And we all fall down…

I want to be very clear at the outset: I know that the issues that feminism addressed and continue to address are very real. I am not in any way disputing that there were serious inequities and injustices that were and are being addressed by the movement. What I am concerned about is how feminism has adressed them and the underlying assumptions that drive the movement.

I am reading Radical Womanhood by Carolyn McCulley. This is my second read through this book – yes it’s that good. Carolyn’s first order of business in the book is to give a summary history of the three waves of feminism. During her discussion of the Second wave, she focuses on french philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex, an examination of the status of women in the society. I was so struck by a direct quote from Beauvoir: “[woman] is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute – she is the Other”. Her final assessment was that “all male ideologies are directed at justifying the oppression of women, of keeping women imprisoned in roles that leave them subordinate to me. These roles include that of wife and mother.”

My problem with this argument is that it places man (gender = male) in the place of creator and woman the created. This is problematic for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that man – male or female – is not the creator of anything. Both are the created that point to Another who created us both in His image…

The most important problem in my view is that this line of thinking focuses on the symptom rather than the actual problem. The problem is not man (gender = male), but man’s desire to usurp God’s authority and take His place as ruler. In a word, the problem is sin. I use “man” both in the generic (male and female) sense and gender-specific sense in the previous statement because this sin thing is universal; neither gender exceed the other in that department. Remember what Genesis 3 says about the consequences of the fall. In terms of our relationships with each other, men became a usurper by seeking to rule and subordinate women; women became a usurper by seeking to dominate and control men. Both could blame the other for their condition and response…which seems to be the natural course of things in our fallen state. But if both are seeking to take the place of God and sinning against God, which of us really has a leg to stand on?

So – it is not that feminism does not address a legitimate reality. I argue that it does. But does it rightly interpret that reality? I would argue that it does not for the simple reason that it removes God from the equation. Or, if He is considered at all, we define Him instead of allowing Him to define us. In doing so, we become our ultimate reality, the source and finish of our own existence. Without the ability to refer to something or someone outside ourselves, we go about the task of defining ourselves, each doing so according to our own desires, interests and location. But what happens when those interests and desires clash? Who or what is the final arbiter that determines what definition will stand as valid?

So…perhaps the problem is that man (gender = male) has sought to define woman in a way that subordinates her and woman’s (gender = female) response is to seek to define ourselves and by default redefine man in the process. But does this solve the dilemma, or move it to the other side of the street? Perhaps…just perhaps, there is a solution that trumps each gender seeking to define and control the other. That solution requires that both genders turn away from ourselves and look to our real Source…that would change everything.

More later…

Grace and peace…

Unexpected journey…

I have been debating for a few weeks now whether I should write this post or not. I finally (obviously) made the decision to blog through my journey of discovering God’s true design for me as a woman. Not that I think I am so very important, or that my insights are just so wonderful that everyone must know what I have to say…but this is a way for me to organize my thoughts as the Lord takes me through this process. And, if the Lord wills, encourage other women who are on this same journey or are on the verge.

My journey began during last year’s presidential primary season. The topics of discussion that arose from a woman and and African-American man being the front-runners of a major political party created quite a stir among the people I work with, and people I worship with. Being that I am both a woman and an African-American, the question that would always come up for me was, “So, how do you decide who you’re going to vote for?” Of course, the assumption was that I would be voting Democrat, and so with that question out of the way, how would I make my choice of which Democrat to vote for? The natural first question I would have in response was always, “Who says I’m voting Democrat to begin with?” That question would always raise eyebrows…but that’s another story for another day (wink, wink).

The thought behind the question had nothing to do with issues – which candidate from which party I most agreed with or felt would be the right candidate to lead our country for the next four years. The question that was really being asked of me was which identity will govern my vote – my race or my gender? What is more important to me, being a woman or being Black? 

There are so many things wrong with this line of thinking I don’t even know where to begin. The first being – why am I voting for a candidate based simply on race or gender? What kind of criteria is that for selecting who I will support? The question and subsequent discussions that it would raise started me on a course that brings me to the present day, and my stepping over the threshold of shedding old ways of thinking and walking in the light of Scripture in a new a deeper way. In the last year, the Lord has been upsetting my apple cart something awful, and in ways that were totally unexpected. I can’t say the journey has been easy – or even that it is close to being over. But as I look at the twists and turns of these last months, I am amazed at how awesomely God weaves things together to bring us exactly where He wants us to be.

