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The Masculinist #39: We Can Only Go Forward Because There Is No Way Back

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The Masculinist #39: We Can Only Go Forward Because There Is No Way Back Aaron Renn <[email protected]> The Masculinist #39: We Can Only Go Forward Because There Is No Way Back Aaron M. Renn <[email protected]> Tue, Apr 7, 2020 at 7:37 PM To: [email protected] Welcome back to the Masculinist, the newsletter about how we live as Christian men and as the church in the modern world. Subscribe, read back issues, or download free resources at: www.aaronrenn.com/masculinist I decided earlier this year to resume Masculinist publication in April. Little did I know the world would be completely upended by the coronavirus. Rather than postponing the relaunch, I decided to move forward and even to accelerate things. I'm not focusing on the coronavirus in this issue, but stay tuned for May. I'm hoping to do a webinar with some other folks late in the month about it. So watch for the May Masculinist for more details. In the meantime, I'll leave you with something to ponder. We are told that coronavirus is going to change the world forever, but how is it going to change us? That is, ask yourself 1) What belief about the world have you changed in light of the coronavirus? 2) What do you plan to change in your life in response to coronavirus? I'll be honest that I find it hard to answer those questions for myself. We are so deeply wedded to our worldview that often it is impervious to events. We see this in apocalyptic cults who cling to their their beliefs even after their date for the end of the world comes and goes. But few us are immune to this. 99% of what I see in social media is people continuing to tout their preexisting prescriptions for the world. We should take time to reflect on what if anything we might need to change. Supporting the Masculinist I’ve now changed cities and changed jobs, which freed up time I can devote to relaunching the Masculinist. It also frees to me to make a run at greatly expanding what I’m doing. The kind of work I do here is not the kind that can sustainably be done on a bi-vocational basis. So if I’m going to keep doing it, I need to raise the funding to enable me to do so full time, both because it needs that level of focus and to enable to me to take a much more visible public facing role. So I need your help. There are thousands of you who read this every month, including many people who are high profile and influential in their own right. This makes the Masculinist one of the most impactful and cost effect ministries out there for reaching men. This is not for those of you who are now facing real financial risk because of the coronavirus. But for those who are able to do so, I’m asking you to consider becoming a monthly financial supporter of the Masculinist, because I can’t do it without your help. There are three ways to sign up: 1. Become a supporter on Patreon: www.patreon.com/masculinist. I have tiers set up for $100, $25, or $10/month, but you can contribute any amount you’d like. 2. For those of you who are only able to contribute $5/month, I would encourage you subscribe using Gumroad: www.gumroad.com/masculinist. You can use Patreon too if you want, but I would prefer you to use Gumroad if possible. 3. PayPal can be used on Gumroad for those who prefer PayPal. I hope to have a direct PayPal option for for monthly support soon, but for now if you'd like to make a one time only contribution, you can PayPal me at [email protected]. My pledge to you is to do my best to put out a top quality product that makes you glad you contribute – and makes a big impact on the lives and ministries of its readers. Please contribute today. Many of you have already stepped forward and contributed already. I just want to say thank you so much. It means a lot. I also need your help to spread the word and bring more readers. So please forward to anyone you know who might be interested. Reactionary Affect Periodically you’ll see someone post photos of graduating classes from Cairo University over the years. These show very western looking grads up through the 1970s, with nary a hijab in sight. By the 1990s hijabs are on the scene and by the 2000s almost all the women are wearing them. While the site I linked above is on the left, it’s usually conservatives who do this. They do it to try to make a number of points critical of contemporary Islam. One is that there’s a rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism that poses a threat. Another is to suggest that wearing the hijab is a modern thing without the continuous pedigree in Islamic society that is claimed. I look at this and instead see an example of what I call “reactionary affect.” I define reactionary affect as the reclamation of historic symbols and practices, usually shorn of their historic context, for use in the present time, generally in response to perceived threats. (Other people have used the same term and may have a different definition). Many Muslims saw, correctly, that Western modernity posed a threat to their religion and traditional societies. This re- adoption of hijabs in spheres where they had disappeared was one of many forms of reaction against that genuine threat. But reactionary affect is something I see rising in the American Christian church as well, across a wide range of domains. I mentioned it in Masc #30 when I predicted there would be more Christian groups explicitly embracing patriarchy. But it’s already widespread in many other areas. The most notable case is the rise of greater liturgical sensibility in Evangelical churches. The Catholic parallel to this is the increasing popularity of the Latin mass or Eastern liturgies (e.g., Melkite) in the Catholic Church. Some of this is normal pendulum swinging. I always say that every company is always doing one of two things, centralizing or decentralizing. We should expect things like degree of emphasis on liturgy to oscillate back and forth. But this is more than that. Protestants are more likely to observe Lent, for example, than say three decades ago. And witness, for example, Russell Moore calling for churches to serve communion every week in his new book. “In my church tradition, it is of endless frustration to me how many of our churches, despite the clear New Testament practice of weekly communion, come to the Lord’s Supper once a quarter, or even less often.” When a diehard Southern Baptist starts advocating for weekly communion, you know something is going on. In addition to weekly communion as an example of Protestants embracing more liturgical practices, it’s also emblematic of how many Protestants are taking a higher view of the sacraments today. My impression, for example, is that the Federal Vision controversy in Reformed circles was in part related to a group of people pushing a more robust view of the sacraments. While Federal Vision was rejected, a greater concern for the sacraments seems to have been part of its legacy. Another clear Protestant example of reactionary affect is something I’ve been seeing pop up in multiple, independent places, namely the acceptance of Humanae Vitae and the rejection of birth control. This is much more a personal conviction and practice rather than formal teaching, but I’ve run into a number of Protestants who’ve adopted an anti- birth control stance. Similarly, headcoverings are making a comeback in some precincts. Lest I make it sound like this is merely something I see other people doing, I can say I observe it in my own life as well. I mentioned in Masc #27, for example, that my family abstains from meat on Friday. That’s a perfect example. It’s no surprise to me that we see an increase in reactionary affect at a time when Christianity has transitioned from the “neutral world” to the “negative world” I wrote about in Masc #13. This has been a time when American Christians perceive themselves to be under threat in a different way than in the past. The Limits of Reaction Embracing reactionary symbols like these is a normal, and for the most part fairly healthy thing to do. I’d go further and suggest that some of the underlying doctrines or practices called into question by these things do need to be questioned anew because previous generations many well have gotten them wrong. If Christianity wants to survive in a negative world future, it can’t just stake out positions in current debates. It also needs to go back and fix things that it got wrong. Birth control – rejected by all Protestant denominations until the 1930 Lambeth Conference – does need to be rethought. (Though let me quickly add I’m not convinced Humanae Vitae’s view is entirely right either). I’m not saying I have the answers on all of these, but they need a fresh reconsideration. However, problems arise when we try to take elements out of the past that are not mere symbols or simple practices like hijabs or Christian headcoverings but are instead structural elements highly integrated with the rest of society. When these elements are taken in a decontextualized form and dropped into todays’ society, they often don’t function at all or are even counterproductive.
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