I can barely believe that my book’s publication date is only 44 days away! It is daunting, exciting, humbling, and a million more emotions, besides. Highest on the list though, front and center, first and foremost, is the thrill of knowing that what I’ve been holding close for nearly twenty years is about to move from my hands and heart to yours. Gift and grace, to be sure!
Today’s post is but a taste of the ten stories within the book and the many vignettes held within each of those. I’ve chosen just one and, not surprisingly, about Eve.
Enjoy!
“One of the most powerful ways in which we initiate change and transformation—in our own lives and in the world—is to unequivocally name all that has kept us small, silenced, shamed, or trapped, and then do exactly the opposite. It’s a necessary discipline to contradict all that has been so deeply ingrained within us, to defy any and everything that holds us down and back, to literally upset the apple cart.
“We do this at a systemic level by applying intelligent critique to any policies, protocols, theologies, or politics that hinder women’s growth, self-expression, and inherent worth. We lobby. We protest. We vote. And we persist. Sojourner Truth articulated this perfectly when speaking at the Equal Rights Convention in New York in 1897:
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again! And now [that] they are asking to do it, the men better let them. Truth burns up error.
“The day after Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, I attended the Women’s March. It was the largest single-day protest in US history; worldwide participation was estimated at over seven million. What a powerful experience to be surrounded by throngs of women, men, and children—all of whom had come together on behalf of women’s rights, human rights, really. As I was jostled and carried by the crowd, I remembered Eve. I wondered how she felt about the whole thing—the pink hats, the sea of signs, the electrifying speeches, the solidarity that swelled as so many of us demanded that things be “turned right side up again.” I am certain she remembered the Garden, her unswerving clarity as she honored her agency and desire, and the taste of the fruit. . . . And I am certain she smiled during those hours as so many of us gathered, grateful that we were tasting the same.
“For as much as I loved being part of that day, I know the change we desire and deserve is far easier painted onto a sign than brought into being. And as much as I would like to (and do) blame Donald Trump and so many others like him for every limit, constraint, and lack of human rights that women have known throughout time, I also know that much of what holds us back comes from within.
“My inner critic is alive and well. It has the uncanny ability to completely derail me, my confidence, my choices, and certainly my actions. It doesn’t matter that I know it to be nothing more (and certainly nothing less) than an accumulation of patriarchal messages, doctrine and dogma that no longer serve, culturally reinforced misogyny, old stories, capitalism’s endless effort to convince me that I am not enough, and my own laundry list of perceived failures, mistakes, and faults. Still, it natters on and shuts me down.
“Until I remember Eve.
“When I do, I can extend myself grace and acknowledge that this caustic voice within has, in large part, been shifted and shaped by poor tellings of her story—threads and themes that echo, You’re to blame. Don’t trust yourself. You’ll only wreak havoc if you follow your instinct. Stay inside the lines. When I hear their hiss, something in me rises up, defiant and determined, hand-painted signs at the ready. It’s as though she speaks through me, as though she’s been waiting for the opportunity to set right all that has been turned upside down within me and my world. And sometimes I catch a whiff of something fresh and crisp in the air—an apple, maybe. . . .
“Reimagining and remembering Eve’s story is both a collective and personal act. It is a radical act. And it summons the change we so deeply desire—for all women, all humans, and most certainly ourselves. Indeed, ‘to get [the world] right side up again!’”
How about one more?!? (This is why I need those 44 days to hurry up: I am so excited for you to turn these pages for yourself!)
“Sometimes, oftentimes, we struggle to believe in our divinely decreed value and worth, not so much because of Eve but because of her god. Well, not her god, exactly, but the one of whom we’ve been told.
“East of Eden—after Eve’s choice—God’s direct interactions, intimacy, and care increase exponentially. Beginning in Genesis 4, an epic story commences: scene after scene of God in conversation, in actual appearances, offering protection, presence, and love for generations. Eve’s story, when retold, enabled the overarching story of scripture to be told in all three Abrahamic traditions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: a chosen people, cared for by the divine, delivered by their god into a promised land. And all of this after and because of Eve.
“Eve’s god does not demand our obedience or perfection but instead fully embraces our deepest intuition and bravest choices. Eve’s god shows up, walks alongside us, and reminds us that our wisdom can be trusted—that we are trusted. Eve’s god is not obsessed with sin but with reconciliation and relationship. Rather than require that we prove ourselves or be better or hold ourselves back or reign ourselves in, Eve’s god reminds us, again and again, as does Eve, that we reflect the divine and our desire is good.
“We should be thanking her instead of blaming her.
“It’s not too late.”
As named above, Eve’s is only one of ten stories I reimagine and rewrite within Rewriting Eve: Rescuing Women’s Stories from the Bible and Reclaiming Them as Our Own. Each woman is so powerful, so brilliant, so real, and so worthy of being known, heard, seen, and honored—as are you. I can hardly wait for you to meet them for the first time, or perhaps in a much different (and much better) way. It’s about time: you are, after all, their daughter, their lineage, their kin.
*****
You can preorder Rewriting Eve now. These early days of ordering are so important for first-time authors—giving vendors a sense of demand and desire. Head to Bookshop.org (in support of independent booksellers), Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, and wherever books are sold! Thank you!
And did I mention that publication is just 44 days away?!? Eeeeeeeee!