Pope Joan

It's been a while since I finished a book. I blame this on Tyler being out for the summer. I just can't justify lying on the couch when there's laundry to be done when Tyler's sitting RIGHT THERE. Hooray for vacations to southern California!

Historical fiction usually bugs me because it often dramatizes the life of an obscure woman and seems to claim that Gloria Steinham lived in 300 B.C. And I typically just don't buy that the cultural paradigm of 300 B.C. could produce a super feminist with 1970s values. I think this is part of what bugged me about The Sixth Wife. That type of woman just usually falls flat for me.

However, I bought the character of Johanna of Ingelheim/Pope Joan in this novel. My suspension of disbelief was intact believing that if the opportunities perfectly aligned themselves like they did in the novel, this character might exist.

The character that I didn't buy, despite how much I really really wanted to, was Gerold. Gerold is a hugely loving and understanding man who always stands behind Joan. I'm not sure that 850 A.D. and all of the ideas that were kicking around back then about woman's inferiority and general dirtiness could produce such a powerfully supportive man.

I guess I'm just grateful to be an American woman in 2008 where I have choice in what I want to do with my life, and where most men, and certainly the men that are important to me, support me in doing what I want to do. (Thank you, Tyler.) I'm grateful for the Gloria Steinhams of the 1970s who helped produce the environment of today.

Joan struggles throughout the book with her "barbarian" heritage (her mother was a Saxon) and her not very flattering Christian heritage (her father was a tyrannical priest). She also struggles between her intellect and her passion. Which of these natures is right and true and where is God in the mix? Her last thoughts in her story find some resolution.

Her spirit swelled withing her, filling the emptiness inside. She was bathed in a great and illuminating light. Faith and doubt, will and desire, heart and head--at long last she saw and understood that all were one, and that One was God.

This felt true to me. I guess people get out of books that which confirms their own belief, but I felt this supported how I feel about revelation and God speaking to your mind and heart. I think that because of this, revelation requires a lot of thought, something that happens more easily and better the more practice you have learning. Woolfolk Cross commented in her question and answer at the end of the book: "I want readers--particularly women--to understand one basic truth: to empower yourself in this world you must learn." I think that applies personally as well as politically.