Contemporary Authors

Rev. Erin Wathen serves as the Senior Pastor at Saint Andrew Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Kansas City suburbs. As a Kentucky native and long-time desert dweller, now living on the prairie, she values a rich landscape of faith in both writing and preaching. Her husband, Jeremy, is stay-home dad to their two young children and a great little wonder dog named Van Halen (who has a pretend cape and a British accent.)

Erin is the 2010 recipient of the Fred Craddock Award for Excellence in Preaching. She’s also been recognized for gifts of congregational transformation, creative stewardship, and an evolving approach to worship and community life. In addition to being a family girl, pastor and writer, Erin is an occasional yogi and an accomplished domestic disaster. Which means she cooks a lot, but not necessarily well.

“Jesus was a feminist,” writes Wathen (More than Words), senior pastor at Saint Andrew Christian Church, in this wonderful book about the many ways patriarchal Christianity affects women’s lives. “The Jerry Falwell set are clutching their pearls right about now,” she adds, with the same wry humor that permeates this intellectually hefty, unflinching critique of everything patriarchal, including the health policies of Mike Pence and misogynistic Bible passages. Wathen is frank in her assessments of the deep-set problems that she sees patriarchy causing in women’s lives—pitting women against women, creating “pink ghettos” (isolated women’s groups) within church communities, and combining with racism to further divide women who should be relying on one another. Wathen looks at society and Christianity through a feminist and antiracist lens, mounting powerful arguments about why it’s essential to raise boys as feminists and how social media can be especially dangerous for women. Each of Wathen’s chapters ends with a set of questions for discussion, a helpful tool for teachers and professors. This trenchant book is a much-needed manifesto for 21st-century Christian feminism.

Erin Wathen happens to be the former pastor of the church I currently attend. She was already gone before I found the church and started going there, but I’ve been happy to get to know her a little through her writing. The more of her work I read, the more convinced I am that I would have loved her if I’d gotten to know her in person. Our church book club previously read her first book, More Than Words, and I was very impressed with it. But after reading Resist and Persist, I think I like it even better. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because gender equality is a timely topic with the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements in the spotlight or maybe it’s just because I related so well to everything Reverend Wathen had to say. Whatever the reason, I very much enjoyed this book and feel that it was a strong and much-needed manifesto on feminism and the role faith should play in furthering the cause.

Both Reverend Wathen and I come from a mainline protestant denomination that tends to have more progressive views, so I’m sure that she’ll likely receive pushback on many of her ideas from the church at large. However, I can’t help but agree with her on the fact that the patriarchy found in many churches is partly to blame for the misogyny and sexism that a lot of women face. I’ve seen it firsthand in churches I used to attend, and I see it frequently in news stories of abuse or abuse cover-ups in faith communities. So in that respect, I know that persons of faith must do better. We must clean up our own houses of worship first before we can take it into the wider world and expect to be respected.

I really liked how Reverend Wathen takes a look at not just patriarchy but all the different aspects of the gender equality issue. She discusses internalized misogyny and how women themselves can contribute to the problem, as well as privilege, and how women of color sometimes get left out of the equation. She also takes a look at etymology and how the language of equality can be a useful tool to promote healing. In addition, she covers topics such as The Motherhood Myth, Equal Pay and Representation, Double Standards and Demanding Routines for women, and the silencing of women in public spaces. I especially appreciated her coverage of Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault, issues that are now making headline news, but which we still have a long way to go to eradicate. And finally she wraps it all up with a discussion of one of the hottest hot-button topics: abortion. Yes, she did dare to go there, but in a sensible manner which I think more people need to examine as a possible way forward in this debate.

Whichever aspect of gender equality she was discussing, Reverend Wathen did so in a straightforward way while still embodying compassion, love, and understanding. And whatever the topic, I agreed with her wholeheartedly. I know many will not agree with either one of us, but if we are ever to make progress and stop treating women like second-class citizens, logical and balanced steps like the ones the author presents in this book are desperately needed. I didn’t used to think that I was a feminist, maybe because of the old connotations associated with the word or maybe because I’ve made choices in my own life that I felt many feminists would disdain. But the older I get, the more I realize I actually am one, no matter what the rest of the world may think, and my absolute love of Resist and Persist has only solidified that belief, as well as my understanding of the issues of gender equality. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is seriously looking for a way to put their faith into action in the fight for gender equality.

