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Sarah J. O'Connor

The Importance of Being Human: A Christian Perspective

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Sarah J. O’Connor

Reader, thinker, blogger. Wife, mom, grandma. MA Biblical Studies, Denver Seminary.

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Categories

1 Corinthians
1 Peter
1 Timothy
Audio Recordings
Authority
Bible Couples
Bible Men
Bible translation
Bible Women
Church Life
Ephesians
Equality
Gender
Genesis
Greco-Roman Culture
Headship
Jesus
Jewish Culture
Leadership
Manhood
Marriage
Minimalism
Paul and Women
Personal
Womanhood

Recent Posts

Sarah, Hagar, Abraham and a Mother’s Day Talk Audio Recording
Neither Sex Has a Corner on Sin: The Complicit Women of Isaiah 3-4, Current Events, and Women Attached to Power
Shiny Hurting People, Imaginary Umbrellas, and Biblical Authority: Bill Gothard and IBLP
Why Was Adam Alone Given the Command? Gen. 2:16-17, Hierarchy, and Reading Between the Lines
Awkward! Why I Don’t Look for Ways to be Led by Every Man I Meet.
Did the Man Name the Woman in Genesis 2:23? Maybe Not.
According to Complementarian Michael Kruger, Listening to Women is Essential if We Hope to Successfully Confront Spiritual Abuse in the Church
They Should Have Known: Jephthah, Southern Baptists, and Sacrificing the Vulnerable
Why I Write: For the First Time, Women Are Less Religious Than Men
Does Authority Matter?

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Welcome to My Blog

A few years ago I went back to school and earned an MA in Biblical Studies from Denver Seminary. I had been doing a bit of reading on what it means to be human, what it means to be male or female, and what it means to be a leader. It became apparent that I needed to study biblical Greek and Hebrew if I hoped to make any sense of so many conflicting views, all purportedly proven by the meaning of one or another biblical text in the original language. So off to school I went. I was pretty certain how it would all come out, since by then I had been following Jesus for a really long time and knew what the Bible said. It’s obvious, right? I knew what God expected of me and my family and the church and probably even you, if you had asked for my input on your personal life. (My children will tell you this is true.)

Then came the books and the professors and the hard work, culminating in a thesis on the Apostle Paul’s theology of gender. Rather than merely rehashing the endless debate about who can do what, I hoped to uncover the thinking behind Paul’s words, the reason he said what he said and did what he did. Maybe I succeeded; maybe I didn’t. But every time I mention my topic someone says, “Oh, I want to read that!” And I reply, “No, you don’t. It’s a thesis.” My thinking is that no one should suffer through reading someone else’s thesis, except of course the professors who are paid to do so. Wading through hundreds of footnotes and technical discussions of jussives and genitives and parallelism is not my idea of a good time, and shouldn’t be yours either. No. But thesis-reading apparently does work as a cure for insomnia, if my husband’s experience with my thesis is any indication. If that’s what you need, be my guest; it’s on reserve in the Denver Seminary library.

I guess that was a round-about way to explain why I’ve started this blog. I want to take the ideas that became so life-changing, so world-altering in my own little universe and make them more accessible. Ideas about the importance of being human (and how the Bible’s view was unique in the ancient world) while existing as male or female (it might not be what you think). Ideas about the difference between what’s biblical and what’s traditional (two things I confused for years) and how understanding this distinction has changed how I live (I surprised no one more than myself). Finally, ideas about all the other related issues that interest me so deeply as a Bible-following Christian, like how we are to make sense of all the suffering and hardship and abuse that is contained in the pages of Scripture, and how we are to understand our good and loving God in the midst of it.

One quick note: unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are from the New International Version.

So, once again, welcome to my blog.

Sarah

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