The CBE Scroll

Mutuality is now accepting articles (and discussion surrounding the issue) for the Summer 2008 issue on ‘Resolving Conflicts.’

Topic ideas include, but are not limited to:

• How convictions about biblical equality and gender justice apply to resolving conflict
• Biblical alternatives to ‘the tie-breaking-vote’ model of conflict resolution by female submission to male headship
• The importance of prayer for resolving conflict
• Whether there is a ‘middle way’ between egalitarianism and male headship
• Appropriate and inappropriate anger
• Biblical reflections: examples of how Jesus handled conflict, Jacob and Esau’s reconciliation, rivalry between Sarah and Hagar, etc.
• Examples of Christians who are/were reconcilers as well as examples of Christians who refuse(d) to compromise on truth
• Practical tips and reflections on race and gender reconciliation in Christ

Please send specific ideas or proposals to mgreulich@cbeinternational.org.

Mutuality  is now accepting articles (and discussion surrounding the issue) for the Spring 2008 issue on ‘Home Economics.’

Topic ideas include, but are not limited to:

• How convictions about biblical equality and gender justice apply to every day home life
• Biblical reflections: Christ as the head of our homes; being part of the family of God; Proverbs 31 woman
• How Christian convictions about women’s equality have transformed culturally-specific family models (e.g. polygamy, female infanticide, education of women and girls)
• Examples of sharing responsibility in the home; non-traditional divisions of labor (e.g. men who sew or cook; women who fix the car)
• Home economics for singles, roommates, and communal living situations
• Critique of the model of husband as head of the home; critique of traditional ‘for women only’ approaches to home economics
• Faithful Christian examples of stay-at-home dads, working mothers, single parents

Please send specific ideas or proposals to mgreulich@cbeinternational.org. The deadline is November 28th.

Some, complementarian or otherwise, may believe that we egalitarians don’t love our fathers. Well, I loved my father. I want to share some memories of my father to show why I loved him so much.

When I was twenty, I had to take some medicine. My father was worried that the condition I had would interrupt my studies. As a result, he asked me daily if I was taking my medicine. My mother asked him to stop. A couple of days later I received a phone call. When I picked it up I heard a very low voice say ‘Did you take your medicine today?’ I said ‘Yes, dad.’ My father said bye and abruptly hung up. This happened again two days later. I think my mother caught him, because he never did it again.

Another time, we couldn’t buy anything extra because money was tight. My mother wanted to buy a new dress, however because of our situation she decided to wait several months, until Mother’s Day. But, my father told her to go buy one right away. He said ‘The mother of the family shouldn’t have to wait until Mother’s Day to get a new dress.’

Both my sister and I lived hundreds of miles away from my parents at different times. I remember when my sister lived far away. Whenever she would call, my father would get excited. I told my sister about this and she said ‘Dad used to get that way whenever you called also (when I had lived far away).’

He’s been gone now several years, and there’s not a day that I don’t think of him.

I understand that not everyone is lucky enough to have such fond memories as I do. But, I ask those who do to share them. Hopefully, any complementarians and/or others who may believe that we don’t love our fathers will read our memories and understand that we do, just as they do.

Right on the heels of this year’s Sheri Klouda debacle at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary comes yet another example of president Paige Patterson’s move to ‘establish family and gender roles as described in God’s Word for the home and the family.’

This fall, Southwestern Baptist will be offering a new academic program in homemaking, a bachelor of arts in humanities degree with a 23-hour concentration including such classes as ‘Clothing Construction’ and ‘Meal Preparation.’ Such classes, Southwestern Baptist must believe, are in keeping with their stated goal of letting a woman (and I mean woman, as no men are to be admitted to the program) ‘choose from a variety of programs what is appropriate for [her] own diverse interests and unique giftedness within the boundaries of biblical priorities.’

Southwestern’s dean of women’s programs stated for the Associated Press that the program was instituted in order to strengthen families, as a woman’s ‘first priority is her family and home.’ In the words of president Paige Patterson, ‘If we do not do something to salvage the future of the home, both our denomination and our nation will be destroyed.’

National destruction? Quite a price to pay for a lack of homemakers.

I was recently listening to a popular Christian radio program. On that week’s edition, they were celebrating a recent book that encouraged fathers to interview any young man who wanted to date their daughter. The author was interviewed, and he discussed with the program host how any young man who wanted to take a girl out for a date should be questioned by the father, and made to promise that he (the young man) would respect the girl, knowing that some day she would be someone’s wife (possibly his own, possibly not), and that he should treat her the way he would want someone else to treat his future wife. He was also to promise not to touch the girl in any way, not kiss her, and always open the door for her. He should protect her, including her purity. It was his responsibility. The young man would need to promise all these things and more to the father before the father should permit his daughter to go out on a date with the boy.

This struck me as troublesome. First of all, it is certainly honorable and desirable for a father to show interest in caring for his daughter. Oh that more fathers would! But it seems to me that this particular message and method encourages a kind of demeaning treatment of the girl that does not foster full participation on her part, a good pattern of communication between the girl and boy, good decision-making skills for the girl, and good patterns of maturity for future adulthood for both of them. I kept thinking: where is the mother in all of this? And, why isn’t the parent talking to both the son and daughter, together, about the decisions they will make? Wouldn’t it have made a much better Christian impression and model for the young people if both mom and dad talked, together, to both young people together, showing a united desire for the young man and young woman to make wise decisions together? And how does this recognize the reality that girls, as well as boys, often initiate physical intimacy and need to understand God’s call upon their lives for purity and good decision making? And now that many young people wait to get married until well into adulthood, how will this pattern help young adults with good dating practices? (Daddy may not be around to interview your date when you are in college!)

Surely there is a better way to encourage purity and wise choices for young people, that encourages both girls and boys to take responsibility for their actions and to be able to communicate clearly with one another and encourages both mothers and fathers, when possible, to work together in providing good advice and examples for their kids, both daughters and sons.