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24 September 2006
  Lutheran Carnival XXXIII

One of the "librarians" hosts the current Lutheran Carnival. Please visit Be Strong in the Grace for TK's take on the merry, merry month of September, her preface to the collection of confessional Lutheran bloggers known as Lutheran Carnival XXXIII.

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09 September 2006
  To Hell with All That by Caitlin Flanagan

To Hell with All That -- Cover
To Hell with All That (Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife)
by Caitlin Flanagan
2006 - Little, Brown & Co.
ISBN: 0316736872

I first heard about this book in the July 1 issue of World Magazine, in which there was a brief description of the book along with an interview with the author. I was intrigued by the interview, as I find the fallout from feminism to be quite the interesting topic, historically, culturally, and theologically.

Flanagan brings a very interesting perspective to her examination of "the central concerns of women's private lives -- weddings, sex, nannies, housekeeping, marriage, children..." There seems to be a growing movement among 2nd/3rd generation "feminists" that the old-guard/1st-generation feminists seem to find increasingly distressing - i.e., that sometimes home & hearth can be the best & most attractive choice, and that perhaps traditional roles actually did serve a useful purpose.

The chapters on modern weddings, housekeeping, marital sex, and "executive" children are the most compelling, as they deal head-on with many of the issues that trouble families & society today. I found the chapters that dealt with the author's personal issues - e.g., nannies & "mother" issues - to be somewhat less compelling. While they were somewhat illustrative of the larger points (better) made in other chapters, they struck me as a bit too self-indulgent & not quite as compellingly well-written as the rest of the book.

Flanagan writes from a self-professed "Evangelical Christian" worldview that is refreshingly consistent throughout the whole book. This, however, should not be taken to mean that there's a whole lot of theological depth anchoring the book. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that a reasonably conservative (if not wholly/obviously orthodox) Christian faith informs this book's foundational points. For example, while many of the points made in the book are quite illustrative of, say, a Lutheran view of the Order of Creation, there was never an explicit statement acknowledging the Order of Creation's primacy in properly defining & managing male-female roles. IOW, while Christianity was mentioned rather regularly, the overall tone of the book struck me as more political/sociological than theological. That said, it was still on more solid theological ground than most of the dreck that's available at the local Barnes & Noble.

All things considered, this is a useful and worthwhile book. I can easily recommend To Hell with All That as a book that is worth the time/effort to find & read.

-ghp

Originally posted at Territorial Bloggings on September 08, 2006.

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  Outer Rim Hosts Inmost Thoughts
The exotic locale of the Outer Rim Territories forms the backdrop for Lutheran Carnival #32. Christopher Gillespie has done an excellent job of compiling others' posts and of composing an informative opening essay on confessional Lutheranism. Thanks to Christopher and to all who submitted.

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