The CBE Scroll

“Soft patriarchy is described in several recent books. For example Christian America, by University of North Carolina sociologist Christian Smith, finds that American evangelicals speak complementarian rhetoric and live egalitarian lives.” I read this recently in an Australian article on the web. I have felt this often, as well. I watch my complementarian friends and they often live just like egalitarians. It seems that their lifestyle is ahead of their doctrine. Unfortunately, this is not true all of the time.

The very witty Dorothy Sayers calls on women to be looked on as individual humans in her Are Women Human? (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971). Here’s some of what she says.

“A woman is just as much an ordinary human being as a man, with the same individual preferences, and with just as much right to the tastes and preferences of an individual. What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.” [24]

“What is unreasonable and irritating is to assume that all one’s tastes and preferences have to be conditioned by the class to which one belongs. That has been the very common error into which men have frequently fallen about women.” [25]

“It is perfectly idiotic to take away women’s traditional occupations and then complain because she looks for new ones. Every woman is a human being – one cannot repeat that too often – and a human being must have occupation, if he or she is not to become a nuisance to the world.” [33]

“The most we can ask is that if a Dame Ethel Smyth or a Mary Somerville turns up, she shall be allowed to do her work without having aspersions cast either on her sex or her ability. What we ask is to be human individuals, however peculiar and unexpected. It is no good saying: ‘You are a little girl and therefore you ought to like dolls’; if the answer is, ‘But I don’t,’ there is not more to be said.” [39]

“A difference of age is as fundamental as a difference of sex; and so is a difference of nationality. All categories, if they are insisted upon beyond the immediate purpose which they serve, breed class antagonism and disruption in the state, and that is why they are dangerous.” [46]

I sat in a discussion thirty years ago at Gordon-Conwell Seminary listening to Dr. Andrew Lincoln and Dr. Gordon Fee discuss the place of women in ministry. The discussion between egalitarianism and complementarianism had only really begun back then. The two terms were really not even used because “complementarianism” was not even a word commonly used in the English language. Even today, 99 percent of Christians in the church around the world probably know neither the term “complementarian” nor “egalitarian.” The real question has been “Is it legitimate for a woman to lead in the church of God?” At the time, Lincoln was less egalitarian than he has become. Fee, then as now, was egalitarian to the core. I find Lincoln’s drift both commendable and instructive. That drift for certain contemporary complementarians would probably be impossible since some of them have labelled women leading in the church of God as “morally rebellious.” That is a very difficult position to back down from, once one has publicly stated his case in such strong language. Lincoln drifted because he continued to stay in the text of the New Testament and allow his opinions to be tested and changed. When one has labelled another as “morally rebellious,” dialog comes to an end and change becomes impossible because no one wants to be “morally rebellious.”

The issue of gender equality is far more important and much bigger than many Americans realize. Because of the degrading views that so many cultures have towards women, women continue to suffer in record numbers. Millions of girls and women are less educated, are sold into the sexual slave trade, are victims of mutilating clitorectomies, and are systematically destroyed as infants because of their insignificance. “Two thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women.” See Daughters of Hope by Kay Marshall Strom and Michele Rickett, IVPress, 2003, p. 13. Daughters of Hope is available for purchase at CBE’s bookstore, www.equalitydepot.com.

While the issues of equal recognition of spiritual gifts, ordination of women, and the correct interpretation of Paul are important, seen in the context of multiple cultures, these aspects of biblical justice towards women take on even greater urgency. Contact CBE and find out how you can help.

So Peter Parker has his spidey-sense. Trust me—even the Webslinger is envious of my superpower. I have a finely-calibrated justice meter.

My mom will confirm that I was born with this ability. As a kid, I wanted to be a judge so I could right all the wrongs of the world, from teenage drug abuse to nepotism in the workplace to sandwiches cut into unequal “halves.” Once I realized that going to law school wouldn’t necessarily keep my brother from getting a bigger helping of lasagna, I decided to open up my career options. Got a theology degree instead. (Which didn’t solve the portion problem either, but after gaining the freshman fifteen, I didn’t care so much about that anymore. And theology turned out to be pretty useful in learning how to use my superpower for good.)

So the only gavel I’ve ever had is the one that reverberates in my brain every time I come across an injustice in my daily experience. It happens so often that if I was the star of a Marvel comic, there would always be a^[1] scrawled above my head.

But lack of legal clout doesn’t mean I am powerless to work for justice and equality and influence those around me to do the same. When I think about it, I get to engage my superpower quite often, in fact.

When someone close to me was struggling with infertility and how that impacted her self-identity, I was able to remind her that God calls women to multiple forms of kingdom service and to encourage her to seek direction from him instead of those who— without warrant—view her situation as an act of divine judgment.

When the organizer of a conservative conference told me he didn’t invite any women speakers because he doesn’t know of any qualified ones, I swallowed my outrage and recommended several articulate women who were experts on the conference theme.

When I became the editor of a seminary alumni publication that had previously featured mostly male graduates, I sought out several outstanding women to write articles about their current ministries.

When the male elders at my church invited about 20 women to discuss how our women’s ministry might be improved, I listened respectfully to their comments and responded honestly about how they might better avoid stereotyping the needs and gifts of women in our congregation.

When a co-worker made a comment about men being from Mars and women being from Venus, I laughed good-naturedly at his joke and then told him I didn’t believe that nonsense, and when he saw that I was serious I took the brief opportunity to explain my convictions about personhood.

The gavel in my head goes off so often I’m surprised I’m not bedridden with severe migraines. We all know that there are a lot of injustices out there. And the truth is that my alter ego is not quite so mild-mannered as those of my famous colleagues. Superpowers are not necessarily infallible; I admit that sometimes mine goes off without serious provocation. I’m still learning to control it, like the young mutants training with Professor X.

But Peter Parker responds quickly and accurately to each spine tingle, and I, too, am trying to use my justice meter for good. Every time it goes off (and after I’ve checked to make sure that it wasn’t an overreaction), I have the opportunity to respond in some way other than just outrage—with a word of gentle rebuke, a hand to uplift the oppressed, a check to support a group action. Sometimes the only appropriate response is a silent prayer that God will change the perpetrator’s heart to truly love and respect his or her fellow human beings as Christ calls us to do.

And it’s not just negative situations that spur me to action. When I became aware of the excellent work of CBE and other international justice organizations, for example, I pledged to support them financially and prayerfully and spread the word of their efforts to my friends. When someone asks me to recommend a book (OK, even sometimes when they don’t!), I give him or her a list of writers with worldviews of biblical equality.

So I do what I can, but I know I’m just one crime-fighter responsible for protecting a relatively small district. There are lots of heroes in the League of Justice fighting evils of varying degrees. At the end of the day, I have to trust that the God who installed and calibrates my justice meter will see his will accomplished in the hearts of his people—starting with me.

1. BONG!! [↩]