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In Christianity & Judaism |
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In his book The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity [Dallas, Tex.: Spence Publishing, 1999], Leon J. Podles asks some insightful questions: Why is the Church filled mostly with women? Podles, a Roman Catholic historian, explores reasons why the Christian Faith began to be feminized in the post-New Testament era then discusses the consequences of a religion that alienates men. Podles argues that the medieval emphasis on the "heart," on virginity as the highest spiritual goal, on bridal mysticism (marriage to Jesus), adoration of the Virgin Mary, and rejection of everything masculine distorted the original biblical revelation and led to trivialization and a dangerous weakening of the Church. He suggests it also contributes to the rampant homosexuality among priests, as he witnessed himself as a boy in Catholic schools. Podles gives extensive discussion to what is "masculine" versus what is merely "male." God in the Bible is masculine, not male, and he sets up a patriarchal system among Jews in order to exemplify his character "in which fathers care for their families and find their emotional centers in their offspring." The danger for the church is that when males are feminized, they tend toward nihilism, promiscuity, and alienation from their children. This undermines and will ultimately, if not reversed, destroy the Church. The safe, feminine world is attractive to many men. But it diverts them from accepting "the task of being masculine. Males must be trained to struggle, suffer, and die so that the life of the community can go on. This self-sacrifice is a form self-transcendence." All of this is in contrast to biblical Hebraic Faith (biblical Judaism), in which strong and caring patriarchs led the people of God. Podles sees feminizing patterns not only in the Catholic Church but also among conservative Protestants. He points to Revivalism and Fundamentalism as powerful movements that continue to drive men away from Christianity. For example, he believes the Promise Keepers mens' movement, begun in the United States, draws males into a feminized form of revivalist evangelicalism. American revival movements have traditionally contained a strong emphasis on "the heart" with emotional appeals to return to God. Not surprisingly, women were often the first to respond to such messages and in far larger numbers. This heart emphasis is reflected in a statement by PK founder Bill McCartney that males "were created to be in a love affair with Jesus . . . ; Scripture tells us the only way to please God is to be passionately in love with Jesus Christ" [B. McCartney, Go the Distance: The Making of a Promise Keeper (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family Publishing, 1996), p. 13]. [Top]
Leon Podles's insights can be extended to other contemporary Protestant and Jewish settings, since feminizing forces are evident among them too. These are some of my personal observations:
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Similarly, liberal mainline Protestants tend to extol feminine virtues and disdain masculine ones.
[In contrast, women in the Bible aren't passive, emotional push-overs who submit to anything or everyone because they can't think or are emotionally handicapped. Of course, women throughout history who lived outside the sphere of Biblical Faith have been overly "feminized" and exploited as objects by tyrannical men — contrary, I believe, to the Creator's intent and the teachings of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.] The same phenomenon is occurring in liberal Jewish circles, and Jewish men are fleeing Feminized Judaism. A recent study notes that: "Women have been taking an increasingly more dominant role in Jewish rites. As a result, the phenomenon of 'Ima on the bima' (mom on the podium) has become the rule rather than the exception in liberal Jewish settings.
Conclusion Podles concludes with a warning that alienated men and suppressed (though God-given) masculinity will drive more and more men away from the biblical God into various forms of destructive nihilism, making them (in my words) enemies of — instead of spiritual warriors for — the Messianic Kingdom.
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