The Land of Promise
We are Christians
We are also feminists.
Some say we cannot be both,
but for us
Christianity and feminism
are inseparable.
DAUGHTERS OF SARAH
is our attempt
to share our discoveries,
our struggles, and our growth
as Christian women.
We are committed to Scripture
and we seek to find in it
meaning for our lives.
We are rooted in a historical tradition
of women who have served God
in innumerable ways,
and we seek guidance
from their example.
Why Sarah?
Sarah was a strong woman,
equally called by God
to a new land of promise.
We are Daughters of Sarah,
not of the flesh,
but of the promise,
as Scripture says,
co-heirs of God’s grace and life.
Each issue of the uncompromising Christian feminist quarterly Daughters of Sarah has opened with this simple but profound credo. For 20 years, DOS has been unyielding in its commitment to justice, but unequivocally committed to open dialogue.
I began reading DOS in the early ’80s, usually late into the night upon its arrival. The short but substantial offerings left me feeling nourished, inspired, and challenged. Stories of hope, struggle, pain, or exhilaration reinforced theological insights.
One 1989 editorial by editor Reta Halteman Finger is especially memorable. Writing in the 15th anniversary issue, Finger remembered her own early contact with the magazine, and her own initial surprise at the centrality of Sarah. She went on, confessionally, to discuss the fact that the women’s movement was "too often not the cutting edges for women of Black, Hispanic, or Asian origins, for women of working classes, for women in poverty, for immigrant women. Like Sarah we have often been so concerned about meeting our own needs, legitimate though they are, that we have simply overlooked the Hagars in our midst."
Hagar embodies the complexity of our world. Even as Sarah is claimed as a paradigm for Christian feminists, her own participation in the oppression of her slave Hagar needs to be owned. And as Finger says, "We have no record that Sarah ever repented, any more than Abraham repented of his previous sexism of committing Sarah to a harem to protect himself."
This sort of clarification, confession, and challenge marks each issue of Daughters of Sarah. Honesty, self-awareness, inclusivity, and affirmation are the tools that the editors of this magazine bring to their ministry. Good writing and interesting story telling make it worth the read.
DOS ventures into controversy, looking for common ground and opportunities to educate and empower. They willingly have entered into the "Re-Imagining God" debate, with characteristic frankness and fresh insights. (This dialogue continues in the soon-to-be-released 20th anniversary issue.)
If you want a mag that argues for the validity of a theology of Christian feminism, this likely is not your magazine (since this is the magazine’s assumption). If you want a mag that offers a Christian feminist perspective on a host of vital issues confronting our faith and our society, this is your mag.
Whether newly introduced, or resubscribing after some time of absence, please join with me in subscribing to this wonderful magazine. I am certain you will not be disappointed.
Send $18 for a one-year subscription to Daughters of Sarah, Circulation Dept., 2121 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201.
The Medium is the Mess
On September 15, Marvel Comics added Generation X to its product line. Aimed at twentysomething readers, Gen X is part of the megapopular X-Men group of comics, this one featuring "the next generation of mutants."
Regular readers of this column know that the mutant group of comic books combines soap opera and cosmic beat-’em-up adventure story, with a central thesis of the inability of "human" society to accept what is different about mutants. Thus groups like the Friends of Humanity are formed to protect the culture of humans from the threat of mutants.
The Gen X comic is about a group of teen-agers who don’t go out to protect the world, but who find the world (and the evil contained therein) encroaching on them. They react because they have no choice; they are heroes by circumstance.
To launch Generation X, Marvel public relations people decided it would be appropriate to have an on-line press conference over CompuServe. Well, comic book readers are rather anarchic to begin with. When hacker geeks are added to the mix, chaos reigns. Minutes into the conference, reporters were being interrupted and cajoled, causing the moderator of the conference to sign off, wishing everyone else well.
I now do the same. Stay tuned.
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