Biblical patriarchy

Biblical patriarchy, also known as Christian patriarchy, is a patriarchal social system and set of theological tenets concerning gender relations and their manifestations in institutions, including marriage, the family, and the home. It sees the father as the head of the home, responsible for the conduct of his family. Notable people associated with biblical patriarchy include Douglas Wilson,[1] R. C. Sproul, Jr.,[2] the Duggar family,[3] and Douglas Phillips.

Beliefs

The "Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy" published by Vision Forum before their demise advocates such beliefs as:[4]

• God reveals Himself as masculine, not feminine.
• God ordained distinct gender roles for man and woman as part of the created order.
• A husband and father is the head of his household, a family leader, provider, and protector.
• Male leadership in the home carries over into the church: only men are permitted to hold ruling positions in the church. A God-honoring society will likewise prefer male leadership in civil and other spheres.
• Since the woman was created as a helper to her husband, as the bearer of children, and as a “keeper at home”, the God-ordained and proper sphere of dominion for a wife is the household and that which is connected with the home.
• God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” still applies to married couples.
• Christian parents must provide their children with a thoroughly Christian education, one that teaches the Bible and a biblical view of God and the world.
• Both sons and daughters are under the command of their fathers as long as they are under his roof or otherwise the recipients of his provision and protection.

Michael Farris notes three examples of patriarchal teaching: that women should not vote, that higher education is not important for women, and that "unmarried adult women are subject to their fathers’ authority."[5]

According to Rachel Held Evans, the biblical patriarchy movement is "committed to preserving as much of the patriarchal structure of Old Testament law as possible."[6]

Practices

Some churches connected to Biblical patriarchy practise "household voting". For example, All Saints Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a congregation of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, states in its church's constitution: "Those members who vote in church elections are called electors. Electors are the heads of member households (whether men or women) and those granted voting capacity by the Session."[7] Many members of the biblical patriarchy movement are also homeschoolers.[8]

Differences with complementarianism

Biblical patriarchy is similar to complementarianism, and many of their differences are only ones of degree and emphasis.[9] While complementarianism holds to exclusively male leadership in the church and in the home, biblical patriarchy extends that exclusion to the civic sphere as well, so that women should not be civil leaders[10] and indeed should not have careers outside the home.[11] Thus, William Einwechter refers to the traditional complementarian view as "two point complementarianism" (male leadership in the family and church), and regards the biblical patriarchy view as "three-point" or "full" complementarianism (male leadership in family, church, and society).[12][13] This issue was discussed during Sarah Palin's vice presidential campaign in 2008, when some adherents of biblical patriarchy stated that Palin, as a woman, was "biblically ineligible to run for vice-president".[14]

In contrast to this, Douglas Wilson rejects the idea that it is a sin for a woman to run for public office.[15] John Piper and Wayne Grudem, representing the complementarian position, say that they are "not as sure in this wider sphere which roles can be carried out by men or women".[16]

Criticism

Biblical patriarchy has been criticised for holding views that demean women and view them as property. Don and Joy Veinot of Midwest Christian Outreach interpret the Vision Forum statement to imply that "women really cannot be trusted as decision makers" and "unless a daughter marries, she functionally remains pretty much the 'property' of the father until he dies."[17]

Andrew Sandlin criticizes biblical patriarchy for teaching the authority of fathers, whereas the Bible teaches the authority of both fathers and mothers. Sandlin argues that "whenever the Bible has in mind children’s obligation to parents, it never depicts a paternal hierarchy, only a parental hierarchy", that "the father has no more say in the children’s rearing than the mother", and that "the Bible does not teach that the father is the head of the household".[18] Elsewhere, Sandlin argues that a "renewed patriarchalism in some quarters is working for hegemony over the other legitimate spheres of God’s authority."[19] In other words, the authority of the father dominates other authority structures in the church and in society. Sandlin writes that some patriarchalists "have gone so far as to suggest that Christian day schools are sinful or erosive of the family" and to "demand almost unswerving obedience and servanthood from their forty-year old married sons."

