Critic Cal

Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her. When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” ( Judges 11 :34-35) MEN OF THEIR WORD   Now Jephthah was a mighty promiser; A man Of Gilead, by Fallen Matriliny but His father’s son Unstinting in ambition. Jephthah was A leader of his brothers, Takers-back of land together, for the glory, Hallelujah, Of the Lord, the land, his brothers For his father’s house. He was a worshipper, According to the true profession, Jepthah Burned with holy fire On the threshold of his premises. He did His people proud. And so It is a custom, to this day, among the people That the fathers of their daughters Every year assemble

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ( Genesis 1 :1-2). On Twitter last year during Advent, Wil Gafney (a womanist biblical scholar I hope you’re all following too) called attention to the problematic ways in which “ light versus dark ” imagery in the Bible gets associated with a “good versus evil” paradigm without proper recognition or critique of the role that such binaries have played in producing and perpetuating racism. [1] It was uncomfortable and personally convicting to realise that the language and metaphors of scriptures that I love (and that pre-date constructions of race) had been so distorted by human, and specifically Christian, sin and oppression that their use (when handled unthoughtfully) could contribute to ongoing harm. [2] I happened to be reading Jordan Peterson’s ‘ Twelve Rules ’ at the time (y’know, to