janebarter
-
“Now All Things Have Been Filled with Light”: Theological Reflections on Andy Warhol’s Icons
Netflix’s The Andy Warhol Diaries (based upon the book of the same name) rightly present the artist as mysterious. He was, after all, notoriously cryptic in his self-expression. Even among his closest friends, colleagues, and lovers his identity seemed impenetrable, as though… Continue reading
-
An Emptiness that Is Not Empty:
Get Back, Yoko Ono, and the Art of Performance In 1964, two years before she met John Lennon, Yoko Ono exhibited Cut Piece, one of the earliest works of feminist performance art. For Cut Piece, Ono wore a suit and knelt onstage… Continue reading
-
Defending Monica (again)
But perhaps heterosexual desire needs a prior liberation to prepare it for such adventures. First it needs to call out abuse, and then it must refuse its thrall. And then, and only then, can the “great times” be won. Continue reading
-
A Coherent Life: Eros for the World and the Theological Vision of Etty Hillesum
Woodhouse, Patrick. Etty Hillesum: A Life Transformed. London: Bloomsbury, 2009. Hillesum, Etty. Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941 -1943. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. In his theological rendering of Etty Hillesum’s life, Etty Hillesum: A Life Transformed, the Rev.… Continue reading
-
Born From Beauty: The Tender Mercies of “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”
Ocean Vuong’s 2019 novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, is a stunning and lyrical elegy addressed to the protagonist’s (Little Dog’s) mother, Rose. Rose is a Vietnamese migrant. She is the fair-skinned daughter of an American soldier and Lan, the winsome,… Continue reading
-
“And Yet Where in Our History Books is the Tale?”
And yet where in your history books is the taleOf the genocide basic to this country’s birth?Of the preachers who lied? And the people who died? – Buffy Sainte-Marie, “My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying, 1966. In late May… Continue reading
-
“Two Strikes”: Why I Write for “Women in Theology”
About twenty years ago, my then-husband landed a job at a decidedly modern prairie university. I was still working on my PhD and had one baby and another on the way. When I applied for sessional teaching, the Chair of Religion… Continue reading
-
The Gospel According to Scruffy: Or, Contemplating the Name of Dog
I discovered his name in 2008. I wish I could say that it came to me in a dream or vision, but in fact it came to me in one of those terrible mothering moments you probably should not admit… Continue reading
-
The Work of Mourning
Pastoral Reflections on Jacques Derrida’s The Work of Mourning(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002). In his beautiful series of reflections on the deaths of his friends and contemporaries (figures such as Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Sarah Kofman), Jacques Derrida writes… Continue reading
