Pizza dough

One person asked me for the recipe for pastry to go with the Spinach and cheese pies. It is actually a pizza dough that they recommended to go with it in the magazine I found it in, Super Food Ideas. It is a nice dough, and goes well with the pies. This magazine now has a website, which also features recipes from other magazines, and you can find out how to make the basic pizza dough there. Happy cooking!

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Why I am not a feminist

I wrote this article when I was at the University of Tasmania, for the student magazine Togatus. They had a "Women's Issue" and I was inspired to write something about a matter I am passionate about. Reading over this has reminded me that I really do want to get back into writing "proper" articles and submitting them to "proper publications", not just writing quick and often informal blog posts. I hope you enjoy this article.

~~~

During my first year at university, a lecturer told us that if we believed in education for women we were feminists. Since we were all at university, we were all feminists.

With similar logic, some argue that if you agree with employment being open to women or you disagree with domestic violence “you must be a feminist”.

Yet you can hold all those things in common with feminists, as I do, and still have problems with calling yourself a feminist.

One of my problems with feminist thought, historically as well as in the present, is the tendency to devalue working at home in comparison to paid employment. A couple of quotes from icons of feminist thought should demonstrate this.

Betty Frieden wrote in The Feminist Mystique that housewives are mindless, thing-hungry, and not people.

“[Housewives] are in as much danger as the millions who walked to their own death in the concentration camps,” she said.

Gloria Steinham said in “What It Would Be Like If Women Win” (Time, August 31, 1970) that housewives were parasites.

“[Housewives] are dependent creatures who are still children,” she said.

I find this bias offensive. My mother, a high school teacher, did little paid work for over twenty years while she raised her four children. She pursued many interests at home. She was hardly a mindless parasite. I would be happy to copy her choices.

It is not odd that some women prefer to be at home to care for their children. Women can have young children and a career if they want to. Yet it is nonsense to say they have the same experiences.

I respect the efforts of feminists to open career paths for women. I support feminist advocacy of better child-care, flexible working hours, and improved maternity leave provisions. Removing obstacles for women who want to be in the workforce is good.

What I do not respect is valuing these women’s contributions over those of women who make another choice.

Women who do choose paid employment are still dependent. They are dependent upon their employers to pay them. If they are mothers, they depend upon child-care centres, schools, or family.

Being at home with your children is no more mindless drudgery than most other jobs. Whether you work as an office assistant, a manager, a child-care worker, a sales person, or an accountant, it quickly becomes mundane. It can be more so than being at home. It often gives less scope for pursuing your own interests.

Added to this, most employed women still do most of the care for their home and children. As the Sunday Tasmanian noted on 1 April 2005, “Being a mother, holding down a career and doing the housework can be an exhausting combination”.

So much so that experts have diagnosed a condition called Harried Woman Syndrome. Chronic stress from juggling work and family life causes it. The symptoms can lead to clinical depression or a more serious illness.

How liberating.

To be fair to feminists, they do want men to do more housework and childcare. Some men now do more as a result. Yet most women are still left with the majority of it.

The Sunday Tasmanian (8 May 2005) reported that 40 per cent of men in Spain do no housework. Attempting to change this, Spain has passed a law that men must share the housework.

Dr Carole Ferrier, director of the University of Queensland’s Centre for Women, Gender, Culture and Social Change, stated the obvious. The law probably will not work. It is impossible to police.

The idea that liberated women must be in paid employment has caused women more drudgery, not less. It is not liberating to be expected to earn the bread and butter as well as care for the kids and keep the house liveable.

Many feminists will protest that the aim of the feminist movement is to facilitate choice, not to privilege one choice over another.

If that is the case, they should disown Simone de Beauvoir and her advocacy of removing women’s choice.

“No woman should be authorised to stay at home and raise her children. Society should be totally different. Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one,” she said in the Saturday Review, June 14, 1975.

Modern feminists do not state this so bluntly. Yet many of them also see paid employment as more worthwhile.

