It will come as no surprise to you that breastfeeding, masturbation, censorship, and John Piper (twice!) got Her.meneutics readers talking. It may very well surprise you that sleep, earnestness, and health food got them chattering just as loudly. Take this lazy Independence Day to catch up on the posts you may have missed, both this year and inyearspast, and name your own personal favorite in the comments section.
A note about metrics: Our top 10 lists are based on number of unique pageviews per post, and thus do not necessarily reflect posts’ popularity among readers or editors.
(10) When Christian Bookstores Ban Female Body Parts, by Caryn Rivadeneira (March 27)Unpacking the Rachel Held Evans-Thomas Nelson dust-up over the ‘v-word.’
(9) Prodigal Children: If It Can Happen to John Piper, It Can Happen to You, by Marlena Graves (June 20)There’s nothing we fallible parents can do to ensure our kids will keep the faith.
(8) ‘Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus’: To Adore or Adhor?, by Laura Ortberg Turner (January 16)What we can take away from the viral video that elicited such visceral reactions.
(7) Cross-Gender Friendships: What’s Appropriate for Married People? by Sharon Hodde Miller (April 18)A new model suggests married men and women can be best friends—and not with their spouses. Think again.
(6) John Piper and the Rise of Biblical Masculinity, by Rachel Marie Stone (February 9) Why many church leaders are tempted to confuse cultural norms with biblical truth.
(5) Breastfeeding in Church, and Other Petty Crimes, by Rachel Marie Stone (March 2)The act of breastfeeding is a picture of the care God gives us.
(4) Getting to the Root of Female Masturbation, by Marlena Graves (January 5)And the surprising role the church can play in helping women curb addiction to it.
(3) Ann Voskamp, Tim Challies, Beth Moore: Dinner and a Defense of Earnestness, by Micha Boyett (May 29)Tim Challies calls Ann Voskamp’s book “dangerous.” She invites him for dinner. He apologizes. Beth Moore also wants an invite. We look at what it looks like to err on the side of earnestness.(2) The Best Naked Pregnant Woman on a Magazine Cover, by Caryn Rivadeneira (March 15)Why Jessica Simpson’s recent Elle cover is worth celebrating.
(1) Real Women Don’t Text Back: How Women Fuel the Man-Boy Problem, by Ruthie Dean (January 25)Women will help single men grow up by refusing to play by their frat-boy standards.
Other notable posts of the year:
Want to Follow God? Go to Sleep by Karen Swallow Prior (February 21)
The Dark Side of Healthy Eating: Diagnosing ‘Orthorexia’ Eating Disorders, by Rachel Marie Stone (May 31)
Why Facebook Removed Photos of a Baby, by Karen Swallow Prior (May 25)
Hungry for the Hunger Games: Why We Need Dystopian Tales, by Monica Selby (March 22)
Confessions of a Lustful Christian Woman, by Jonalyn Fincher (March 21)
This looks to be an interesting new documentary to put on the radar screen: Sold: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade.
Filmmaker Jody Hassett Sanchez, who wrote, directed, and produced the project, says the film originated from several basic questions, starting with one inspired by 18th Century abolitionist William Wilberforce, whose story was so nicely chronicled in Amazing Grace: “We began by asking, Who are the William Wilberforces of the 21st century? What inspires and motivates them? Are they having success in ending the slave trade? By telling their stories, can we inspire others to take action?”
The result is Sold, which documents the lives of three contemporary abolitionists – a Christian (in Togo), a Muslim (in Pakistan), and a Hindu (in India).
Sanchez, who covered religion, culture, and education for ABC News and “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” says she hopes her film “will do more than just expose the darkness of slavery today. There are already so many films that document what is wrong with the world, exposing us to image after tragic image. . . . The challenge has been to balance the bleakness with hope. I want people to be outraged by the problem but also to be inspired by our three extraordinary abolitionists. Each of them battles a different virulent variety of slavery, with humor, grace, righteous anger and unflagging determination.
“It was important for me to focus on people of different faiths – Hindu, Muslim and Christian – because religion has been intertwined with slavery throughout history. Just as the Bible and the Koran have been manipulated to justify slavery, people of faith have always been on the frontlines of the battle to abolish slavery. The three abolitionists in our film believe that each of us was created in the image of a creator and therefore none of us should ‘own’ another human being.”
