Egalitarian vs. Complementarian revisited:
Yes, I spent way too much time discussing this issue online. That was awhile ago.
Egalitarian appeals to me.
Christian Egalitarians appeal to mutuality, which does exist - or should exist - in society. Helping one another, supporting one another, praying for one another, and so forth are good, Christlike practices. Christians should help one another in whatever way they can, especially in a marriage and family.
In one of his homilies on marriage and family life, St. Chrysostom pointed out that a husband should not hesitate to help his wife with her housework since she is his beloved. It’s not unmanly to do women’s work.
My longshoreman dad, my woking stiff brother, my nephew who does bids for large construction companies, my IT expert son in-law, my grandsons, and my CEO husband have all helped out around the house with different chores. My brother and nephew are great cooks as well.
All of the men I just mentioned were or are in traditional marriages, except for the grandkids who are still little kids.
Mutuality isn’t something invented by egalitarians. It’s part of being a Christian. Their emphasis on mutuality is commendable in many ways.
However, how does egalitarianism work in an institution like the church, the home, society, government, a company, and so forth. Here’s and experience that I had long ago when the Internet was young.
I dragged myselt into a conversation with some egalitarian Anglicans who were arguing for women’s ordination and seemed to be arguing against hierarchicalism in general. I’m not Anglican, so I had no skin in the game. In fact, some of my close friends in Latin America are Pentecostal pastoras. I’m no in favor of women’s ordination to the priesthood, but I’m not Anglican. Anyway...curiosity kills the can, and I was curious.
How would egalitarianism work in a system that is hierarchical - with archbishops, bishops, priests, vicars, and so forth. These kind egalitarian Anglicans were glad to explain it to me, but on a different blog. I was invited over to their place to talk about it. They were happy to give me a lesson on how it works.
Turns out it was a trap, and they ganged up on me for being such an idiot as to reject the idea of female ordination. How dare I!
Idiot I may be, but they did convince me. Egalitarianism as a system is incoherent. It’s not possible for Anglicanism, or any social or religious organization to be non hierarchical. They just meant that women should be ordained, too. Women can be the boss and boss people at least as good or better than men can.
That may be true in some cases, but there are horrible women bosses out there as well as horrible male bosses. There are good women rulers - and have been throughout history - and some good male rulers - also demonstrated throughout history.
So, naw. Egalitarianism as a way to organize any kind of institution isn’t really a thing. Just because women are given more opportunities to rule in society doesn’t mean that society can function without a hierarchy. That’s impossible.
In my opinion, of course, and I am nobody. Thankfully!
What about in marriage, though? Is a marriage hierarchical? If so, who’s the boss? Is there a boss? Boss of what?
To be continued...
