blog.kennypearce.net

Quote of the Day

I am no feminist (my wife will confirm my impeccable Neanderthal credentials); I have strong views on women's ordination; but I am saddened by the way Reformed church culture so often tramples its women underfoot with its mindless identification of biblical manhood with something akin to John Wayne and its assumption that all Christian women should make Mary Poppins look domestically incompetent. - Carl Trueman, Reformation21.

I'm not sure where these attitudes come from, or whether they are specifically 'Reformed' tendencies. I know that I sometimes see them in Evangelical circles at Penn, but I would estimate that over half of my Christian friends here are Presbyterian. What's strange to me is that most of the people I come across who have these kinds of ideas are unmarried women. Because I don't know very many men who have these sorts of ideas, I have to wonder where they are getting it from. Quite possibly: each other. Out in the world, I think a lot of the pressure in terms of clothes, makeup, etc., is coming not from men but from other women. It would not be surprising if the same was true of the pressure in certain Christian circles to be "super-Mom." The pressure could also be coming from some segment I don't encounter - perhaps, for instance, from parents. I don't know.

Lauren is going into physics. Not that women who stay home and take care of the kids and the house are not doing something worthwhile, but Lauren has gifts that would be left unused if she did this, and the same is true of many, many other women. The Church, including complementarians, needs to learn to really encourage this, and not criticize these women or make them feel guilty.