Man and Woman in Christ
Callahan, Sidney
Undoing Christian feminism MAN AND WOMAN IN CHRIST THE ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN IN SCRIPTURE AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES Stephen B. Clark Servant Books, $15.95, 753 pp. Sidney Callahan HERE is a...
...A Christian husband should care for and protect his wife, "provide for her a clarity in what is expected of her, and he should provide a steadying and ordering influence on her emotional life...
...Those of us who consider his view of Christianity stultified, cramped, over-domesticated and inau-thentic may have to take up our cudgels once more...
...naturally no woman should ever have a better job or more prestige than her husband, since it might hinder her subordination at home...
...Clark has a long section arguing that the evidence of social science research supports his view of men and women...
...This is also what Clark does, with his allegiance to his version of Christianity and subordination of social science to its purposes...
...After a sophisticated treatment of the slippery nature of social science data and interpretation, Clark goes right ahead and selectively stresses those findings and authorities which support his position on sex differences...
...The claim is also made that such an order exists in nature...
...Men and women must be different in order to complement each other in the family, the final model for all Christian community...
...For Clark the past and all things traditional are to be preferred...
...The argument is given at great length, most carefully, with a thousand or more footnotes, and presents a very conservative view of Christianity and the world...
...Sidney Callahan HERE is a book one can hate, but not despise...
...As usual, one starts out arguing about men and women and ends up arguing about God, the church and the world...
...If women have to work outside the home they should try to take on part time "womanly" occupations such as caring for small children or secretarial work...
...Unfortunately, it is dedicated to the undoing of Christian feminism and liberal theology...
...You know, like Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan or Jesus...
...Finally, does God's model for Christian community necessitate reliance on past " hierarchical traditions, female subordination to male leadership and domestic familial organization...
...He would have done better to admit that good arguments can be made to the effect that encouraging men and women to be more alike in personality'and social roles can be beneficial to all concerned, men, women, children, and families...
...Even celibates and single people must cultivate distinctive "womanly" and "manly" qualities, as well as become integrated into families and domestic divisions of labor...
...Theologically, the book is like watching a rerun of an old movie on late night TV...
...Traditional society and family organization was better, older views of Scripture and church authority were better...
...Clark has given his side of the argument a good run...
...If so, are men and women to be different and complementary, or to develop in a fully human non-differentiated way...
...Much as I disagree with Stephen Clark's thesis and his ideology, I have to admit that he has produced a thorough, competent, mostly fair-minded book...
...Does God really have any plan at all for individuals which is specifically related to sexual identity...
...This is where I came in, I groan, are we really being asked to go back to square one...
...Men and women should avoid being best friends with equal and similar personalities and occupations...
...Women are equal in God's sight, but they must also be subordinate to men...
...Jesus, for Clark, is not particularly revolutionary, and neither is the Gospel...
...God's will for men and women can be seen in Scripture, especially Genesis, and that blueprint cannot be disregarded by Christians, even those caught in the snares of liberation theology or in a secular movement like feminism...
...For Christians, however, the central conflict will not be over the interpretation of the social scientific evidence, but over theological questions...
...The supposed flaw in these research efforts is that this group is "able to stir up dissatisfaction with the current order of men's and women's roles and simultaneously offer a feminist solution to the problems...
...In complement, women are to be primarily the heart of the home...
...Slavery is not really condemned and there is no liberation of women intended which might flout hierarchical order and authority...
...In the presentation of Clark's thesis almost every relevant Biblical text is examined...
...In this scenario men are fitted by God and nature to be the governing sex and so rule in the home and out...
...Yes, we really are...
...Through traditional authority we can know that God intends his people to live in domestic families that emphasize traditional male authority at home and in the community...
...Otherwise "they will become a socially disorganizing factor in the community...
...The complaint seems to be that trouble comes only from outside, agitators, who owe allegiance to secularism and subordinate their research to their ideology...
...How boring and sad, but perhaps inevitable, given the conservative Zeitgeist of the times...
...Varying interpretations are given and invariably the conservative interpretation is chosen as the authentic Christian message...
...Here he fails in his fair-mindedness, for he denotes and rails against something labeled "Feminist Social Science...
...Clark is quite concerned that by having wives and women as their only friends, men will lose their "manly" qualities and become impotent "feminized males...
...It is ironic that while Clark claims that Christians should struggle against the influence of the world, his book is incredibly suited to the times.edibly suited to the times...
Vol. 108 • November 1981 • No. 21
