recently categorized<\/a> Christian ideas about gender into seven different forms. I find that Glahn\u2019s categories falter at a few points, but I do find value in the project of categorization. In this post, I touch on Glahn\u2019s listing and then present my own.<\/p>\nI grew up in a conservative evangelical home. Even as a child I could sense divisions. My family attended an evangelical megachurch that preached male headship in marriage\u2014based on voluntary wifely submission\u2014but tended to approach unmarried adult women as free agents. My parents, through various homeschool materials, had come to believe that unmarried women remain under their father\u2019s authority in a real and substantive way (i.e. this authority was not just symbolic). Our church did not teach this.<\/p>\n
My parents once visited a nearby church that was widely known as a \u201chomeschool\u201d church\u2014unlike the more mainstream families who attended our megachurch, the families that attended this church all homeschooled, wore skirts, and had 6+ children. My parents ultimately decided not to attend this church. My mother said that when she walked inside, the very atmosphere felt oppressive toward women.<\/p>\n
Where am I going with all of this? Simply this: My parents, the megachurch they attended, and the \u201chomeschool\u201d church they considered all ascribed to beliefs on gender that would generally be described as \u201ccomplementarion.\u201d Despite this seeming similarity, the beliefs my parents and each of these churches held and promoted differed in real and meaningful ways.<\/p>\n
The debate over gender roles in the church is often framed as \u201ccomplementarion\u201d versus \u201cegalitarian.\u201d And yet, despite this\u2014as my own experience suggests\u2014there is a significant amount of variety within<\/em> complementation views on gender roles. One complementarion is not the same as another.<\/p>\nOne could argue that this is a distinction without a difference\u2014all complementarians, after all, hold that the God has endorsed a gender order that gives men authority over women. But when one young woman is sent off to college and then given full birth to choose her own career, make her own friends, and date while another young woman is kept at home, required to get permission to have a job, and allowed to associate with young men only through parent-guided courtships, the distinction seems important.<\/p>\n
With that, let\u2019s look at how Glahn categorizes Christian beliefs about gender roles. Glahn begins by adding a category\u2014\u201ctraditionalists\u201d\u2014and then offers a loose definition for complementarianism.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0TRADITIONALISTS<\/p>\n
Believe women are more easily deceived than men, but also masters at deceiving. Women are ontologically inferior to men at created level. \u201cWomen are the devil\u2019s gateway.\u201d \u2014 Tertullian. Augustine, Aquinas, John Knox, etc.<\/p>\n
COMPLEMENTARIANS (spectrum of about 4 views)<\/p>\n
Women equal before God<\/em>, but in some form of hierarchy w\/ men\/ husbands.\u00a0 Authority<\/em> = the issue w\/ several views on the public ministry of women:<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI take slight issue with this distinction for two reasons. First, complementarians should not be allowed to get away with arguing that women are equal before God, but should be barred from the ministry. That is not what equal looks like. Second, by putting traditionalists and complementarians in entirely separate categories, Glahn glosses over the reality that this is a spectrum, and that many complementarians argue that men and women are equal before God, but also see women as more easily deceived than men, etc.<\/p>\n
This happens all the time in particularly conservative homeschool literature\u2014the author pays lip service to women being equal to men in God\u2019s eyes, then writes that women simply have different roles than men, and then argues that this is because women are silly (not usually the word used, but that\u2019s the import) and thus more easily deceived. Indeed, many<\/em> complementrians argue that women need their husband\u2019s protection. And why would women need that if they weren\u2019t in some way inferior to men?<\/p>\nIn sum, Glahn starts out with an assumption that complementarianism (the belief that men and women should exist in hierarchy) can coexist with the belief that men and women are fundamentally equal. It cannot.<\/em> But Glahn takes for granted that it can, and argues that complementarianism is by definition\u00a0not that horrid anti-woman medieval stuff<\/em>. \u201cTraditionalism\u201d thus serves as a foil.<\/p>\nHaving defined complemetnarianism as the belief that women are equal before God but that some form of hierarchy does or should exist, Glahn outlines four distinct forms of complementarion belief:<\/p>\n
2. \u00a0Male<\/em> \u201cheadship\u201d \u2013 \u00a0all men = \u201chead\u201d over all women. Speak of \u201cmale headship.\u201d Innate. At creation.\u00a0Head = synonym for leader.<\/p>\n3. Male \u201cheadship\u201d in the church and home \u2013 husband head of wife + elders head over women in church and home (not necessarily in business, society)<\/p>\n
4. Husband \u201cheadship\u201d only \u2013 husband has headship over wife. Would never apply the word \u201chead\u201d to any other human relationship. Note Koine<\/em> had only one word for \u201cwife\u201d or \u201cwoman\u201d\u2014context determines which. Reference to asking \u201chusbands\u201d at home and \u201csaved through childbearing\u201d suggest wives, not woman, in view. Therefore, verses restricting women actually restrict only wives (e.g., \u201cLet the wives keep silent in the churches\u2026ask husbands at home\u201d; \u201cI am not allowing a wife to teach or have autonomous authority over a husband\u201d)<\/p>\n5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Husband = \u201chead\u201d (not headship<\/em>) \u2013 Would not alter the word \u201chead\u201d to add \u201cship.\u201d See \u201chead\u201d as part of a metaphor, not a leadership picture. Oneness picture. But still embrace the idea that husband = authority of wife today<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThere\u2019s a whole lot of breakdown of the word \u201chead\u201d and \u201cheadship\u201d going on here, so I feel the need to summarize these categorizes as I understand them:<\/p>\n
