With much respect to Shane, who I admire deeply (and whose book The Irresistible Revolution I strongly recommend), we should be careful about the implications of statements concerning the disempowered. Shane mentions David and Sarah as examples of the latter; Sarah is a "barren woman that becomes the mother of a nation." The implication here is that barrenness is associated with weakness and lack of power, whereas producing offspring is not. While the historical context of Sarah's time explains the association, we must be careful today not to associate a woman's fertility with her self-worth or her ability to contribute to society in a meaningful way.