Weighted Glory

Gender

Who is Junia? An Overview

by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) Junia is a first-century woman mentioned in the New Testament, in Romans 16:7. Paul includes her on a long list of greetings to local Christians in Rome: Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison […] Read more…

Introducing the Junia Series

(Jump to Series Index) One would not expect a conflagration of controversy from the ending of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. The sixteenth chapter lacks the robust theology expounded on in earlier chapters, instead containing a seemingly innocuous list of salutations to local Christians at the church in Rome. Yet controversy is exactly what the […] Read more…

Jesus on Mothers

  I’ve never understood how belief in traditional gender roles survives an actual reading of the Gospels. Case in point: when I thought about what the Bible specifically says about mothers (as distinct entities from fathers), this verse immediately came to mind: “As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, […] Read more…

We Need to Talk About Heavenly mother!

[Part 2: mother! Explained, Heavy Spoilers] There are two main theories on Darren Aronofsky’s provocative mother!: It’s a film about environmentalism. Jennifer Lawrence is Gaia / the Earth Mother / the Spirit of the Earth. The house is Earth. The people who assail the house, invited in by Javier Bardem (“Him” on the credits, but […] Read more…

We Need to Talk About Heavenly mother!

[Part 1: Spoiler-Free Review] Darren Aronofsky’s mother! (yes, the title is uncapitalized with an explanation point) has been getting some well-deserved buzz in spite of a lukewarm performance at the box office. The film ekes out a 67% “certified fresh” rating among critics at Rotten Tomatoes, but received a rare F grade from audiences at […] Read more…