{"id":7901,"date":"2023-04-18T03:33:17","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T07:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/candlerdmin\/?p=7901"},"modified":"2023-05-01T16:51:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T20:51:49","slug":"from-queen-jezebel-to-queen-of-sheba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/candlerdmin\/2023\/04\/18\/from-queen-jezebel-to-queen-of-sheba\/","title":{"rendered":"From Queen Jezebel to Queen of Sheba"},"content":{"rendered":"

THREE NARRATIVES, THREE TROPES, AND THREE MODELS<\/strong><\/h1>\n

(The Church has to do better in its depiction of and relationship with Black Women)<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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Three Narratives<\/u><\/h3>\n

In recent conversations with Black women from their teens through 50 years old, I was enlightened by their disturbing experiences.\u00a0 I spoke with a 46-year-old woman who while traveling in Europe as a Christian missionary could not look a man in the eye without dealing with his presumption that she wanted to sleep with him.\u00a0 This was among men in the church. \u00a0I spoke with another woman who was sitting at a table in a public establishment in Charleston, SC when a man put his hands on her shoulder and proceeded to shoot his \u201cshot.\u201d\u00a0 She had to ask him more than once to remove his hands and his presence which he responded with a sense of disbelief and defiance. I was schooled by my 21-year-old daughter on the extremes that she and her peers go through as waitresses and when out socially to protect one another from men\/boys who feel entitled to get speak to, receive their phone number, Instagram handle, or other more personal information and attention.\u00a0 Women travel in packs just to go to and leave the bathroom.\u00a0 She told me that she uses an alias at work to protect herself from stalkers.<\/p>\n

I am a chaplain in the Armed Forces and a lay preacher who works in many parachurch ministries online and in person.\u00a0 In my various pursuits, which cross age, gender, race and nationality boundaries, a few consistent themes include a level of dissatisfaction of Black women with their organization and how they are treated and respected.\u00a0 They are also underrepresented in roles of leadership. In the 50 plus interviews I conducted, research, personal observations, and conversations with ministerial leaders in historically Black churches, primarily white churches and churches with diverse racial profiles, there were themes of misogyny and disrespect abound. \u00a0The stories ranged from young women who get ogled and unnecessarily hugged to established teachers who face roadblocks from men who adamantly oppose a woman\u2019s teaching. I have spoken with women who love God, but refuse to participate in the Church because they have been scorned or even abused mentally, emotionally, and\/or physically.<\/p>\n

These efforts and interactions inspired some simple questions.\u00a0 Why do some men behave like those above, why do some men feel empowered to pursue women even when it is unwelcomed, many times in rude, violative manners?\u00a0Why do many men and women not want to see women in authoritative posts? How do we engage women, specifically Black women better?\u00a0 I was driven to delve into this amongst other questions because I am a single, middle aged Black man who was raised in part by a cadre of Black women, was married for over two decades, and have four daughters ages 14-23. Despite my pedigree, I was relatively ignorant to the challenges they face from going to the bathroom, to work or speaking with men about Christ.\u00a0 There is no one solution, however, I thought that if we can inject something positive into narrative around who Black women are and who they have been in biblical history, how we should interact with and love them can be influenced positively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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From JMS to SHZ<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Jezebel, Mammy and Sapphire to <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sheba, Hagar and Zipporah)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Three Tropes & Three Models\u00a0 (JMS -> SHZ)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Based primarily on the dozens of anecdotes I heard, there were influences of primarily three stereotypes, JMS: Jezebel, Mammy and the Angry Black women (AKA Sapphire), which seemed to promote the unfair, improper and inappropriate treatment they experience.<\/p>\n

To find an antidote to the contrived and fictitious narratives that influence the explicitly and implicitly malignantly biased treatment of Black women, I was attracted to the stories of SHZ: Queen of Sheba, Hagar and Zipporah.\u00a0 Though they are three biblical African women we generally gloss over them in Scripture except to explore the softer side of their male counterparts.\u00a0 However, if properly paid attention too and mined their stories could provoke fruitful conversation.\u00a0 Their lives are indicative of how men should relate to women in power in the case of Sheba, how a woman who may feel alone can and should relate to God and How God related with her in the case of Hagar. The story of Zipporah includes how she was Moses\u2019 savior and how she saved him from the clutches of God\u2019s judgement.\u00a0 Though they are apart of Scriptural history, they are mainly absent or muted from our pulpits and classes.<\/p>\n

[Queen of Sheba was not just a pretty face(video)]<\/a><\/p>\n