“subversive bloggers are unsatisfied with the status quo, whether in church, politics, economics or any other power-laden institution, and they are searching for (and blogging about) what is new (or a “return to”) – even though it may be labeled as sacrilege, dangerous, or subversive.”
in the old culture i lived in, trust me, subversive is definitely not a positive! but out here in the wide open spaces of new kinds of spiritual conversations and ways of living out our faith, it happens to be a compliment. this week i was nominated for the “subversive blogger award” by two strong women i really respect, makeesha fisher & julie clawson. although i’ve been posting on the refuge blog for the past two years, i just ventured out solo into blog-land january of this year, so it makes me happy to think some of my pot-stirring & ranting and raving actually is valued by at least a few people in the short time i’ve been writing online. as bloggers know, the whole thing of saying what you really think makes us quite vulnerable and i have had to force myself to not really care too much who might be offended or not understand and just write from my heart about things i am really passionate about. anyway, thanks julie & mak, i am honored to be in such good company.
the rules for participation are pretty simple:
1. if you are tagged, write a post with links to 5 subversive blogs.
2. link back to this post at www.jakebouma.com so people can easily find the origin of the meme.
3. optional: proudly display the “subversive blogger award” somewhere on your blog.
so, with that, i’d like to pass it on to the following…some of you might already have been nominated, i can’t keep track, and of course i never like to “choose favorites” because i think everyone’s voice is really valuable in different ways, but here’s who immediately came to mind when thinking about this:
1. erin word at decompressing faith – for putting to words what so many of us say in the quiet of our hearts and minds about our faith, church, freedom.
2. pam hodgeweide at god messed me up – for always mixing it up and putting hard theological questions on the table for people to ponder.
3. ted voigt at poetry is theology – because it’s time for some different creative ways of communicating the tension, the dreams, instead of just blog rants.
4. mike croghan at rude armchair theology – i loved his brave “what i really think” series…
5. helen at conversation at the edge – she’s the master at cutting to the chase and challenging us to really, really consider some of our assumptions about faith, politics, and more.
6. and of course i always have to break the rules so i nominated 6, sorry…tia lynn at abandon image for shaking up the status quo with an indepth series on women, complimentarianism, and why she’s egalitarian. being subversive in the Bible belt deserves a double kudos.
keep watching my back, my friends, and i’ll watch yours…