Mary A. Tolbert

Marriage In San Francisco: One Year Later

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:38:51 +0400

The Bible and Same-Gender Marriage

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:38:45 +0400

"Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; wherever you go I will go, and wherever you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you."(Ruth 1:16-17)

Keeping the Faith

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:53:17 +0400

Fifth Anniversary Celebration of Jeanne Barnett & Ellie Charlton's Holy Union, St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Sacramento, CA

Resurrecting the Body in the Church

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:06:10 +0400

First Congregational Church of Berkeley; Scripture: 1 Cor 15: 35-58

Yesterday, I cut my grass for the third time this year. Three grass-cuttings inevitably means that Easter must be near.

Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: Biblical Texts in Historical Contexts

admin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:12:48 +0400

Lancaster School of Theology

Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: Biblical Texts in Historical Contexts

admin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:12:48 +0400

Thank you so much for inviting me to speak today on the topic of "Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: Biblical Texts in Historical Contexts." Today we're going to look at a topic of intense current controversy, the Bible and homosexuality, but we are going to look at it from a rather different perspective, that of the cultural construction of gender and sexual relations in ancient Mediterranean antiquity.

Pilgrim Press Book Series Forward

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:49:52 +0400

In her famous 1988 essay title, Gayatri Spivak asks, "Can the Subaltern Speak?"1 to raise the question of whether or not the Indian masses who lived under the subjection of colonizing powers and as objects within elite discourses shaped and dominated by the violence of imperialism, could ever truly speak in their own voice. She decides they could not because their representation was always crafted, not by themselves, but by the voices of the colonial elite in whose world they existed primarily as abstractions.

Where Have All the Young Girls Gone?

admin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:27:18 +0400

Originally published in Clergy Sexual Misconduct: Perspectives [PDF]

"Filled with Justice"

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:57:11 +0400

National Coming Out Day; Scripture: Micah 3:4-11, 4:6-7; Mark 11:15-18

"And he said to them, 'Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers.'" All four of the canonical Gospels contain this powerful story of Jesus' rage at a religion that perverts what should be sacred and open to all people into an exclusive, economically driven business.