The Junia Project

Advocating for Women's Equality in the Church and Home

Is God Male?

by

When I teach about the Trinity in my introductory theology class, the topic of God and gender often comes up. “Is God male?” Let’s think about that.

The Bible often refers to God with masculine personal pronouns. Following this, Christians usually say “He,” “Him, “His,” and “Himself,” when referring to God. Trinitarian language is predominately masculine (“Father” and “Son”) though “Holy Spirit” is more elusive. Many popular Christian books celebrate the more masculine qualities of God (especially books for men and books on ‘leadership’): God is a hero, a conqueror, a warrior, a triumphant king, and so forth.

Even so, I would be extremely hesitant about saying that God IS male; in fact, I would push further to argue that such a notion applied to God, absolutely and without qualification, is both false and misleading.

Manhood & Masculinity: 3 Great Studies for Groups

by

“I’m looking for book recommendations that are egalitarian friendly and address the subjects of manhood and masculinity. I can’t find anything and our men’s ministry leaders are asking me. Please help!! Thank you!!” B.
An interesting thing happened on the way to writing this post. Since I am not a man, I asked eight men for book suggestions and got back ZERO recommendations. Not because they don’t care about the topic, but because 1) they were not aware of any resources on this, or 2) because there has not been much interest in studying “biblical manhood” in their circles. ALL of them told me they were very interested in anything we could find! It is encouraging that manhood and masculinity are not “hot topics” in church circles that support the shared leadership of men and women in ministry and socials contexts. But there is still a need to provide resources for churches that push back against the harmful “authentic manhood” rhetoric that is popular in some Christian circles today. Here are three books that would work well for individual or group study and are written from an egalitarian perspective.

5 Myths of Male Headship

by

  I sat down across the table from her. We hadn’t seen each other in a while and I was excited to catch up. She was a youth pastor, one of those with an obvious call on her life for ministry. But as I looked into her eyes, I could see she was worn out. She […]

We Need You, Brothers

by

I used to work for a church that went through the tedious process of changing the church bylaws to allow for the full participation of women in ministry, including in the role of senior pastor. When it came time for a pastoral search, the church sent out a job description containing only masculine pronouns. When I asked why this was the case given that the bylaws allowed for female candidates, I was told that the bylaws do allow for a woman to be hired, but they had decided to hire a man. They were not even taking applications from women.

Recently, I was looking through the website of a friend’s church. The pastoral staff consisted only of men, and all of the numerous online sermons were preached by men. I asked one of the pastors about this, and he assured me that both he and the lead pastor held egalitarian views, and fully supported the equality of women in all levels of church leadership and in the home. He told me some of the logistical reasons for the lack of female presence in their leadership, and said that they have made an effort to have women preach, but haven’t been able to accomplish it yet.

I also went to a worship service at the church of another male pastor I know. He holds to egalitarian theology as well. There was not a single woman present in the leadership of that service. The pastor, associate pastor, scripture readers, and the entire musical worship team were all men. When I asked him about this, he explained some of the logistical reasons for this, and assured me that this wasn’t the case every week. However, it is also true that there is never a week when there are no men up front.

In the case of the first church, they claimed to be egalitarian in their bylaws, but in reality, they are not. They did not even consider a female pastoral candidate, and assured none would apply by the wording of the job description. In the cases of the second two churches, I know these pastors personally, I appreciate both of them, and they have been very encouraging to me and many other people I know.

Laying Down Male Privilege for Joy

by

Like most kids, our children love their candy. A relatively rare treat in our house, every piece of candy is something to be cherished, savored, and, above all else, hidden from your siblings. I mean, God forbid your older brother finds your hidden stash of Jolly Ranchers!

I think a lot of us view power in a similar way. I’m talking about social power, like who has authority, who exercises leadership and who commands attention in a given situation. As with my kids and their candy, in our guts, we see power as something to be guarded and kept safe, under lock and key. Over the last several years I’ve been wrestling with what to do with the social power that culture gives me as a man, and my conclusion is this:

Out of reverence for Jesus, I am to release my socially-granted power so that others, particularly women, may thrive.

Defying Gender Stereotypes: Surprising Men of the Old Testament

by

I’ve found that the Old Testament is full of some amazing, strong women who defy stereotypes. But what about men? Did Old Testament men fill only such roles as warrior, ruler, priest or family patriarch? Did they fit the stereotype of the “manly man,” who pleases God by his tough masculine leadership, or are there gentler role models?

Malestrom: Manhood Swept Into The Currents Of A Changing World (Review & Giveaway)

by

In her new book Malestrom: Manhood Swept Into The Currents Of A Changing World, Carolyn Custis James demonstrates why she is one of the most compelling theologians of the twenty-first century. With the authority and unction of a true prophet, she not only identifies one of the major issues of our day—a fallen idea of maleness—but offers biblically grounded insight for how this curse can be undone.

James explains her astute word-play-title and the premise of the book:

The malestrom is the particular ways in which the fall impacts the male of the human species—causing a man to lose himself, his identity and purpose as a man, and above all else to lose sight of God’s original vision for his sons.

We don’t have to look far to find evidence of this malestrom.

On John Piper & Manhood

by

At the beginning of March one of our readers wrote in and asked this question:

“I recently watched a video regarding The Gospel Coalition’s stance on their complementarian view. In it, John Piper begins to explain that we must be able to answer children’s questions as to what it means for a boy to grow up and be a man, or for a girl to grow up into God’s model for womanhood. He states that egalitarians have never been able to answer his question. I would love to hear your response.”

This video had been making the rounds on social media, so I was familiar with what she was talking about. You see, John Piper seems to have fallen into the cultural narrative that manhood must be earned. For Piper, manhood isn’t something you simply grow into with age according to your biology. Instead, it is something you work to achieve…

Confusing “Equality” with “Sameness”: A Complementarian Misconception

by

Time after time, I’ve read complementarian literature that seems to misunderstand what is meant by biblical equality for women and men. The heart of the misunderstanding appears to be a misperception of what is meant by the term “equality.” Very often, the complementarian literature I’m familiar with assumes that egalitarians are advocating for the “sameness” of men and women in the church, rather than for their equality. For example, in her book, “The Feminist Mistake,” Mary A. Kassian uses the terms “equality” and “sameness” interchangeably (p. 37). She also wrongly assumes that Christian egalitarians want women to be “just like men” (p. 38).

Proverbs 18:22 & Male Entitlement in Dating

by

I used to hear this passage preached a lot at relationship conferences or those times when a pastor started a series on relationships and marriage in church on Sunday mornings. Overall, I understand the sacredness of the text and have always appreciated its context. While it’s a beautiful passage, in my experience the way it was preached has always been a little problematic to me. The subsequent teachings that followed were that men are supposed to seek out women. The words “thing” and “obtains” were generally emphasized when referring to this pursuit of women. I think the weight that has been placed on these themes preached from this text, have influenced the way men approach women in the pursuit of relationships.

In the Image of Man They Created God; Male They Created Him

by

Owen Strachan, prominent complementarian leader and President of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, once called Rachel Held Evans‘ teaching “heresy” because she used a female pronoun to describe God in one of her posts. Oh, and he did it over Twitter, so naturally a series of Twitter conversations ensued. I personally love Twitter, so […]

To Lead or Not to Lead: The Right Question for Christian Men?

by

  “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness” the firm foundation of male authority? There is a movement today that calls men to be responsibly involved with their families and in the church. Unfortunately, this movement equates this responsible involvement with “leadership.”  Apparently, men will either be leaders, or they will […]

Categories

Archives

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG

Enter Your Email