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...

  Frozen II says that calling, loss and ambiguity can all lead to transformation. Calling It’s easiest to see the first, right? That’s Elsa’s arc in this story, as I’ve written before : hear the call, respond with courage, return a changed person—fill a void, but leave one behind too. Loss Loss is harder, I think partly because loss takes your norm but doesn't give you anything in return—if you want a new norm, you have to make it yourself. That’s Anna’s arc in Frozen II . She knows her place in the world: she supports Elsa. They’re an inseparable team, and together, they can face anything. But then they’re not together anymore. When it comes down to it, Elsa’s powers let her go places Anna can’t. Elsa’s path diverges from Anna’s, and Anna has to find her purpose without Elsa as lodestar. Both Elsa and Anna have to push through something to find their purposes (another way to say that: to live in congruity with their identities).  For Elsa, it’s fear of the unknown .  F...

This month, Wiley published an infographic with survey results from college students and teachers about how the shift online for COVID19 affected learning. You can find it here: Emergency Remote Learning Satisfaction for Students and Instructors . A couple of key takeaways stuck out to me, especially because they lined up with some professional development reading and webinars I did this past summer. Students think lecture videos are better than online readings. This was the case before the pandemic, too. Assessment stats actually don't back it up, but pretty consistently, students think videos are better than readings ( source ). Student perception connects to student motivation, so it's probably worth recording lectures. Even if you already have a handout on the material, give students the option of watching and/or reading. Standard best practices for video lectures apply, of course: brief (<10 minutes), tight (1-2 topics) and personable videos are the most watchable. Prod...

Frozen II (2019) is an animated Disney movie and the sequel to Frozen , whose praises I sang last post because of its potential to lead kids toward life with God in the church—that is, its potential to lead kids toward a good life. Frozen II did not disappoint me as a sequel. In Frozen II , Disney made a movie that teaches kids how to have a good life, and they did so well that they painted a picture of the Holy Spirit and His work through His people on His fallen earth. I write to parents who are uncertain about whether to show their kids Frozen II , because I don’t want you to miss the helpful messages in this film. Wealth and power attract the worst elements of humanity, yet despite Disney’s wealth and power, they’re teaching kids wisdom for life. I write to grandparents who are concerned that the society their descendants will inherit is becoming more wicked, because I want you to know that God’s grace still shows up, even in the most popular kids’ movie of last year. And I writ...

In my last post , I argued that when an artist makes something, they can intend it to mean something, but they can’t keep it from meaning something other than they intended. I also said that when I engage with art, I don’t actually care what the artist intended to create; I care more about what they did create. When Disney released Frozen  in 2013, some Christians and Mormons  protested what they saw as a gay agenda concealed within a nice story. They may be right; the artists who made Frozen may have wanted to communicate a pro-gay message. If that’s the case, I would argue that they didn’t do a great job. In fact, Frozen is a fantastic story about how Christian discipleship addresses our fallenness. The Gospel of Trying Harder A quick review of Frozen ’s essential characters (in case trivia about pop culture from last decade isn't your thing): Elsa: a princess who has magical cold, ice and snow powers ( cryokinetic if you want to impress somebody) Anna: a pr...