Salome: in popular imagination she is the quintessential femme fatale; or what one 19th century writer called ‘the symbolic incarnation of undying Lust, the Goddess of immortal Hysteria, the accursed Beauty exalted above all other beauties ... the monstrous Beast, indifferent, irresponsible, insensible, poisoning.’ But there is no Salome in Mark's gospel passage about Herod's birthday party - just 'a little daughter', a pre-teen dancing for play and fun and then being taken advantage of by a conniving mother and uncle. Why is our society's instinct always to create creatures like Salome out of childlike girls? And can we clean up our minds, and make space to let the little daughters dance?

A talk for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 11 July 2021. 

Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.