2. All men over all women.<\/p>\n
3. Men over women in the church and in the home.<\/p>\n
4. Husbands over wives only.<\/p>\n
5. Husbands over wives, but it\u2019s mostly a metaphor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I take issue with this categorization from the outset, because it does not include beliefs about the authority of fathers over unmarried adult daughters.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible that Glahn does not include such beliefs because, outside of Christian homeschool communities and fundamentalist churches, the autonomy of unmarried adult daughters is taken for granted. Still, this omission is a serious oversight in what is presented as an all-encompassing categorization.<\/p>\n
Glahn then offers this mixed category:<\/p>\n
6. SOME COMPLEMENTARIANS\/EGALITARIANS<\/p>\n
No hierarchy, but believe in voluntary submission of wife. Favor agape<\/em>\/submit language vs. head\/submit or speaking only of \u201cmutual submission\u201d in marriage, though they see that too.\u00a0Not head over<\/em> wife, but head of<\/em> wife. Note that LSJ Greek lexicon does not list \u201cauthority\u201d as a possible synonym\/definition for \u201chead.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI\u2019m sorry, but no. Voluntary submission of the wife is<\/em> hierarchy, and it is not<\/em> egalitarian.<\/p>\nThis is also not a distinct category from numbers 4 and 5 above. In today\u2019s world, men are not allowed to force<\/em> their wives to submit to them; as a result, wifely submission is widely sold as voluntary<\/em>. Women are told that they must choose to submit, because that is what God has commanded them.<\/p>\nFinally, Glahn offers this definition of egalitarianism:<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0 EGALITARIANS<\/p>\n
A. Those who argue synonym for \u201chead\u201d should be source\/origin,* not authority. OR\u2026<\/p>\n
B. Those who don\u2019t try to refute \u201chead\u201d understood as authority, but would view such usage as culturally influenced and not for all time.<\/p>\n
Speak only of \u201cmutual submission\u201d as the ideal in marriage. No limits on women in ministry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I have no issue with this item.<\/p>\n
Overall, I like the idea of categorizing these views. I just don\u2019t like some of the decisions Glahn made in creating her categorization schema. So, I\u2019m going to try my hand at my own categorization.<\/p>\n
Here is the breakdown as I would outline it:<\/p>\n
\n- Full submission with rank misogyny: Men are in authority in the home and church in both an individual and collective way (i.e. all women must submit to all men); women are silly figures who can\u2019t be trusted to make important decisions and must be kept tucked away\/under a heavy hand.<\/li>\n
- Full submission with false value: Men are in authority in the home and church, and each woman (including unmarried women) has an individual male head; women should not be in the workplace but play a valuable role in the home, as homemaker and nurturer of children.<\/li>\n
- Submission lite: Male headship in both home and the church, but women\u2019s role is expanded. Wives are expected to submit to husbands, but husbands are expected to listen to and include their wives. Only men are allowed to be pastors or elders, but women can serve in other capacities.<\/li>\n
- Submission in name only: Male headship is important in a metaphorical sense. Women are allowed to be pastors (they may need symbolic male endorsement) and wives are expected to be full partners with their husbands (husbands have the final say in disagreements, but this rarely if ever happens).<\/li>\n
- Egalitarianism: Men and women both serve in the church on an equal footing, and men and women practice \u201cmutual submission\u201d within marriage (i.e. each tries to take the other\u2019s needs into account and not think of themselves only, to give and receive and serve and love alike\u2014at least in theory).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Even here, it is important to remember that such categorizations are a spectrum. I grew up in a family that primarily practiced option 2, but aspects of option 1\u2014the idea that women were silly or hormonal and couldn\u2019t always be trusted to make their own decisions\u2014were present as well, as were aspects of option 3\u2014in practice, my parents made most family decisions collaboratively, after discussion.<\/p>\n
It is also possible for a person to believe one of the above options but practice another. When I asked my husband which category he would put his parents in, he immediately asked whether I was referring to their beliefs or their relationship dynamic. Many individuals would state that they ascribe to option 3, but actually practice option 4 in their day-to-day lives. Others ascribe to option 4 but live option 5, etc.<\/p>\n
One last thing\u2014the individuals Glahn references as being \u201ctraditionalist\u201d all lived at least 500 years ago. This gives the reader the impression that this view is perhaps defunct. It is not. In my list, option 1 is largely equivalent to Glahn\u2019s \u201ctraditionalist\u201d category, and it very much<\/em> still exists in more fundamentalist churches, as well as in individual (often isolated) families with tyrannical husband\/father figures.<\/p>\nI have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The debate over gender roles in the church is often framed as “complementarion” versus “egalitarian.” And yet, despite this—as my own experience suggests—there is a significant amount of variety within complementation views on gender roles. One complementarion is not the same as another.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":38591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,25],"tags":[767],"class_list":["post-38585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","category-christian-patriarchy","tag-gender-roles"],"yoast_head":"\n
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