Living Behind the Veil

I'm often asked what I wear in Afghanistan and what it's like to wear a veil. It's freedom. Freedom to have a bad hair day, freedom to arrange my chadar to conceal the curve of my breasts and backside, freedom to not be an expatriate for a little while. It means freedom to hide even on the street from the Afghan men's eyes which seem to strip me naked.
When I relax my shoulders and walk less purposefully, less confidently, my eyes downcast and covered by sunglasses, I pass for an Afghan woman. I hear the men whisper in Dari, "Is she a foreigner or local woman?" I chuckle but am silent. On the street, I'm also a free target....freely exposed to groping, sexual innuendos whispered to me as a man bicycles by, free to have stones thrown at me, freely seen as no one's wife, daughter, sister, mother, friend, or boss. I step inside my gate, and remove my chapan and chadar. Now I'm someone's boss, motherhood returns to me as little steps run to greet me, and I receive a kiss from my adoring husband. Now I'm free to his loving and gentle eyes which know and enjoy my curves, free to once again be under the protective umbrella of being a wife, mother, friend, colleague, boss, niece, sister, daughter, woman.

Book Friends


When we read books we watch other people and learn from them...from their failures and successes. Books are both space and time where we can learn how to become the people we really want to be.

Books describe ourselves to ourselves and teach the path of wisdom. They provide comfort, different paradigms and ways of framing current reality, but also a different world to escape to, a place where feelings are felt, empathy is found, inner meaning is revealed, and wrong is made right. When chosen wisely, at the right time in our development, books are places of solace and sacred silence.

I hope these authors will bless you as much as I have been challenged by them, found comfort, wisdom, and correction through them. 

Some of what I read in 2021

Some of my favorite friends: 
Brad Young
Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teachings of Jesus
Jesus the Jewish Theologian
Paul the Jewish Theologian
The Parables: Jewish Traditions and Christian Interpretation

Kenneth Bailey
Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes
The Cross and the Prodigal
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes
The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament

Flusser & Bivin
Jesus, David Flusser
New Light on the Difficult words of Jesus, David Bivin

Risto Santala 
Paul, The Man and the Teacher in the Light of the Jewish Sources
The Messiah in the Old Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings
The Messiah in the New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings
The Midrash of the Messiah: The Messiah and His Meal in Midrash Ruth

Howard Thurman
Deep is the Hunger
Jesus and the Disinherited
Anchored in the Current: Discovering Howard Thurman
The Cross and the Lynching Tree, James H. Cone

Walter Brueggeman
Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times, Soong-Chan Rah
Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks
The Practice of the Prophetic Imagination
Materiality as Resistance: Five Elements for Moral Action in the Real World
Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of NOW
From Judgment to Hope: A Study on the Prophets

Marvin Wilson
Exploring Our Hebraic Heritage: A Christian Theology of Roots and Renewal
Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith

Abraham J. Heschel
The Prophets - Volume 1
The Prophets - Volume 2
The Insecurity of Freedom: Essays on Human Existence
God in Search of Man
Who Is Man?

Man is Not Alone
A Passion for Truth
The Earth is the Lord's
Israel: An Echo of Eternity
Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity 
The Mystical Element in Judaism

Risk
The Psychology of Risk, Glynis M. Breakwell
How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles for Business, Douglas Hubbard
The Feeling of Risk: New Perspectives on Risk Perception, Paul Slovic
Global Risk Agility and Decision Making: Organizational Resilience in the Era of Man-Made Risk, by Daniel Wagner and Dante Disparte
Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious, Gerd Gingernezer
Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions, Gerd Gigerenzer
Strategic Risk Taking: A Framework for Risk Management, Aswath Damodaran

Miscellaneous
Praying Circles Around Your Children, by Mark Batterson.  
Dry Bones, Stuart Briscoe
Faith Enough to Finish, Jill Briscoe
A Public Faith, Miroslav Volf, 
The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World, Miroslav Volf
The Suffering God: An Old Testament Perspective, Terrence E Fretheim
Signs Amid the Rubble, Lesslie Newbigin
Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, Lesslie Newbigin
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace an Surviving One that Isn't, Robert Sutton
God's Missionary, Amy Carmichael
A Grace Disguised, Jerry Sittser
Heroines: The Lives of Great Literary Characters and What They Have to Teach Us, Mary Riso
The Way of the Shepherd, Kevin Lehman
The Spirituality of Wine, Gisela H. Kreglinger
The Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions About God, Tremper Longman and Dan Allender
Emotionally Health Spirituality, Peter Scazzero
Spiritual Discernment, Watchmen Nee
Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices, Curt Thompson
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High, Kerry Patterson
The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business, Erin Meyer  
Fire Lilies: Finding Hope in Unexpected Places, Dr. Rhiannon Lloyd
Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope, Joan D. Chittister
Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story), Daniel Nayeri
The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, Alan Kreider
The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary, John H. Sailhamer
Shop Class as Soulcraft