On October 10, the CBS news 60 minutes program reported that many successful women are leaving their jobs to take care of their children, at least for a few years.

Linda Hirshman is researching this, and it worries her. Women who could have jobs that run the world are instead choosing to opt out of the workforce for a time.

“As Mark Twain said ‘A man who chooses not to read is just as ignorant as a man who cannot read,’” she said.

“They are choosing lives in which they do not use their capacity to deal with very powerful other adults in the world, which takes a lot of skill. I think there are better lives and worse lives.”

Gretchen Ritter, Center for Women’s and Gender Studies director at the University of Texas-Austin, also displays feminist bias.

Ritter wrote an article in the Austin American-Statesman (July 6, 2004) to rebut the idea that choosing to stay home with children is a valid option.

“The stay-at-home mother movement is bad for society,” she said.

Ritter argued that everyone should be expected to give their talents to the broader community.

While feminists continue to express such bias, their claims to advocate choice are not believable. Only when they protest about mothers feeling forced to work, just as they have about women feeling forced to stay home, will they truly advocate choice.

Feminist activists have claimed to speak for women, but in crucial areas they do not speak for me. Rather, as I once told a woman politician who advocated abortion availability, they often make me feel ashamed to be a woman.

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St Lucia Beach

When Dave and I visited Zululand we went to a beach at St Lucia. It was an amazingly broad beach, and it had lots of little plants growing on it. The beach was so wide that it took a long time to walk across it to the water.


At the water Dave kept taking pictures of me, so I took a picture of him taking pictures.


This is my favourite picture of us during our trip.

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Why get married in Germany?

My friend Mike explains all the good reasons for getting married in Germany when you live in Australia and your fiance lives in the USA.

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The Bad Box

When I was studying "Writing Poetry and Short Fiction" at the University of Tasmania we used a text that contained many exercises to help us attempt to write poetry. It was all very non traditional, and so none of the poetry ended up sounding like poetry! One of the exercises was called "The Bad Box". My bad box effort demonstrates why I have not returned to a secular university . . . I got so tired of post-modernists, Marxists and feminists that this piece of writing was the result! I realised even at the time that I didn't want them to all be put into a box, but they were still the first to come to mind when I considered this exercise! My lecturers liked it because it was honest. Here it is:

I will put in the box
Church leaders who teach falsely
Plus all post-modernists, Marxists and feminists
And anyone at all who persecutes Christians

The walls of the box will be transparent
Yet impossible to physically penetrate
Either from the inside or the outside

The box will have plenty of sunlight
Many rooms, even libraries and nurseries
Indoor plants and pet birds

The church leaders will assure everyone
Marxism, feminism and post-modernism
Are completely compatible with Christianity

The post-modernists will state emphatically
That nothing is right unless it is relative
Condemning everyone with exclusive views

The Marxists will declare a dictatorship
Desiring everyone to have equality
With regard to pet birds and books

The feminists will object to it all
They will apportion off their own area
Complaining day and night about patriarchy

The persecutors of Christians
Will mope sadly with no one to laugh at
Until one of their own is converted

The box will be kept in the Australian desert
Where incredulous toursists can go and look
While the inhabitants self-destruct.

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My education course

I am finding my education course interesting, but stressful. It is an intersive course, as 18 months is crammed into 1 year. What I most appreciate about the course is studying from a Christian perspective. After years studying at a secular university, I fully appreciate being able to study God's word at the same time as gaining formal qualifications in primary teaching.

Today I read about five different models of the relationship of Christian faith and culture. I discovered that my views fit best with "Christ Restores Culture - The Transformational Approach". This view sees Christ as the converter of humankind and culture. Here are some points about this view:

* Salvation won by Jesus Christ is not against culture, nor simply alongside or above it. Jesus's redemption can also transform culture.

* This model focus on creation, fall, and redemption

* Culture has never been without God's ordering action.

