Jason Albertson

I’ve heard the story from Judg. 4-5 ( Judg. 4:4-9 in particular) used to justify this claim: It is shameful when the lines between gender-roles are blurred. Judg. 4:8-9 in particular are the basis for that claim. The argument might go something like this: Barak said he wouldn’t lead if Deborah didn’t come with him (v. 8). Barak failed to lead alone, like a man should—he failed to perform his masculine role. God was displeased by Barak’s lack of leadership, so God shamed him by giving the glory of killing the enemy general to a woman (v. 9). Conclusion : Men should not look to women for leadership, but should take leadership upon themselves as their masculine duty. There are several assumptions/beliefs involved in this argument. Men and women have different roles in relation to (1) other people, (2) society and (3) creation in general. Those roles flow from the differences in what it means to be male and female. Those differences are so pervasive that men and women share almost no comm...

I grew up in the Christian homeschooling movement. The movement has some dappled shadows; there are good aspects, and there are really bad aspects, and which aspects you experience depends on which area you grow up in. While my family didn't take it on, I grew up on the border of one particularly harmful shadow: belief in hyper-distinct masculine and feminine roles. For homeschoolers, this belief was popularized by figures like Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips. The same beliefs show up in lots of manifestations of religious fundamentalism, from Islam to some of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement. In the Christian homeschool context, that hyper-gendering (HG) takes the form of theology about what it means to be a man or a woman. HG theology leans heavily on the KJV translation of Gen. 2:18—thus the term “help meet”: And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Gen 2:18 KJV) HG theology proponents interpret the phr...