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Ethics
The Cost of Discipleship
Letters and Papers from Prison, Dietrich  Bonhoeffer
I Want to Live These Days With You
A Theology of Life: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Religionless Christianity
The Cost of Moral Leadership: The Spirituality of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Jewish Spirituality/Messianic
Torn God Crying, 
Yeshua in Context, Daniel Leman
It is Often Said, Vol 1, Tim Hegg
A Prayer to Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord's Prayer, Nehemia Gordon, Keith Johnson

The Amazing Doctrines of Paul as Midrash, Edward J. Vasicek
At the Heart of the Gospel, 
The Naming of Jesus in Hebrew Matthew, Nehemiah Gordon
Essays on Ethics, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
God was in This Place & I, I Did Not Know, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Consciousness, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
Bewilderments, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
Moses, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
The Particulars of Rapture, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
Seek My Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology, Arthur Green
The Way of Man, Martin Buber
I-Thou, Martin Buber
The Grammar of God, Aviya Kushner
The Lonely Man of Faith, Joseph Soloveitchik
The Exodus You Almost Passed Over, Rabbi David Forhman
The Queen You Never Knew, Rabbi David Forhman
The Beast That Crouches at Your Door, Rabbi David Forhman


Orthodox Spirituality
On the Prayer of Jesus, Ignatius Brianchaninov
The Way of the Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, trans. R.M. French
The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Reverend Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
Philokalia Volumes 1
Philokalia Volumes II
Philokalia Volumes III
Philokalia Volumes IV

Mother Teresa
Come Be My Light
Where There is Love, There is God: A Path to Closer Union with God and Greater Love for Others

Brennan Manning
The Wisdom of Tenderness: What happens when God's fierce mercy transforms our lives. 
Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God.
The Furious Longing of God
A Glimpse of Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred
All is Grace

Frederick Buechner & Viktor Frankl
Listening to Your Life
The Will to Meaning, Frankl
Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl
Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, Buechner
Recollections: An Autobiography, 

Spiritual Direction
The Sacrament of the Present Moment, Jean-Pierre de Caussade
Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction, Margaret Guenther
Toward Holy Ground, Margaret Guenther
My Soul in Silence Waits, Margaret Guenther  
God's Voice Within: The Ignatian Way to Discover God's Will, Mark Thibodeoux
Seeking Spiritual Intimacy, Glenn E. Myers
Listening for the Soul: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction, Jean Stairs
The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living, Timothy Gallagher
Spiritual Consolation, Timothy Gallagher
Drinking from a Dry Well, Thomas H. Green
Darkness in the Marketplace, Thomas H. Green
Fire Within, Thomas Dubay
Hospitality: The Heart of Spiritual Direction, Leslie A. Hay
Seeking Spiritual Intimacy: Journeying Deeper with Medieval Women of Faith, Glenn E. Myers
Looking Into The Well: Supervision of Spiritual Directors, Maureen Conroy
The Dark Night of the Soul, Gerald May
The Hidden Life: Revelations from a Holy Journey, Kitty Crenshaw and Catherine Snapp
The Complete Julian of Norwich
Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila
The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision Making, Elizabeth Liebert
The Soul of Discernment: A Spiritual Practice for Communities and Institutions, Elizabeth Liebert
I am With You: Lessons of Hope and Courage in Times of Crisis, Cardinal Timothy M. Doulan

Henri Nouwen
Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life
Spiritual Formation
Spiritual Direction
Behold the Beauty of the Lord
Can You Drink the Cup

Francis Frangipane
Exposing the Accuser of the Brethren
This Day We Fight!: Breaking the Bondage of the Passive Spirit
The Three Battlegrounds

Hebrew and Greek
Greek for Life
Hebrew for Life
An Introduction to the Greek New Testament Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge, Dirk Jongkind

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