Category Archives: church

American Christianity’s no-cost discipleship

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Sharon Autenrieth

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, leader in the German Confessing Church Today one of my … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, church, politics, religion, spirituality | 4 Comments

At Pride, in the name of love

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Sharon Autenrieth

I was at St Louis Pride this weekend. Saturday night, as I felt more and more anxious about being “outed” as a Pride attendee, I decided I needed to write about it; face my fear head on. I could tell … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Ministry, Christianity, church, homosexuality, spirituality | 13 Comments

17 thoughts on not being a pastor

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Sharon Autenrieth

1.  I never much liked the title anyway, so that’s lucky. 2.  When I first heard that I might not be relicensed this year I was panicked, angry, hurt, and desperate to get the Credentials Board to change their mind. … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Ministry, Christianity, church, religion, spirituality | 8 Comments

A letter to our sisters, on biblical womanhood in heavenly places

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Sharon Autenrieth

Yesterday Julie Anne at Spiritual Sounding posted this response to an article at cbmw.org.  That’s the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the flagship organization for complementarian theology.  I was alarmed by the excerpts in Julie Anne’s piece, so I … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christian Ministry, Christianity, church, feminism, gender, patriarchy, religion, spirituality, theology | Tagged , | 38 Comments

A Patriarch Takes a Fall: Doug Phillips Resigns

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Sharon Autenrieth

Douglas Phillips resigned as director of Vision Forum Ministries a few days ago, citing a “lengthy, inappropriate relationship with a woman” other than his wife, Beall.  You can read his statement here. If you know who Douglas Phillips is at … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, church, education, family, feminism, gender, homeschooling, patriarchy, religion, spirituality | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Who’s Afraid of Halloween?

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Sharon Autenrieth

(This is one of the first posts I ever wrote, for Civil Religion.  As I’ve started to see a few anti-Halloween items show up in my Facebook feed, I thought it might be time to share it again.) 10-26-09 When … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, church, holidays, movies, religion, spirituality, theology, videos | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

A footnote on modesty: Why no one gets to drop the mic

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Sharon Autenrieth

I received more responses than usual to the modesty post, both here and on Facebook.  Thank you!  Some of you had follow up questions challenging me to propose an alternative to what I was critiquing, especially in regard to parenting.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, blogging, Christianity, church, feminism, gender, patriarchy, religion, sex, spirituality | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Talking back to patriarchy, part 4: Joining the great modesty debate

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Sharon Autenrieth

In the last year or so there have been approximately two million blog posts on modesty.  This post will make it two million and one.  Approximately.  These posts are not about the kind of modesty that deflects praise – “Oh, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, church, feminism, gender, patriarchy, religion, sex, spirituality | Tagged , , , , | 55 Comments

Talking back to patriarchy, part 3: It all comes down to authority

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Sharon Autenrieth

“But saints are those who are obliged to come to terms with authority structures which come from the hand of God.” – Sarah Faith Schlissel, “Daddy’s Girl” Consider the case of Sarah Faith Schlissel.  The quote above, offering a definition … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, church, family, feminism, gender, marriage, parenting, patriarchy, religion, spirituality, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Talking back to patriarchy, part 2: Watch your language!

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Sharon Autenrieth

Complementarian, egalitarian, Christian feminist, biblical patriarchy…do you automatically attach negative connotations to any of those words?  Or positive?  Do any of them sound hopelessly arcane, or jargony?  I tossed around all of those terms in my last post and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, church, feminism, gender, patriarchy, religion, spirituality, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments