Episode 231: Voices Other Than Our Own, Part Five--bell hooks

The trouble with a word as big and broad as "love" is that we can all say we're in favor of it and still mean very different--even contradictory--things when we say it.  The church is no different. We know we're supposed to be a community grounded in "love" for God and neighbor, but all too often, the church has gotten swept up in the wider culture's assumptions that "love" is primarily about romantic pairings in fairy-tale stories, or a purely emotional reality, or about enforcing a certain set of gender roles (women are emotional and domestic, and men are supposed to be violent conquerors, or other such ridiculous oversimplifications).  And when we peddle those understandings of love, we miss out on a much richer, wider, and more authentic kind of love that includes communities, families, friends, and a love for all humanity that doesn't force people to fit certain categories.  It can be uncomfortable to have to face the way sometimes the church has missed the mark this way, but we need those voices of critique to help us to love better--more authentically.  So in our newest round of conversations looking at voices outside our own traditions, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve explore some of the ideas in the writers of bell hooks (the pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins), in particular in her writings about the nature of love, and where they could help us to be more genuine and expansive in our understanding--and practice--of love.