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Amy Thomas's avatar

Wow. I love this post. I just learned so much about Job, and I’ve never thought about the horror/wonder dialectic, but you made its truth so clear. I also can’t think of another such kickass apologia as paragraph 2.

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Eleanor Johnson's avatar

Thank you, luminous and brilliant Amy! I do adore Job, and I even adore the ways in which it's been misunderstood/mischaracterized.

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William Bowles's avatar

Have you read David F Noble's 'A World Without Women'?

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Eleanor Johnson's avatar

Nope. Do you recommend?

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William Bowles's avatar

It's seriously academic. The sub-title is 'the christian clerical culture of western science'. 'In the groundbreaking work, David F. Noble provides the first full-scale investigation of the origins and implications of the masculine culture of Western science and technology.'

In the intro, he mentions that in all his writings about science and technology (great stuff too, 'Forces of Production' and America by Design) women barely get a mention! Surprise-surprise. So a 'World without Women' attempts to redress this. So the book starts off in the Middle Ages, in a monastery at Ely Cathedral, near Cambridge. It's a fascinating, if dense exploration of how and why, women have been excluded from science. Not surprisingly, the Church plays a significant role in excluding women, which is why I thought you might be interested, eg, why do priests wear dresses?

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Eleanor Johnson's avatar

Thanks, I'll check it out!

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