Response to Joel Nichols / Sacrificial Care

Joel, I agree that “sacrificial caring” is at the heart of the message of Jesus—but I am also concerned that the language of “sacrifice” has been employed as a powerful vehicle to in effect exclude women from the public sphere.  Not all of Hirshman’s concerns are completely unfounded.   I’d prefer to frame the critique more generally: that it is bad, for the most part, for anyone—mothers, fathers, married or single—to routinely work 12 hours a day, whether that person is a lawyer in an “elite” firm responding to the pressure to meet a billable hours quota, or a person who cobbles together three part-time jobs in order to afford health insurance.  And as a matter of justice and of love, we should be working hard to probe ways to challenge and change these structures which do so much damage not only to individual identity and family life, but also to broader commitments in the community as well.  Amy