My last post, Hidden Voices, set off a brand-new series on the hidden women in church history in their own words. This introduction showed that women have always been thinkers, writers, theologians, and teachers throughout history, but many of their stories have been forgotten, or worse, deliberately suppressed. In this series, I want to bringContinue reading “Hidden Voices Perpetua and Felicitas”
Author Archives: leavingbethany
Hidden Voices
The Hidden Women in Church History in Their Own Words “No Woman’s Chit-Chat” – Argula von Grumbach A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking at Solas Festival, near Perth, on the subject of women in Church history. As both a writer and a woman of faith, I have long been fascinated byContinue reading “Hidden Voices”
Unnamed women in the New Testament – Part 3
Philip’s Four Prophesying Daughters You often see personalised gifts on the shelves of garden centres and gift shops, and I can never resist looking for my family members’ names. Recently, I bought a photo frame that explained the meaning of my new granddaughter’s name. The name Susan comes from the Hebrew name Shoshannah and meansContinue reading “Unnamed women in the New Testament – Part 3”
Unnamed Women in the New Testament-Part 2
Do you know how you got your name? There’s not much we can do about our family name or surname unless we want to change it completely, but we can thank, or blame, our parents for our first names. My mother wanted to call me Pamela, but I was named Susan after a neighbour’s dollContinue reading “Unnamed Women in the New Testament-Part 2”
Unnamed women in the New Testament – part 1
Our names are very important to us, and having had the privilege of naming two new humans, it can also be quite daunting to wonder whether the name we give them as babies will suit them as adults. My granddaughter was born a few months ago, and I discovered her name while in the queueContinue reading “Unnamed women in the New Testament – part 1”
Abbess Hilda of Whitby
The Revd Hazel M Aucken writes, “I’ve been following Sue’s blogs of early Christian female pioneers with interest, not least because I trained for ordination at St Hild’s College, based in Sheffield, Mirfield, York and online. It’s an amazing seat of inspirational learning, founded as recently as 2017, with a name `chosen to capture our rootedness inContinue reading “Abbess Hilda of Whitby”
Aemilia Metella Interviews the Widow of Nain
The Woman Seen by Jesus The small child ran into her grandmother’s arms and hid her head in her dress. “Don’t be shy, Miriam,” her grandmother said. “Aemilia has travelled a long way to speak to me and meet your abba.” “Abba! Abba!” the young girl shouted, looking around for her father. “My son dotesContinue reading “Aemilia Metella Interviews the Widow of Nain”
Surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses
Looking back at my old blogs, I was delighted to see that I have been posting monthly blogs since January 2021. That is a total of five years’ worth of blogs, comprising 66 in all. The more eagle-eyed of you might notice that this is more than one per month; that is because I have,Continue reading “Surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses”
Hildegard of Bingen and the Incarnation
This is my third post about Hildegard of Bingen, a twelfth-century nun from what is now Germany. She was an abbess, visionary, poet, physician, prophet, preacher, theologian, political advocate, and a composer. In my first post, I outlined Hildegard’s life and work, and in my second, The Green Finger of God, I examined her writingContinue reading “Hildegard of Bingen and the Incarnation”
Green Finger of God
In my last post, I looked at Hildegard of Bingen and gave an outline of her life and work. Continuing this month, I want to go a little deeper by examining her teaching and music. This summer, I was introduced to Hildegard’s concept of the Green Finger of God and her idea of the interconnectednessContinue reading “Green Finger of God”
Leaving Bethany 