October 21

Saint Ursula, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Mercy Oduyoye

Author

David Barnhart
October 21, 2025

Flowers at Montacute House, UK, 2011. Own photo.

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Ursula and her companions, which number somewhere between eleven and 11,000. The story from the fourth century is that she, like many other saints, was a virgin who had pledged herself to God, but whose father demanded she marry. She bought time by going on a pilgrimage, on which many, many more young women joined her, until they eventually were martyred by invading Huns. 

It is also the birthday, in 1921, of Ursula K. Le Guin, whose science fiction, fantasy, and essays powerfully shaped modern story-telling. She was a feminist and social critic, and although she considered herself an atheist, I think her insights on the sociology of religion are helpful for people of faith to know and understand. 

Today is also the birthday of Mercy Oduyoye, Ghanaian theologian in the Methodist tradition who founded The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. Hers is an important voice in decolonizing theology. 

Reflection: 

Ursula K. Le Guin wrote: 

"The greatest religious problem today is how to be both a mystic and a militant; in other words how to combine the search for an expansion of inner awareness with effective social action, and how to feel one's true identity in both."

Mercy Oduyoye writes: 

“Religious chauvinism, from whatever quarters, is not a recipe for good neighbourliness. It presupposes a monopoly of truth and of God and so undercuts the roots of our common humanity in a way that prevents our acting humanely toward the other. The practice of neighbourliness is anchored in a spirituality of care and respect for the other's spiritual resources.”

and

“There can be no just and life-giving shalom as long as forces that promote death continue to reign. There can be no peace and caring relationships in a human community that treats as less than human any group of persons within or outside of it. As Christians we affirm that one of the fruits of righteousness is peace. …When will people be able to live unmolested by laws that safeguard the interests of the powers-that-be? Shalom (peace) is the well-being of the total community, not just sectors of it. On this more than anything else, the whole community must stand together for we are in danger of perishing together. Peace and the well-being of the whole of creation is one agenda.”

Prayer: God, save us from religious chauvinism and let us see that the peace we long for in our own lives is bound up with peace and justice for the whole world. Amen.