Saturday, September 23, 2006

Why Is It? (RANT ALERT!)

(You've been warned...what follows is a bona-fide, gen-u-ine, hissy-fit RANT!)

WHY IS IT:

Whenever there is discussion in progressive Christian circles about the place of women in the church, inevitably a few men will start expounding on the pro-patriarchy position and attempt to derail the discussion into yet another argument over how to interpret 1 Timothy 2:12 ff.

It's one thing if the venue's "regulars" are conservative evangelicals. It's another thing entirely when the venue is one set up by women for the purpose of discussing these things, and yet another when the venue's POV is an alternative to the conservative evangelical position. But I've never seen it fail. There are some men in the cyber community who seem to think it's their god-given responsibility to pound people over the head with their proof-texted, eisegeted tradition that "women can't teach or have authority over men." Some are a little less blunt than that, but some aren't. And there is the occasional woman who will also jump in with "How can you disrespect God and the Bible by saying women can be pastors?" Is it any wonder that some people, including some women, think the church is nothing but a bunch of androcentric people led by power-hungry control freaks who twist the Bible to suit their own positions of privilege? WHERE IS THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IN THIS RHETORIC ???

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

(And since this is my blog, I can say that!)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Its a good question.
And yes you can rant.

Catherine said...

Dear Psalmist, you are loved! Yes, some of the boys are always trying to tell mommy [The Church, Christ's Bride] how to behave and what to do...so much wasted energy when they could be feeding the poor and sheltering the homeless. They forget to mention the other thing Timothy says: Men, keep your house in order, otherwise you are not truly capable of a thing! Well they have not kept their respective houses in order or else they would all be welcoming Bishop Katharine with open arms as she should be. I could go on and on with my own rant but this is your beloved space...

Blessings,

Catherine+

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

Ah...deep breaths...in....out....in...out...
feel better?

No?

;-)

Anonymous said...

Bless their hearts. I mean it. After all, since we are not the chattel of the women of Timothy, it's a bit threatening, no?

Just once... ONCE... I would like to have a great, Christ-like and gentle response to these guys. But rather, I am more of that noisy gong variety of music maker.

ARRRGGGGHHHH indeed.

God's peace-
Deb