Episode 11: Listening

One of my favorite early feminist theologians, Nell Morton, is best known for her idea of “hearing to speech.” She writes about the power of listening deeply and really hearing each other in her book, The Journey is Home.

Morton says, “Hearing of this sort is equivalent to empowerment. We empower one another by hearing the other to speech. We empower the disinherited, the outsider, as we are able to hear them name in their own way their own oppression and suffering. In turn, we are empowered as we can put ourselves in a position to be heard by the disinherited (in this case other women) to speaking our own feeling of being caught and trapped. Hearing in this sense can break through political and social structures and image a new system. A great ear at the heart of the universe – at the heart of our common life — hearing human beings to speech — to our own speech.”

This week’s episode of the Three Minute Ministry Mentor is about listening. The story comes from two women who went from being mentor and mentee to creating a “circle of sisterhood.” At the heart of that transition was the empowering experience of listening, asking good questions, and building trust. #3MMM