Female He Created Them Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, KT and Mary discuss the beginning of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, the magnum opus of the mother of modern feminism. We're interested in her also because Beauvoir was raised Catholic. Topics include existentialism and whether one is born or has to become a woman, the invisible ways the built world is hostile to female bodies, and Beauvoir's take on why societal sexism goes much deeper than men thinking women are equal.

Other references:

The Hidden Face by Ida Görres

"The Friend-Group Fallacy" in The Atlantic 

My Antonia by Willa Cather

"Does the Built World Welcome You?" in Other Feminisms

The Saints and Spousal Abuse episode

He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek, SJ

In this episode, Mary and KT are joined by Margaux to discuss an article about Servant of God Maria Aristeia Ceccarelli and her experience of intimate partner violence. How ought the Church to tell the stories of women who were heroically holy, even in circumstances they shouldn't have been in? If we uphold someone as a saint so that the living can imitate them, what are the potential dangers of not telling the story of an abused woman carefully? Also includes reflections on what faithfulness in marriage is--and what it isn't.

Other references:

Episode on the Eternal Woman

The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day

"Love, Guilt, and Forgiveness" by Eleonore Stump

In this episode, KT and Mary discuss Mary’s paper “A Better Homily on the Household Codes. ” Some features include thinking about the political context of early Christianity and why Paul might not have been that interested in toppling societal structures built on hierarchical marriage.

Plus, Mary’s favorite marriage book: Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer by Thomas Dubay

(Spoiler: it’s not a marriage book)

In this episode, Mary reads us a paper she wrote about how to preach on the household codes in chapter 5 of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. She looks at two commentaries which represent diverse views on how a contemporary audience should approach Paul's advice to husbands and wives and talks about where they fail to be helpful. She also recommends what attitudes and mindsets best enable one to preach/teach about these issues in a way that is useful for growing in holiness.

References:

The Letter to the Ephesians by Peter T. O'Brien

Sacra Pagina: Colossians and Ephesians by Margaret MacDonald

In this episode, Mary & KT discuss how women are presented in the book of Sirach, employing some of the tools we talked about last episode, such as looking at multiple translations to see how valences of a passage change, considering genre, and audience.

References:

Mrs. Maccabee's Miracle by Elka Weber

KT and Mary kick off season 2 by discussing how to read the Bible, as a prelude to the next four episodes, which will be about different passages from Scripture that pertain to women.

We talk about paragraphs 11-12 in Dei Verbum as well as what Mary learned about how to read the Bible as something affirming of her as a person rather than God affirming everything that is done--and women are often treated--in the Bible. KT chimes in some miscellaneous thoughts about the history of Scripture scholarship and her passion for lectio divina.

Hello friends-

As you’ve probably noticed, we stopped posting in May. Since the medium bears it, we wanted to give you a quick update that season 1 has concluded and season 2 is slotted to launch at the end of the summer.

We may release some written material in the interim. If you have any reading suggestions, please feel free to email/comment!

In this episode, KT & Mary discuss KT's talk on 'Woman as the Image of God.'

We talk about issues in considering God as primarily masculine (e.g. ‘we are all feminine in relation to God’) and how we can actually value the feminine, i.e., not patronizing or condescending or caricaturing. We also talk about the primacy of spiritual acts, that men and women are fundamentally both active and passive, and why thinking about God as feminine is good for men.

This episode is a recording from a talk given at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, as part of their Salon Series, on January 27, 2024.

In the talk, KT addresses the question as to how women as women image God, by exploring the gender-coded dyads of Father/Mother, Priest/Victim, and Bridegroom/Bride and providing a theological and philosophical argument from the Church's tradition for thinking about God as mother, victim and bride.

Major references include Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Julian of Norwich, and a variety of Church Fathers.

KT used slides during the talk, which unfortunately we don't have a way to link to at the moment.

In this episode, KT and Mary discuss Abigail Favale’s book The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory, including whether women are just as much a part of the tradition as men, issues surrounding the notion that men image Christ and women image the Church, and thinking about what women contribute beyond motherhood.

Other References:

Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan

Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

Rec from KT: Blessed is She Planner