The Miriam Project: Vision and Hope

We believe Paul spoke God's truth when he said that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female (Gal. 3:28). We also believe Paul was giving instructions for the church on this earth, not "merely" for the hereafter. If ethnic prejudice and discriminsation are wrong, if enslavement of human beings is wrong, why are not exclusions and oppression based on seg and gender wrong, also? Our answer is that, of course, they are wrong, and the church's business includes the righting of wrongs here and now, as far as it is possible to do so.

If Jesus regards and treats a redeemed woman as sister, how dare a redeemed man, a brother, treat her as something less? In healthy families, it is customary for each member to submit to other members as, and as long as, another member has a need which one can supply. Families do not assume that one member, or group of members, is perpetually the servant of other members. Everyone serves, and is served, as need and occasions arise.

Our vision, goal, and hope is that the curricula and other materials we present under the name "The Miriam Project" will help to create a "warm" climate for young women (and young men, too) in colleges and universities. We hope these materials will help young adults to see and experience themselves as equally created in God's image and equally redeeme to conform to the image of Christ.

What students can ultimately learn from these lesson plans is that women's issues are really everyone's issues, and that god calls us to a life of egalitarian partnership with one another in all aspects of life.