Woohoo!

Instead, oh, something's just happened to the thing.

Does that look the same to you? Okay, that's fine.

I've just gotten off my slides.

Go away, there we go.

So instead, our churches are so often led by former engineers, who for their many great qualities might not be naturally inclined to adopt creative, emotional, experiential ways of engaging their congregations with the Bible.

So I hope that this quick review of historical factors has given you some insight into why the Bible is kind of done the way it's done in your particular corner of the church or the academy.

Trust that God's truth has its hold on you and

Were there moments through that journey where there was moments of doubt or, you know, you kind of had this all in, maybe this is for me moment? Then were there times when you thought, oh,

Maybe this is not.

There have been lots of moments along the way, but I'll tell one story that's because it's like this was a real like come to Jesus moment.

If I can say that.

So my husband, as I said, was studying to be a minister.

And I was still at Bible College while he was off in his first job in ministry.

And about three years into that job, he burned out really, really badly in ministry, not because necessarily of the job or the church, but just because of him and me and a lot of personal factors and our like our lives just became very difficult and we um simultaneously had like mental health breakdowns which was super fun and our marriage was like really struggling as it would you know you got married when you're 20 and then you go into ministry and you have burnout in a job like there was a lot of pressure and i was sort of completing my final um master's project at the time and i kind of just got it done and handed it in and was like right I'm done with that.

But how have you seen your kind of theological education and learning impact you as a person in other aspects of your life?

I'm

going to say it's a very feminist text.

That's obviously not a term that, you know, applied in the context.

Feminism wasn't a thing then.

But in the broadest sense, this poem like advocates for the equality of women and speaks against the degradation and abuse of vulnerable women by men in power.

Because it really, I think the linchpin of this poem is that it critiques King Solomon, who, as I said, is known for having very many women in his harem.

And it seems, on my interpretation, he basically wants to buy the main woman in the poem for his harem.

And that's a link that is a very common one across kind of times and cultures, but also we find it kind of weird and maybe creepy sometimes How do you think those things are related in this book?