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Feminization of the Church
I really have no clue how I survived a year at Biola, especially after I read articles like this. I came across Biola's alumni magazine Connections which featured a cover story titled The Feminization of the Church. One of my co-workers attended Biola, and brought the magazine to show me. The article was fairly typical of what you would expect. You have your standard stereotypes and sexist remarks, things like serving opportunities (such as nursing, hospitality, teaching children, etc) are "feminine." You have people desiring to sing songs with "warrior-type lyrics and more masculine things that men identify with." Funny - because I don't identify with being a warrior. Then you have claims like this:
Seriously? Really...this guy cannot mean that. How often does Mr. Erre hear anyone even mention the feminine expressions of God? The church is dominated by masculine attributes and expressions of spirituality. And then they have a section titled "Girly-men Pastors." Yes, you read that correctly. According to the article, a feminized church attracts "gentle, sensitive, nurturing" pastors. Because those are "feminine" traits, right? It would be so much better to have rough, abrasive, and callous pastors, eh? I just find it incredibly ironic that an institution that represses (and has done so for many, many years) women is complaining about the feminization of the church. Of course, even the concept of "feminine" and "masculine" deserve their own discussions. I am pretty sure that I have a different understanding of what these terms mean than the author of this article (ironically a female). The church's is not being "feminized." The opposite is true. The Church is so clearly dominated by men that the concept that it is not "masculine" enough is amusing. I have talked about this before, specifically when I recently read Is it Okay to Call God Mother. We have a current church that only uses masculine terms and imagery for God. We have a church that is dominated by male leadership. Yet people complain about it becoming too feminized? You have to be kidding me. It is simple. The church does not repress men, or "masculinity" (at least as defined by these people). The church represses women, and represses female attributes of God. Comments, Pingbacks:
Thank you. I am a Biola alum, and I usually find a lot to appreciate in the alum mag. Not that article. Psalm 63 is a perfect example of the (by this article's definition) "feminine" worship style of a warrior king whom I've never heard anyone refer to as a "girly man harpist." What kind of man feels threatened by vulnerable, passionate, soul-baring intimacy with his God? I think the problem is that both men and women in the Church are not in touch enough with their own masculinity and femininity (and with the God from whom indubitably those traits flow). Instead of going deeper, some of these folks are just plain going skittish.
Thanks for the comment.
Isn't is ironic that we hear about David the warrior but not David the harp player?
I go to a church where the pastor is not a girly man. His favorite activity is hunting. He's a Canadian woods born, then mid-westerner who talks like a pirate in his sermons and laughs raucously. He makes fun of people in the sermon (especially me) and he jears at Bible authors when he wrestles with the test. This same pastor cries when he talks about the gospel, gets choked up when praying for peace in Africa and can't help but talk about how a big portion of his job is to make sure he is loving his family the best he can. He's no softy though. His boys are super jocks. His wife is also not a submissive woman. An ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church, she is also a fairly well respected Evangelical scholar. She is a fiesty woman who, as my pastor calls it, has "piss and vinegar" running through her veins.
His gruff, raw reality attracts men and women of every kind - democrat, republican, softy, hard headed, drug addict, crochet addict (that is me).
Comment from: Mike Erre [Visitor] 05/06/06 @ 16:13
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I personally think you are dead on in your critiques. I thought the article was lame!
Thanks for linking this article. It's interesting because I'm a moderate/evangelical female who is actually transferring to Biola just now. I had to cringe because I found the words like "risky" and "adventurous" and "quest," used only to describe men and masculinity in this article, are how I see myself. I've struggled with being bored in church myself - I don't think this is just a men's problem.
I'm not a feminist theologian, but I'm not a cookie-cutter "godly woman" either. I think the source of the problem which they call "the feminization of the church" is not about women taking over, but women being discouraged from thinking outside the box. Leave a comment:
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