My dilemma

I have a dilemma. I am disturbed by the the stigma and connotations frequently associated with the word "home maker" or "house wife". This is illustrated in an extreme manner by the popular TV series Desperate Housewives . What was once an accurate term for my calling, now conjures negative images in this post-modern culture. Images of discontent, Oprah watching, chocolate craving, intellect-less, Martha worshipping females rush to mind. The generation of God fearing women before me fought long and hard to earn respect for their decision to advance God's kingdom through their homes, and I am grateful for the battle they waged to re-confer dignity to the term "homemaker". Yet, somehow, a lingering whiff of disdain often clings to these terms.

Why do I still use a stigmatized term to define my calling when it no longer accurately depicts what I am to the culture in which I belong? English morphs and alters with the changes in culture, and I am obligated before God to communicate as accurately and relevantly as I can to the culture in which He has placed me. Therefore, it is time for to redefine my job title.

At first, I thought of "Home Economist", but that retains potent connotations as well. Besides, I am more than a home manager. So, I checked the etymological definition of "ecology" as well as reading up on "Social Ecology" in Wikipidia.
"Now," I thought, "we are on to something"!

Social Ecology : (as defined on Wikipidia)

"Social ecology is, in the words of its leading exponents, "a coherent radical critique of current social, political, and anti-ecological trends" as well as "a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society". Social Ecology is a radical view of ecology and of social/political systems."

Yes, I am radical. Yes I am a re constructionist. Yes, I am concerned by materialistic consumerism. But alas, I am not a socialist or an anarchist! Hmmm...so, can I claim to be a "Biblical Social Ecologist". Ecology means literally "to study environments". That is my calling... to study the enviroments in which my family operates, to study the enviroment of my home, to study my cultural, spiritual, and physical enviroments. So, is that an accurate definition? This is my delimma.


I suppose before I can refer to myself as a "Biblical Social Ecologist", I must first determine my economic philosophy (as economic theory is bound up in the term). As I am painfully deficient in this field of study, I want to study economics this year. I want to know how to repent of materialism and consumerism in the personal arena as well as the practical. I want to know what God says about economics. I want to know why despite its immense blessings, I am concerned by some of capitalism's fruits. Is there a bibical economics? Or, am I just economically illiterate? Is my lack of understanding the problem? But then, why do these problems exist, and how are they biblically resolved? I want to know.

In the mean time, I will be mulling over how to accurately represent my calling in a post-modern world.