Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Single Story and 'Biblical' Womanhood

You knew this was coming.

Much has been said about Biblical Womanhood and much teaching has been handed down by those in power concerning their Single Story of Womanhood.

Much also has been said concerning the short list of scriptures telling the same version of the Single Story. Many have pointed out how the pushers of Biblical Womanhood ignore or explain away scriptures that add more stories to what Biblical Womanhood actually is.

Those who focus on the Single Story of Biblical Womanhood ignore or explain away or redefine the stories of Deborah, Miriam, Huldah, Priscilla, the Proverbs Woman, II John's Elect Lady, Mary and Martha, just to mention a few.

The definers and story tellers of "Biblical Womanhood" have told one story. They have have shown Biblical Womanhood to be one thing and only one thing, over and over until that is what it has become to the neglect of so many other stories concerning women in the Bible.

They have also taken books of the Bible that might mention women in particular or have instructions for women or marriage and have so over focused on those few verses that they have neglected dozens of other verses within that book that tell other stories that include women.

We are not obligated to live within the restrictive structure of CBMW/Biblical Womanhood's Single Story. Doing so only brings deep sorrow and denies how big God really is.

5 comments:

Incongruous Circumspection said...

What a great post! You're spot on. That is EXACTLY what it is. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

It is true. You condensed the problem down so well. Some passages are expounded on to project their particular view, and others are ignored or dismissed. That is what I've experienced too. I call it the biblical womanhood filter. If it fits through the holes of what they think two or three passages "make clear", then it stays in their teaching. If it doesn't, it gets filtered out. It is doing our thinking for us, and it is frustrating and dishonest- for those who actually know what is happening. The majority are simply deceived.

Anonymous said...

Amen.

Kristen said...

And they act as if the only verses that can or should matter to a woman are the ones that they have used to define how she should behave.

Thus they take discipleship away from us, making us the servants of men rather than disciples of Christ.

Mara Reid said...

Yep, Kay and yep, Kristen.
Excellent observations.
And this is why we keep chipping away at the glossy facade that the Biblical Womanhood pushers hold up as truth and light.

God has called us to a true and radical freedom that the single story cannot even imagine.