Revolve: sorry, I have to comment.
Observe:
What we have here is a New Testament in secular packaging, which is fine, right? Well, except for the fact that they've only published a Bible like this for young women, not young men, and young white women at that--the slice of the population that most needs to be controlled and disciplined, they'd have us believe. Anyway. Look what they're doing with what many people, including Christian feminists, insist is egalitarian theology:
Among its declarations: "Revolve girls don't call guys," and "Revolve girls are not argumentative."
One entry in an advice column called Blab says, "God made guys to be the leaders. That means they lead in relationships. They tell you they like you first, not vice versa.
From the faith section of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Emphasis in original.
AKMA, I'm wondering if you've seen this and what you think. My guess is that you'd dismiss this as a fundamentalist interpretation of the New Testament. Am I right? What do postmodernist theologians think of this kind of stuff? (Oh, by the way, nice post.)
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Revolve aka Cosmo
It doesn't look much different than a Cosmopolitan magazine does it - well, maybe a bit cleaner! Beauty secrets? Dating a Godly guy? Is this different than Cosmo's 'How to please your man' or 'Look great for your man'. Looks like religion has turned to Pop Culture - or Mass Culture really - religion for mass consumption on a whole new level. From a feminist perspective - EEK! Holy patriarchal values Batman! Who said feminism was dead and not needed?!
Revolve and fundamentalism
(It's me, AKMA)
It looks like one of the predictable products of the unholy synthesis of capitalism and conservative theology, where the social value of submissive white women (specifically, socially ambitious white women) receives its confirmation from the ultimate theological source, and the theology is affirmed and strengthened and broadcast by the commercial strategies of mass marketing.
It also reflects liberalism’s complicity with capitalism, inasmuch as classical liberal political theology relativizes the sanctity of all things in the name of infinite fluid exchange of value.
heh. Holy Patriarchial Values, Batman!
I love that phrase. I may have to borrow it!
This new Bible is just scary -- and yet it's fascinating at the same time. I can't believe that something like that can be passed along by a publisher and then taken up by Christian women to give their little girls! I guess since it's couched in religion, but wow! I'm going to look more into this. Thanks for bringing it up, Clancy.
Hey, Becky, you're welcome! Y
Hey, Becky, you're welcome! Yeah, AKMA, I think you're definitely right about the infusion of capitalism. Women in this patriarchal-capitalist ideology should be silent, beautiful, and consuming, but at the same time they are a thing to be consumed--getting back to what you said about exchange. There's that smooooooooth transfer of ownership from the father to the husband. About "beautiful," it seems to me that from the quotations I've read in Revolve, the emphasis seems to be on inner beauty via virtuous behavior, which is fine, but why did they have to feature girls on the cover who look like they were plucked right off the cover of Seventeen? Oh yeah! So that it would look like the girls were carrying around a magazine...
I think George W Bush would l
I think George W Bush would love this book, as long as homeland security get mentioned at least once.