Women's Book Discussion Group‘The Red Tent’ study begins March 12

Our next Women’s Book Discussion Group will begin on March 12, from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Conference Room. We will read “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant.

“The Red Tent” is available on Amazon:

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons.

Told in Dinah’s voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood — the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers-Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah-the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that are to sustain her through a damaged youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah’s story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate, immediate connection.

Deeply affecting, “The Red Tent” combines rich storytelling with a valuable achievement in modern fiction: a new view of Biblical women’s society.

Robin Carlson, our commissioned minister of Christian education, will guide this discussion, which will go through April 16. Here are the reading assignments:

  • March 12 – Prologue, Part One (Chapters 1-3)
  • March 19 – Part Two (Chapters 1-3)
  • March 26 – Part Two (Chapters 4-6)
  • April 2 – Part Two (Chapters 7-8), Part Three (Chapter 1)
  • April 9 – Part Three (Chapters 2-3)
  • April 16 – Part Three (Chapters 4-5)

Women's Book Discussion Group

PAST BOOKS:

  • “Love Beyond Belief: Finding the Access Point to Spiritual Awareness,” by the Rev. Dr. Thandeka (January 2019)
  • “The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than our ‘Correct’ Beliefs” by Peter Enns (October 2018)
  • “On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old,” by Parker J. Palmer (August-September 2018)
  • “Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and the Son of the Slave Trade” by Thomas Norman DeWolf and Sharon Leslie Morgan (April-May 2018)
  • “Grounded: Finding God in the World,” by Diana Butler Bass (February-March 2018)
  • “Lunch with Buddha,” by Roland Merullo (January-February 2018)
  • “Hallelujah Anyway,” by Anne Lamott (Summer-Fall 2017)
  • “Breakfast with Buddha,” by Roland Merullo (Summer 2017)
  • “Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha,” By Tara Brach (March-May 2017)
  • “City of God: Faith in the Streets,” by Sara Miles (January-March 2017)
  • “Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People,” by Nadia Bolz-Weber (April-June 2016)
  • “Real Good Church: How Our Church Came Back from the Dead, and Yours Can, Too,” by Molly Phinney Baskette (January 2015)
  • “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion,” By Gregory Boyle (September-November 2015)
  • “Learning to Walk in the Dark,” by Barbara Brown Taylor (Autumn 2015)
  • “An Altar in the World” by Barbara Brown Taylor
  • “Bad Girls of the Bible” by Barbara Essex
  • “Christianity For the Rest of Us” by Diana Butler Bass
  • “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • “Having Men for Dinner: Biblical Women’s Deadly Banquets” by Nicole Wilkinson Duran
  • “Help, Thanks, Wow” by Anne Lamott
  • “Here If You Need Me” by Kate Braestrup
  • “Jesus Freak” by Sara Miles
  • “Pastrix” by Nadia Bolz-Weber
  • “Plan B” by Anne Lamott
  • “Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us” by Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker
  • “Speaking of Faith” by Krista Tippett
  • “Stitiches” by Anne Lamott
  • “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
  • “The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew—Three Women Search for Understanding” by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner
  • “Take This Bread” by Sara Miles
  • “The Faith Club” by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
  • “The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus” by Neil Douglas-Klotz
  • “The Invisible Girls” by Sarah Thebarge
  • “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver
  • “The Shack” by Wm. Paul Young
  • “The Way of Tenderness: Awakening Through Race, Sexuality, and Gender” by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
  • “Traveling Mercies” by Anne Lamott
  • “Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia For All That Is” by Joan Chittister and Rowan Williams
  • “Walking Home” by Sonia Choquette
  • “Welcome to the Wisdom of the World and its meaning for you” by Joan Chittister