#419: For All the Faithful Women
Jun. 1st, 2019 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lutheranhymnsWhat's the deal with this song?
There's a (very long) hymn about giving thanks for saints--in Lutheran tradition, mostly those named in the Bible, eg, the Apostles. The vast majority of people in that hymn are men. So this is sort of a gender-politics compensation (incidentally, written by a man) to the same tunes.
Who are some of the standouts?
-Three Marys; Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany, who shares a verse with her sister Martha. The Bible is a lot of things, but it certainly doesn't hew to the One Steve Limit.
-Old Testament heroines: Miriam, Hannah, and Ruth. (The inspiring hymn doesn't have any Old Testament men, presumably because the New Testament provides enough named personages already.)
-The Woman at the Well, who doesn't even get a name, but they were really stretching for anybody to include, I guess.
Do a lot of these names show up in your extended family?
Yes.
There's a (very long) hymn about giving thanks for saints--in Lutheran tradition, mostly those named in the Bible, eg, the Apostles. The vast majority of people in that hymn are men. So this is sort of a gender-politics compensation (incidentally, written by a man) to the same tunes.
Who are some of the standouts?
-Three Marys; Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Bethany, who shares a verse with her sister Martha. The Bible is a lot of things, but it certainly doesn't hew to the One Steve Limit.
-Old Testament heroines: Miriam, Hannah, and Ruth. (The inspiring hymn doesn't have any Old Testament men, presumably because the New Testament provides enough named personages already.)
-The Woman at the Well, who doesn't even get a name, but they were really stretching for anybody to include, I guess.
Do a lot of these names show up in your extended family?
Yes.
