerned with work, school, or family, which allows us to rid ourselves of the noise pollution that effects “the sacred within.” During times of solitude we can readjust our focus and thoughts on love for ourselves and our love for God. We can center ourselves and as Narsinha Mehta writes, “They are pure in thought, word, and deed. Free from greed, anger, and fear, These are the real lovers of God.” (Easwaren, 1982. P. 148). This time in solitude allows us the ability to confess our faults and motivates us to seek God.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a novella that begins with an absurd concept. A man wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. While this concept for a story is certainly absurd, Kafka contrasts this plot with a rather dull, plain narrative. It may initially seem novel to explain a ridiculous situation in a simple manner, but this causes the novella to be quite boring.

Gender roles, and the mere existence of a gender binary, has been a recent topic of conversation for many churches, theologians, and individual believers. As the cultural pressure to remove gender-specific limitations builds, many of those aforementioned have turned to scripture for answers. Seldom are women’s roles in the Old Testament characterized by decision making or personal merits. Rather, a woman’s capacity to produce an heir for their husband complements his dominance and responsible faithfulness and allows God’s plan to be fulfilled through their combined efforts. In the New Testament, through the transformative power of Christ, prominent women became less of an anomaly, but were still held to a different set of standards and expectations than men and were usually still praised according to their actions and their faith. The Pauline epistles, written in the context in which the Church still exists today: the age to come, provide a basis for today’s understanding of women’s roles in marriage and in church leadership. Although there are many instances of women fulfilling God’s plans and proving their worth among the community of Christians, the biblically normative role of women is to avoid authoritative church leadership positions and remain submissive in situations of teaching and interpreting the Word.

And it means the most difficult thing of all: listening and watching in art and literature, in the social sciences, in all the descriptions we are given of the world, for the silences, the absences, the nameless, the unspoken, the encoded--for there we will find the true knowledge of women. And in breaking those silences, naming our selves, uncovering the hidden, making ourselves present, we begin to define a reality which resonates to us, which affirms our being . . . to take ourselves, and each other, seriously: meaning, to begin to take charge of our lives. ( LSS, 145)