Resolving to Hear the Voice of Women in the Church

I may be a few days late, but that’s okay. I have a new goal for the year.

I recently posted a list of some good books I read last year. When I shared the post on Twitter, I tagged some of the authors, including Wm. Paul Young, whose book The Shack I had recently read for the first time. He responded:

@bradjersak @ChuckMcKnight @therebelgod @BrianZahnd @brianmclaren @peteenns @greg_boyd Thx…read Marilynne Robinson, too much testosterone.

— Wm Paul Young (@wmpaulyoung) January 2, 2016

He had a point. Of the 31 books I listed, 4 included contributions from women, and 1 was coauthored by a woman. The remaining 84% were entirely from men.

Nonetheless, without giving it too much initial thought, I tweeted back:

@wmpaulyoung Agreed. Problem is finding female authors who write about stuff I'm interested in. Not many that I've found. :/

— Chuck McKnight (@ChuckMcKnight) January 2, 2016

I consider myself to be an egalitarian. I believe women should be given the same opportunities as men. And I don’t intentionally avoid hearing from women. I just tend not to come across their writings all that often. Or so I thought.

Despite my hasty reply, the tweet stuck in my mind for the afternoon. That evening, my wife and I had some friends over, and the topic of feminism came up. I mentioned the tweet and my reply. Is it my job as a male egalitarian Christian to read books I’m not really interested in just because they’re written by women? The response I got back went something like this:

There are women out there who have written books you’d like. But due to the male bias in publishing, you’re going to have to work a little harder to find them. Maybe it is your job to put forth that extra effort.

Maybe so. That night after our friends left, I looked through my bookshelves and my Kindle library, curious to see what female-authored books I already had and just hadn’t gotten around to reading.

I was shocked. And a little ashamed. I had stacks of books—some really interesting titles too! Books from Diana Butler Bass, Sarah Bessey, Joy Davidman, Rachel Held Evans, Mandy Steward, Phyllis Tickle, and a bunch of others.

Why haven’t I actually read any of these yet? Have I been making excuses?

I don’t know. Self examination is tricky. But that’s why it’s so important to listen to others and heed the advice they give. So I’m going to try to listen to Wm. Paul Young, listen to my friends, and listen to all the women whose books I’ve put off for too long.

This year, for every male-authored book I read, I’m going to try to match it with a female-authored book.

I think I’ll start with Sarah Bessey’s much-acclaimed Jesus Feminist. And the other books I forgot I had should keep me going for a while. But I’d love to hear your suggestions as well. What other female authors should I be reading?