CT Article: We Are Not Pregnant
Mark Galli wrote a concise, but compelling, article on gender, which was published in today's Christianity Today e-newsletter. It's far from scholarly (far too sparse of statistical details for the academician), but well worth a read.
I give it two thumbs up. Let me know your thoughts.
I give it two thumbs up. Let me know your thoughts.
You're right... it is a good article.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think the author's a little hard on the guy who says "We're pregnant." It's possible that the guy really is trying to recognize his responsibility both for the pregnancy, and in it. And that's good progress from the masculine aloofness of the past, which will gladly receive congratulations for having caused a pregnancy, but fails to identify with his wife in her journey (insofar as that is possible.)
I've been listening a fair amount to Mark Driscoll, founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and I really like his perspective on gender (despite his occasional brashness.) He says that a man doesn't have to nurture like a woman to be equal to her. And a woman doesn't have to fight like a man to be equal to him. And yet this is what society believes.
My favorite thing he says is that, the reason why women are jockeying for equality in the workplace is because the western (especially the modern western) mindset is to value the marketplace, and devalue the home. One's value is determined by one's contribution to the marketplace, and the home environment is seen as "backstage" or "off-screen" work. Ancient and eastern mindsets often reverse that.
Think in the Bible about the number of times the marketplace is really emphasized. It doesn't tell us a great deal about peoples' occupations. Sure we know that a lot of them were shepherds or kings or servants or tax-collectors or fishermen, and we know we're supposed to work as unto the Lord, but that's kind of where it stops.
But what happens in the home seems to be of immense importance to God.
I believe women should be free to do whatever seems best to them, and virtually no arena of activity should be off-limits to them. But my point is, if we had God's perspective on the value of the home, then maybe more women would feel valued as they choose to stay home and make their contributions there. Then they would feel like they have a real choice, and not like the only path to achieving value is found by getting a job.
Yeah, he's probably a little hard on him... but I'd say his title is virtually the only thing that might set the article apart from a hundred other articles of the same nature. He kinda used hyperbole (straw man?) to segue into his point, which may or may not be great journalism. I liked the article mostly because of its even-handedness, and also its point that women are in many, many ways superior to men. It's something we (men and women both) don't hear often enough. Something fascinating to me is the scripture that tells us that "woman is the glory of man". MacArthur, Piper, and others like them take this to mean that woman's glory is derived from or proceeds from man, but I am more inclined to think that woman is the glory, not of men, but of mankind. They are glorious! And we are...just men, relatively speaking.
ReplyDeleteAs far as women being free to do whatever, whenever, and wherever suits them best, I'd have to agree with you... IF the Bible did not teach otherwise. (Neither does the Bible teach that a man is free to do anything he chooses with his life. We all have boundaries, and only by staying within them are we truly free to be most fully the creatures God has created us to be.) You know as well as anyone that I do not adhere to 'gender role' guidelines nearly as strictly as the 'hardline complementarians', just by the very choice we've made for Melissa to work during seminary and for me to stay home with Madelyn while I'm not at school. I think there's plenty of room for flexibility, so long as the bigger picture is kept in focus. I don't see the 'man is the breadwinner; woman is the housewife/mom' model prescribed in Scripture verbatim, and hardly at all. But I do see the general strengths and weaknesses of males and females dealt with extensively, and Galli hits the nail on the head here.
If there's any reason I feel that articles like this one need to be read it's that the American 'home' is falling to pieces--and within the Church, matters are not much different. It's indisputable that the divorce rate has been the highest in the last two decades than almost ever in Western history. Depression and suicide are at a dramatic all-time high. Spousal and child abuse rates are through the roof.
There is a cause, and it may go deeper than 'the home', but this is doubtful, since the home is the most fundamental of all human institutions (marriage being the foremost part of this). We screw up the stability and health of a marriage or family, we screw up society, one family at a time. We propagate an ideology that lends to instability (such as 'workaholism'--I know how much you love that word--wherein either one parent works far too much, or especially when both parents are working full-time), we play a fundamental role in the destruction of the family and of society.
In this nation of radically me-centered freedom, our top priority is fulfilling our desires, our dreams, our agendas. At the altar of individual freedom, we sacrifice all else-- marriage, family, church, community, society (and who knows what else). Anything that stands in the way of this is attacked vehemently. Well let me tell ya, I'm on a mission to bring healing and restoration to the Church and to society, one family at a time. And in case we're ever tempted to parade our ignorance by boasting in the well-worn "one person at a time" vision, let's give ourselves a reality check. Not only is this vision far too small... it's totally naive in its rigidly Western presupposition that it is even possible to significantly influence an individual human being apart from the social context in which he or she is immersed.
Oh goodness, we could get into a whole conversation on just this! But it really is at the heart of discussions such as these. Our Western blinders keep us from seeing the foolishness (and sinfulness) of glorifying personal 'freedom' at the expense of the greater good of humankind, and furthermore, at the expense of the Kingdom of God. I ought to be getting some rompous "Amen!"s from my Left-leaning friends, because they tend to understand social construction more than Right-wingers. What baffles me is that Lefties hold so many views that are diametrically opposite to Religious Right views, and yet are staunchly biblical... and YET they seem to fall miles short on issues of morality. I'm simply dumbfounded.
Oh well, time to get some sleep. Too much Greek, not enough... sleep (or anything else for that matter).
If my thoughts are all over the place, this is my excuse. ;-)
Thanks for your perspective! The 'marketplace' observation is tantamount. How crazy is this... what's one of the first questions adults ask when they meet each other (especially men)? "So, what do you do (for a living)?" I'm pretty certain this ranks #2, right after, "How about this weather?" You are right on the money about this, and I grieve it right along with you. Profound contribution, my friend. Thanks again.