* God's sovereignty extends to all areas of life. Secular and sacred are not pitted against one another. Christ created all things and Christ redeems all things. The Christian is called to obey God in all areas.

Hoekema, in The Bible and the future states that the kingdom of God "means nothing less than the renewal of the entire cosmos, culminating in the new heaven and the new earth."

"we should see all of life and all of reality in the light of the goal of the redemption of the cosmos. This implies, as Abraham Kuyper once said, that there is not a thumb-breadth of the universe about which Christ does not say, "It is mine."

The readings on this topic point out that most Christians do not have a coherent view of the way Christianity should interact with culture. I am grateful that this course gives me an opportunity to solidify my own views.

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Multi-tasking

I enjoyed Keziah's recent post on multi-tasking, titled Work Heartily. I often try to do many things at once, especially on the Internet, and I find that I feel flustered and don't do things as well as if I was focusing on one thing at a time.

Especially now that I am studying, I need to work on being focused on the task at hand and leaving other things to be focused on later.

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All dressed up for a wedding

When we were in South Africa, Dave and I were blessed to be able to attend a wedding of one of Dave's former flat mates. It was the first wedding I have ever been to where I had never met the bride or the groom prior to their wedding day!

Dave told me that if I was going to put any photos on my blog, they should include this one . . .


I may as well also throw in this full length shot. I had never seen Dave in a suit before, and I have not seen him in one since!

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Spinach and cheese pies

This is a recipe I use frequently. Mum grows silver beet in the garden, and so we substitute that for spinach. The recipe is not specific about the amount of spinach to use. It just says "1 bunch" which could mean anything! I tend to use a lot, so I often end up with many more pies than the recipe says I will! Originally when I made this recipe I used the homemade dough they suggested. However, along with the preparation of the filling this left me tired. So now I use frozen puff pastry, which works just as well. I will not include the dough recipe here, but if you do want it just ask me for it in the comments section.

Here is the recipe!

1 tablespoon butter
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bunch spinach, washed, shredded
4 green onions (otherwise known as spring onions), thinly sliced
250g fresh ricotta cheese (if you have extra spinach you may also need extra cheese)
100g feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup pine nuts (yum!)
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
Frozen puff pastry. The amount you need depends upon how much spinach you use! You will need at least two sheets. I often use five.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius. Take frozen pastry out of the freezer to thaw. Melt butter in a frying pan over high heat. Add garlic and spinach. Cook, stirring, for 30 to 60 seconds or until spinach just wilts. Transfer to a bowl. Add onions, ricotta, feta, pine nuts, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper. Mix well to combine.

2. Cut each piece of puff pastry in half. Place filling on each piece. Fold the ends of the pastry over the filling on each of the four sides, and press the edges of the pastry together. You will be left with a gap in the middle that shows the filling. I think a photo of this may be necessary and I will try and do one soon. These are flat rectangular pies, not round ones. However, it doesn't really matter what shape you choose. You could even choose to make large pies that need to be cut up to serve, rather than individual pies. You could do this by placing a lot of filling in a whole piece of puff pastry, and folding up the sides in a pleat-like way. The point is that the filling is delicious! What you do with the pastry doesn't matter as much.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until pastry is lightly browned. The recipe suggests that you serve it with lemon wedges. I have never done this, but it could be a nice touch.

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Valentine's Day

This year I received valentines from two people!

The first person is the one you would expect: Dave. I can't say too much about this, as it is too romantic. It does involve roses, a poem, dinner, and a late night contemplation of the sea.

The second person is a little more unexpected - Keziah. She sent me an e-card where John 3:16 came up bit by bit. One letter was highlighted in each snippet and each floated to the top of the card as the other letters faded away and the next snippet came up. These formed the word valentine. I think this is a lovely way to celebrate Valentine's Day, focusing on God's love!

