Writing
Books and Poetry
“Artistically, Cameron, brought me deep inside. I felt like I was being called into the
recesses of my mind and soul.” – Mary Dispenza, Writer and Activist
Confronting the Patterns that Silence Us
Cameron Altaras and Sharla Nafziger
Insidious mechanisms and their seemingly benign patterns in society and religion have silenced women. We have succumbed to, and even colluded with these patterns, allowing them to reshape or repress our voices, leaving the truth that lies within us unheard and unspoken. Four lectures - part theory, part personal story - and creative responses to them, from a unique online prayer intensive, conceived by Janet Conner, called Free Your Voice, led by Cameron Altaras and her sister, Sharla Nafziger, a professional singer and voice teacher. Together they explore the physiological and emotional scars left by thousands of years of philosophical and religious suppression of the feminine, and the healing power of awakening our own creative voices.
(To purchase a copy, click on the image)
Resistance: Confronting Violence, Power and Abuse Within Peace Churches
Edited by Cameron Altaras and Carol Penner
If it’s not safe in the church, where is it safe? Are churches complicit in supporting racism, colonialism, and heterosexism? How do churches excuse sexual violence and abuses of power? Cameron and her long-time friend and colleague, Carol Penner, feminist theologian and professor, invited storytellers, academics, poets, administrators, students, activists and pastors to bring these questions to life through stories of personal and systemic violence and betrayals when theology is weaponized.
Introduction by Cameron Altaras and Carol Penner
Chapters by Cameron Altaras:
11. “Cracking Binaries, Shifting Plates: Becoming Aware of the power of Language”
15. “Artemis Patiently Waits: A Poem”
21. “Bearing Witness for Molly and Me: Two Stories of Clergy Sexual Abuse”
(To purchase a copy, click on the image)
Anabaptist ReMix: Varieties of Cultural Engagement in North America
Edited by Lauren Friesen and Dennis Koehn
Anabaptist ReMix is a case study of one tradition--Anabaptists and Mennonites--and fragments of its transformation in the modern and post-modern era.
It is a nefarious use of theology, to teach a woman that the salvation of her soul depends upon her living up to an approved image of a good woman. If the desire to live as her true self proves incompatible with that particular image, her choice is either live an approved life as a false self or a life of sin as an authentic self. Under such conditions, a woman becomes alienated from who she really is. Living this way becomes a harmful pattern perpetrated under conditions shaped by patriarchal theology that is passed to the next generation.
(To purchase a copy, click on the image)
Poetry of painful truths
(Click on Images for poems)
Nothing grows there anymore, or I could blame the dog
Photo: Jeff Altaras
Where the truth lies
Photo: Jeff Altaras
My eyes are worn out looking
Photo: Jeff Altaras
I never stoop to hatred
Photo: Jeff Altaras
Fill in the blank
Photo: Jeff Altaras
With what you hold
Photo: Jeff Altaras
The way I clear
Photo: Jeff Altaras
Poetry by any name you call Her
(Click on Images for poems)
Demeter laments
Photo: Jeff Altaras
Demeter, upon accepting what is
Photo: Jeff Altaras
Why, Hecate?
Photo: Jeff Altaras
Artemis Patiently Waits
Photo: Jeff Altaras
Activating Athena
Photo: Jeff Altaras
I saved my life by a thread (With apologies to Ariadne)
Photo: Jeff Altaras