Michael Farris takes issue with the teaching that women should not vote, and argues that "nothing in the Bible can possibly be twisted to expand the duties between a husband and wife in a loving marriage to reach the conclusion that Bill Maher can vote but Vickie Farris cannot."[5]

In 2008 Cynthia Kunsman ran a workshop at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (sponsored by Evangelical Ministries to New Religions) critiquing biblical patriarchy.[20] She described it as an "intolerant ideology" that has arisen within circles of the Christian homeschool movement during the last two decades. She suggested that the biblical patriarchy movement was guilty of subordinationism, and identified the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the Federal Vision movement, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as adherents of biblical patriarchy. In response, both EMNR and MBTS accused Kunsman of making "unwarranted and misinformed accusations against Christian teachers and ministries, including the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and agencies within the Southern Baptist Convention."[20]

See also

• Family Integrated Church
• Gender roles in Christianity
• Male chauvinism
• Patriarchy
• Quiverfull
• Stay-at-home daughter

References

1. In his 1999 book, Federal Husband (Moscow, ID: Canon Press) Wilson argued that a husband as "federal head" assumes responsibility for his wife's spiritual condition. In a 2013 blog post, Patriarchy, Vision Forum, and All the Rest of It, he said, "Patriarchy simply means “father rule,” and so it follows that every biblical Christian holds to patriarchy... But there are objections, some to the substance and some to the word... There is a kind of male conceit that does not know how to submit, and a number of these people have embraced the word patriarchy."
2. Highlands Study Center Squiblog Archived October 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
3. Marcotte, Amanda (April 16, 2014), "Sex Scandal Rocks the Duggars' Christian Patriarchy Movement", The Daily Beast, retrieved September 3, 2014.
4. "The Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy". Vision Forum. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010.
5. Farris, Michael. "A Line in the Sand". Home School Legal Defense Association. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
6. Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master", p. 51.
7. The Constitution of All Saints Church Archived 2016-01-30 at the Wayback Machine
8. Joyce, Kathryn (2010-05-01). Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement. Boston: Beacon Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8070-1073-0.
9. R. C. Sproul, Jr. says that "Both the patriarch and the complementarian affirm that husbands are called to lead their families. Both agree that wives and children are their equals in the eyes of God, that the husband/father’s authority isn’t the fruit of being a superior form of humanity. Both affirm that wives are called to be helps in their families’ call to fulfill the dominion mandate. Again, I’m not clear on what the difference between these views might be." Ask RC: How do I avoid embracing hyper-patriarchy?
10. Should Christians Support a Woman for the Office of Civil Magistrate?.
11. Called to the Home — Called to Rule.
12. Men and Women and the Creation Order, Part 1 - Vision Forum Ministries
13. The Palin Predicament Resolved - Vision Forum Ministries
14. Ingersoll, Julie (17 November 2010). "Sarah Palin Calls Biblical Patriarchs "Neanderthals"". Religion Dispatches. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
15. Douglas Wilson, Wrestling With Ghosts
16. John Piper and Wayne Grudem, "An Overview of Central Concerns," in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991), 89.
17. L. L. (Don) and Joy Veinot, Midwest Christian Outreach Journal Spring 2007, p. 4. Emphasis original. Archived February 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
18. P. Andrew Sandlin"The “Patriarchy” Problem", emphasis in original.
19. P. Andrew Sandlin, "The Hegemonic Patriarchy," Christian Culture January 2004, available on the Under Much Grace website.
20. Web: 30 Jan 2010 Speaker Chastised Over Criticism of 'Biblical Patriarchy' at SBC Seminary Archived 2009-10-04 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• "My Life as a Daughter in the Christian Patriarchy Movement". AlterNet.
• The Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy Vision Forum Ministries Editorial