In the USA Valentine's Day seems to be more widely celebrated, and not just as a "romantic" day. I remember two girlfriends of mine, who both had American mothers, organising a "girls only" Valentine's Day party when we were about 12. They went all out with decorations, and we had fun! They gave out little gifts. At the time I thought it was odd to have a Valentine's Day party with no boys, but now I look back on it with greater understanding of the different ways people celebrate the day in the USA.

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Around the Internet

My friend Felicity has a new blog, In God's Strength. Her goal of cultivating thankfulness through her blogging is a good one, and her recent posts reflect this aim.

I haven't been able to visit Kimi's blog for a long time, and when I visited today I was sorry to read that she is still enduring a lot of sickness. In her most recent post, Humility through illness, Kimi shares this about her illness: "It has been a constant reminder of my own weaknesses and how much I need God and other's help. If I had the perfect picture home, kept up on everything all the time, and was able to meet everyone's needs constantly, I could feel like I had "made it" and get prideful about myself. Sometimes you see this tendency in some of our Christian leaders-the desire to paint the picture perfect family. This is dangerous ground to be on and will more tend to discourage instead of encourage others. I personally find that I am most meaningfully encouraged by leaders who share God's grace and abundance to them through their own weaknesses". I recommend reading the whole post.

My friend Mike is aiming focus on encouragement through his blog. I appreciated his recent post on our pastor Mike and his wife Nikki . He explains the encouragement they have brought to his life. I have also been encouraged by their lives, especially Mike's humility in admitting where things have gone wrong in the past.

Susan has written a response to an article that was negative about marriage. "Silly Me" explores the self centeredness of many reasons why people avoid marriage, and offers "10 fascinating benefits to being married" as a response. I have noticed that many reasons Christians give for why they are happy to remain single are also self centered. So are most of the things Christians say to people who are not happy about being single. For example, "you have so much more time and you don't have to take care of others". Yay! What a great time in my life to value my individual freedom and autonomy so I can become more and more selfish and less willing to adjust to the serving that is necessary in marriage! [Read sarcasm, please!]. Of course, Christians can always bring out 1 Corinthians 7 . . . but I think most of us know that the reason we are not married is not because we are serving God better that way! I hope to elaborate further on this topic in future.

Finally, please drop over to Feminists for Life. These ladies are the type of feminists that I like.

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Food in South Africa

I am eventually going to stop posting pictures of my South Africa trip, but that time has not yet come! I would have posted many more by now, but my computer is a little sick. I think it needs a computer doctor!

In South Africa we found it a lot cheaper to eat out, as the exchange rate was very good. I got to eat my favourite food for dinner one night, and it was so good that we went back to the same place for lunch the next day! . . .

They make good pizzas over there!

I also went to McDonalds . . . the same all over the world! I didn't really eat this hamburger, it was Dave's. It worked well for the photo though!

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Skirts

Soon after my arrival in South Africa, I noticed that shops sold many more long skirts than they do in Australia. I wondered why this was the case. I soon noticed that black African women are more likely to wear long skirts than white women are. Especially in rural areas, it is common for them to wear skirts. Since black people form the majority of the population in South Africa, there is obviously more of a market for long skirts there than in Australia.

Since I like long skirts, and it is difficult to find a variety of them in Australia, I bought two. Prices were more reasonable than they are in Australia, because of the exchange rate (5.5 Rand to one dollar). Skirts like these would have cost me AU$ 60-80 here, but in South Africa they only cost me about $40.

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The choice

Keziah has a new post on the ministry, titled He Commanded our Fathers to Teach. Keziah discusses further the benefits of being a ministry family. In the comments section she mentioned that she wonders if an unmarried woman can feel "called" to be a minister's wife. I think this issue may have come from my post on the pressures of ministry where I wrote that "it would be important to consider the particular pressures of ministry and whether you are called to that role before marrying someone who is headed in that direction."

The use of the word "called" in this context was a poor choice. "Called" is a term liable to be misunderstood. It is often used in the context of people who feel that God has spoken to them directly with regard to a particular life path. I did not mean this in the context in which I used the word. What I meant was simply that a woman should consider her God-given personality, gifts, and inclinations. God has not given all of us the gifts and internal resources it takes to fulfill particular roles. A woman considering a lifetime of marriage to a minister needs to count the cost of her decision beforehand.

