Embodiment of power, self and identity : weaving my story of ordination in history.

Abstract

I was raised in a Lutheran family, with a father and a grandfather who were pastors in a Lutheran church that was a sister/daughter church of the LCMS. My Dad encouraged us children to go for theological studies, all eight of us – six daughters and two sons. For Dad, the ordination question was irrelevant. He wanted all the children to be theologically equipped to discern God’s call in each of our lives. He saw the potential of theological education as a tool for empowerment of self and identity. I am amazed at this vision and understanding of the scope of theological education as a tool for gender justice, women’s empowerment, and discovering of new self-identity and so on, when the social location, social experience, education and environment of my Dad was that of a typical patriarchal household with even more conservative patriarchal values.