On the Saturday following the inauguration of President Trump thousands of women (and male allies) from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C. (as well as many other cities across the land) to give voice to their concerns over the perceived direction of the new administration when it came to issues these women valued. This has led to a record number of women choosing to run for political office. There is a resurgent women’s movement in the land. Where it will lead no one knows, but there is growing chorus of voices that too often is drowned out by male voices that traditionally have dominated public and private discourse. What is true in the broader public, is true for the church.

As I picked up Erin Wathen’s book Resist and Persist, my first thought was the rallying cry that emerged after the Senate majority leader tried to shut down Senator Elizabeth Warren as she spoke on the Senate floor. That cry was “she persisted,” a phrase that came from Senator McConnell’s rationale for shutting her down. He had warned her, but she persisted to speak. Being the age that I am, I also thought back to Helen Reddy’s anthem from the 1970s, which declared "I am woman, here me roar." It's been more than forty years since that song debuted, and women still struggle to achieve equality with men. I read this book from a particular vantage point. I am a white male, which accords me certain privileges. I haven’t had to fight for equality or persist when warned to stop speaking. While I have long supported women in their pursuit of equality, especially in the church, that doesn’t mean I have benefited from my status as a white male. No one questions my right to be a pastor due to my gender (or my ethnicity for that matter). In picking up this book, which is a manifesto for a Christian feminism, I need to put myself in a receptive position, even when I might find the message uncomfortable. I may have my questions and opinions, but the experiences described here are not mine.

The author of the book, the Rev. Erin Wathen, is a Disciples of Christ pastor (thus a member of my denomination). Although she is a member of a denomination headed by a woman of color, who succeeded a woman as General Minister and President, and serves a mid-sized congregation, she knows that women still struggle to gain access to pulpits in our denomination. She knows that while most of our congregations aren't opposed to women preachers, but when push comes to shove, they prefer men (like me).

As I took up this book, having received a review copy from the publisher, knowing that the author is a colleague in my denomination, I will admit that I didn't always enjoy what I was reading. Then again, that is by design. This is a strongly worded challenge to the ongoing reign of patriarchy in our society. In the face of continued expressions of patriarchy, Wathen writes to encourage women to persist, even as she calls men to stand up and be counted. She writes: "We are in the age of double standards and impossible expectations; a never-die patriarchy that is sanctioned by every institution: capitalism, government, and even -- maybe especially -- the church itself." (p. x).

As Wathen lays out the challenges that still face women in the 21st century, even after decades of women's movements, it is best if I simply listen and try to understand realities I will never face. As I do this, then perhaps I can be the ally that Wathen hopes I will be. We start by recognizing that "patriarchy dies hard." As she opens the book she tells of growing up in what she thought was a progressive Disciples church that had affirmed women's leadership, but when it came to calling a woman as pastor could not cross that bridge (despite recommendation from the search committee). Here is a reminder that patriarchy remains strongly present in church and society.

In the course of the book, Wathen tells her own story and the story of other women, inviting us to recognize the challenge of privilege, which she admits comes in more than one form—there is white male privilege, but there is also the privilege that white women have over women of color. With this in mind, she takes us into conversations about inclusive language, "the motherhood myth," equal pay and representation (it's a good reminder in an election year when women are running in record numbers that men still represent 80% or more of our governing leaders. There are double standards that continually crop up, and the problem of silencing women in an age of social media (consider how the current President speaks of women on twitter). There is ongoing challenge of domestic abuse and sexual assault (#me-too movement). Finally, there is the politics of the uterus. Wathen shares that she is personally pro-life, but politically pro-choice, helpfully explaining how this works. She asks that we recognize the complexities of the issues at hand and give women the ability to make what are often difficult choices that effect their lives, trusting them to make good decisions.

I wish a book like this didn't need to be written. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had reached the point where patriarchy was a thing of the past? Such is not yet the case, and so the fight for equality continues. Wathen writes for women who are persisting in their resistance to patriarchy. This book should provide encouragement to women, as Wathen offers guidance as to how to move forward. There is a word here for men as well. We are called upon to stand up and be counted. We are reminded of the privileges accorded to us by a still patriarchal culture. That might not be an enjoyable experience, but it is a necessary one.

The call for resistance has been issued. We are invited to persist. I say we, because Wathen makes it clear that men need to join the struggle if it is to succeed. Thus, it is an important book for us to read.