The fact that Satan puts many perils in the paths of those who devote themselves to full time Christian service should not deter anyone from following this path, as long as they have seriously considered those perils and believe that God has gifted them with the maturity to withstand the trials and temptations that come with the job. To enter full time ministry without considering these difficulties could be a sign of pride and immaturity.

It could also be a sign of immaturity to want to avoid the job solely on the basis that it is difficult. I have been guilty of this type of immaturity at times. Our goal in life should be to have God's word shape our thinking in every area. God's vision for ministry is very different to the situations we often see around us. Knowledge about the challenges minister's face should be used as a tool to help them avoid pitfalls, and achieve what God wants, not as a reason to avoid the difficulties of ministry. As Phil has noted, where there is suffering for Christ there is also joy.

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The joy of being a minister's family

I appreciated Phil's comment in relation to my recent post about the difficulties of being in ministry and how this can impact on families. As a minister's son who is now studying at Bible College, Phil provides a more positive perspective. I am convinced that Phil's position is a Biblical one. We need to focus on what God's vision for families in ministry is, rather than the negative stories that abound. Achieving a healthy family life while in full time ministry may be challenging, but God is more than able to work in the lives of his people in order to achieve it.

thanks for raising that topic & providing that link sherrin.

just to balance the arguement, there are also many many positive things about being in ministry, and raising a family while in ministry!

What a testimony to your children that you have devoted your life to Christian ministry even though you could have lived more comfortably!

What other children have the opportunity to hear their father's thoughts on the big issues of life in a carefully prepared monologue each week?In what other kind of family are you as constantly exposed to the gospel, mission, missionaries and thier stories (we had a constant stream of them come through our house as I was growing up)?

It true that ministry is costly. Israel killed most of its prophets, they killed Jesus, stoned Stephen, put Paul in prison... But that's part of being a Christian and following Christ and it seems to me that Paul would not have traded his future "crown of rejoicing" for anything less (I Thess 2:19-20). Jeremiah couldn't help himself - he had to preach - even though he wished he had never been born (Jeremiah 20). That paradox of ministry - great suffering, great joy!

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Supporting your husband

Yesterday I wrote a short post on the pressures of ministry. I wrote briefly about the need to consider these pressures before choosing to marry a minister. Afterwards I thought about it more, and realised that each job or profession would have particular pressures it would be important to think about. For example, scientists like Dave tend to travel more than some other professions. If I was someone who was fearful and miserable when left alone, I would need to consider whether I could happily support him in his job if we were to marry. A wife is to be a helper and a support to her husband. Before marriage it is good for a woman to think about whether or not she believes she has the God-given personality and gifts to support a particular man in what he has chosen to do with his life. I still think there are some professions that would infringe more on your personal life and create more potential difficulties. Ministry and politics are two that come to mind.

Of course, a man may choose to change his profession after marriage. Especially these days, many people do change their jobs several times in a lifetime. However, these are decisions that would be made together. Hopefully God would be working in both partner's hearts to lead them in a particular direction together.

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The pressures of ministry

I appreciated Keziah's recent post Rest for your Soul. Keziah quotes statistics about the problems many pastors face. I am not sure if things are as bad as these quotes make them out to be, but I am certain that pastors do face many unique pressures. They are often faced with unrealistic expectations from their congregations. I have been known to say that I don't want to marry a minister, because of the pressures their families face. I realised later that my thoughts were coming from selfish motives. However, I still think that it would be important to consider the particular pressures of ministry and whether you are called to that role before marrying someone who is headed in that direction. Thankfully I am going out with a scientist so it is not something I need to think about!

One of my friends pointed out to me that the Bible teaches that we are all ministers in one way or another. If we were all ministering to one another in the way the Bible teaches us to, those who are called to devote themselves to full time ministry would not find themselves so pressured.

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