The disconnect between modern-day culture and the church is what drew White Rock Valley resident Lilian Calles Barger to her current role as an expert on feminist spirituality. Her two books, “Eve’s Revenge” and “Chasing Sophia,” address women’s struggles with their bodies and with “owning their knowledge,” as she describes it, and suggest that this self-loathing and self-doubt are not just social problems; they also impede relationships between women and God.
What does it mean to be an expert on feminist spirituality?
Basically, what I have done is studied the changes that have occurred over the last 30 years as women have gone through a very deep questioning period of the traditional religion systems they came from. I try to help women think about the questions coming up in their lives that maybe, when they were growing up in their religious tradition, weren’t allowed to be asked, or the answers weren’t satisfactory. To be an expert means I understand the history and journey women have been on in recent history, which is a little different than what men have experienced.
In what ways?
Women have not tended to be in positions of religious authority — not been the pastors or preachers, not written the religious texts we deal with — and that brings up a lot of issues for women regarding the nature of God and nature of the world and their lives, and what it means to be a Christian woman or a spiritual woman today.
How is it different for women today?
Woman are not as willing to accept what is coming from an religious authority or be “good girls”; they’re willing to explore outside their traditions, willing to experiment and to try different things, for good or ill. My job is to help women through that journey.
Is there a specific outcome you’re hoping for?
I am very committed to the teaching and work of Jesus. Oftentimes, Jesus and his message and who he is get lost, and often the Jesus women have been taught about is not the Jesus that the gospel narratives tell us about. I help women to see Jesus more clearly and think about, what things do you believe, even about God, that you’ve been told that maybe aren’t true.
Such as?
Is God male? What does it mean that the tradition calls God “father”? How did Jesus deal with women? How did he act toward them in a very traditional Hebrew culture when women didn’t have a lot of rights? What would Jesus have to say to contemporary women today who do have a lot of rights? Is it relevant? Does it matter?
Have you always been in tune to the role of women in society and in religion?
I’ve always been in tune to their role in Christianity because I was raised in that environment. I didn’t zero in on making this my life work until 1999. Before that, I was a CPA and had my own practice, and left that to write books and to help people on their journey. This is a second career to me. It’s a totally different world, but I felt like there was a need for it.
Where is the need?
I do a lot of work in understanding culturally where people are. I tend to concentrate on people outside the churches and who are marginal to the churches — what they’re thinking about, what’s important to them, and helping them through their lives. I think people need to understand that there’s a lot of faith and spirituality that is happening outside of religious institutions, and that’s where I kind-of work. It’s very exciting. I always tell people 90 percent of what God is doing, he is doing outside the church walls.
For information, visit lilianbarger.com.