The challenge for complementarians, then, is to create policies and practices that don’t unnecessarily limit the freedom or the responsibilities of women as coheirs of the gospel of life. This second claim, if attended to and cultivated, can distinguish complementarianism from patriarchy by holding broader paternalistic impulses in check. But complementarians make another claim (one shared with egalitarians): that men and women are of equal worth and value. When that authority is combined with paternalistic practices, it’s hard to counteract the accusations of patriarchy.
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What does this have to do with evangelical gender debates? Complementarians believe in a particular type of male authority in the church and the home. And my experience is nothing compared to the socioeconomic paternalism that the poor deal with or the racial paternalism that people of color face every day.
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As a writer and speaker without postgraduate credentials, I’ve encountered paternalism from women in academic circles as often as from men. While paternalism has historically followed from patriarchy, it’s still visible in cultures that are decidedly modern and democratic and can be expressed by anyone-male or female-who holds a position of cultural or organizational power. The question of paternalism, then, is not whether men should have some form of authority but rather what they do with the particular authority they hold. Strictly defined, paternalism is “policy or practice on the part of people in positions of authority of restricting the freedom and responsibilities of those subordinate to them in the subordinates' supposed best interest.” In the case of complementarian cultures, paternalistic policies and practices are those that restrict both the freedom and the responsibilities of women who do not hold the authority associated with pastors and husbands. I also know that failing to identify and root out paternalism will undermine the ability to do just that. The real problem is that paternalism is out in the open, often unnamed and unchecked.Īs someone whose entire ministry has taken shape in complementarian spaces, I know this critique will surprise many people who have no intention other than obeying Scripture. In this respect, the greatest challenge facing complementarianism is not that patriarchal doctrine hides around every corner. That means those who want to distinguish themselves from patriarchy will have to give as much attention to their practices, partnerships, and policies as they give to their principles. But also like evangelicalism, it is held together as much by a shared culture and network as a set of doctrinal distinctives. Like evangelicalism, complementarianism is a sprawling enterprise. But while the word complementarian has traceable roots (as well as a parachurch organization devoted to its advancement), its beliefs work out differently across church traditions. At its most basic, the view makes two claims: first, that men and women are equal image bearers worthy of equal honor and value second, that men and women hold different roles, with men exercising a “headship” that corresponds to a particular kind of authority in the church and the home. One difficulty in evaluating the charge of patriarchy is that complementarianism itself is difficult to pin down.
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The subtitle of Du Mez’s book goes as far as to suggest that conservative white evangelicals “fractured a nation.” Barr, too, cuts to the chase: “Complementarianism is patriarchy, and patriarchy is about power. While the alliances and battle lines have been predictable, the discussion has taken on new intensity, with neither egalitarians nor complementarians pulling punches. Next came Beth Allison Barr’s The Making of Biblical Womanhood, followed by the announcement that Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church (in the SBC) had ordained three long-serving female staff members as pastors. She cited an overemphasis on the “man-made doctrine” of complementarianism. The debates were further fueled by Beth Moore’s very public exit from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). So it’s been with the evangelical gender wars, rekindled last fall by Kristin Du Mez’s Jesus and John Wayne, which traces the rise of militant masculinity in evangelicalism.
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Old controversies never die they simply reinvent themselves.