Now, my default position in the past when these kinds of discussions have popped up is to engage in an analysis of how my racial/ethnic identity intersects with my identity in Christ. This is familiar terrain for me. I have spent much of my life asking the identity question as it pertains to race/ethnicity, and after I became a Christian, how my new identity as a believer changes the answer to that question. But I have never thought much about my identity as a woman, and how that is affected by my identity in Christ. And even when I did think about it, I lived and thought by the world’s definitions of what a woman ought to be.

I was born in 1972; I have never known a world without the Feminist Movement. I have never known a world without abortion rights, or equal pay for equal work, or Title Nine, etc. My world has been shaped by the conversation that has been raging about a woman’s role – our role in the family, in the workplace, and in the church. Even after becoming a Christian, the question of a woman’s role has been in the forefront – and my assumption was what is wrong with the church? We need to get our act together and stop holding women back. We need to allow women to do whatever they want, whatever we feel God has called us to do. The way that I viewed the questions even in the church were shaped by the world’s definition of femininity, womanhood, leadership, authority, etc…

But something about the question of who would I vote for between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton caused me to look at things in a different light. Why – I can only say because the Lord saw fit to open my heart to a new way of looking at this issue of identity. I lived in the Chicago area at the time, and the True Woman Conference was gearing up to be held there. My church promoted this conference, and the flyer on the bulletin board caught my eye. At first glance I decided that I did not want to have anything to do with such a conference. But the Lord would not leave me alone about it…and this became the starting point for asking myself: What does it mean to be a woman? I was startled to discover I wasn’t as sure about that answer as I assumed.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the True Woman Conference – but as I began to ponder this question of womanhood, and explore the idea of biblical womanhood, I knew. I knew that the Lord was calling me out of something. I knew He was calling me into a new way of thinking and living. I knew that he was calling me to unlearn what I have been taught to assume, and be transformed. He was renewing my mind and renovating my heart.

So, a year later, I sit back and think about the terrain I have covered, and how vast the terrain I have yet to explore. I know it will take my entire lifetime to reach my destination…

A light topic

Lately I have been spending a great deal of time thinking about race/ethnicity and gender. My thoughts about gender have led me to a sustained study of complementarian and egalitarian views of women, as well as the history of feminism in the U.S. Very light stuff, I know. Ugh! Sometimes, my brain hurts…at times I can hear it crying out for mercy! But still, I push on…

Anyway, here’s a question I posed in my journal a few days ago: 

Why does “distinctive roles” necessarily equal “different worth”? 

In other words, why is the assumption that limiting the role of women to exclude positions of “leadership” (i.e., pastor/elder) in the church means you are saying that women are unequal in their value before the Lord? Our worth or identity is not determined by the roles we play in society. This, I would argue is a carryover from our culture, which places high premium on position, title, power, money, etc., to determine a person’s worth. This is not a biblical notion – it is a cultural one. To assume this to be true and then impose this so-called “truth” onto the church is to usurp the truth of the Word and make the church in the culture’s image.  

The co-opting of cultural understandings of worth placed in external things such as titles and roles leads us to false conclusions. The Word teaches a completely opposite reality, which calls into question the struggle that women engage in to have equal access to positions of perceived “power” within the church structure. In doing so, we are conforming to the image of this world, not being transformed by the renewing of our minds.  

So as I work to reprogram my mind in this area, I must renounce the ideas that worth resides in the position that I hold in a social or cultural structure. Worth resides in my creation as an image-bearer of God. This image is the same regardless of the social position I may hold. As I read through the arguments for egalitarians and complementarians, I see the appeal to cultural reality over against biblical truth in the egalitarian view. They are imposing an unbiblical worldview onto scripture that brings them to wrong conclusions.  

Here is an excellent quote to that end from Dorothy Kelley Patterson in an article she wrote for www.cbmw.org:

“Viewing a person’s worth solely according to his role and perceived status in society not only is not biblically based but also is a poor criterion for interpersonal relationships. Who I am ultimately is not determined by what I can do. My ultimate worth is found in who I am in Christ—a woman created in his image. I may be unable to do certain tasks physically, emotionally, socially, or even spiritually (because of biblical boundaries), but God is interested in my obedience—to his written word more than to what I feel he is revealing to my own understanding.” 

This is my humble opinion…may God continue to guide me as I walk through this.

More later.

Grace and peace…