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Equal and Different

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Equal and Different Equal and Different Male and female in church and family Michael Harper WORDS 79,391 Dedication To the memory of my father and mother, from whom I discovered that "dogs have four legs" All biblical references are taken from the New International Version, unless otherwise stated Contents Foreword Appreciations 1 Dogs have four legs 2 Words: usage and abusage Part 1 The command of the Lord 3 A cord of three strands 4 The primeval cry 5 Jesus, feminist or traditionalist? 6 Joint heirs 7 No other practice 8 God's order for the family 9 Symbols 10 Summary: truth back-to-back Part 2 Such a great cloud of witnesses 11 The democracy of the dead 12 The age of chivalry 13 The eleventh commandment? 14 Feminism, a flawed ideology 15 The walls come tumbling down 16 Summary: The cloud of witnesses Part 3 Side-effects 17 Equality and order in the Godhead 18 Equality and order in the family: fathers 19 Equality and order in the family: mothers and children 20 Ecumenical suicide 21 Spotting the elephants 22 Epilogue: learning to be lonely Appendix: personally speaking Notes Bibliography Index Foreword By Larry Christenson and Joanne May Pastor Larry Christenson This book surprised me. Michael Harper and I have known each other for thirty years. We have worked together on ecumenical projects. We have ministered together on several continents. I thought we had talked about most things in which we shared a common interest. When I read the manuscript for this book, I encountered an interest, indeed a deep concern, of Michael's that we had not talked about over the years. I would not have guessed that he held the strong conviction about the ordination of women that he articulates in this book. A paragraph in the Appendix Personally Speaking, sets the matter in perspective. It is one of the most telling statements in the book: I am ashamed to say that the period 1975/1988 for me was one of comparative indifference, certainly not strong feelings on either side of the women's ordination question. I have never thought women should be ordained, but equally never until the last few years felt strongly they should not. In other words, the position that Michael sets forth in this book is not simply the statement of a traditional belief or prejudice. It represents a significant movement - from indifference to firm conviction. And what has been the "engine" of that movement? A solid and sober study of the Word of God, enhanced by the testimony of church history, and a clear-eyed evaluation of ideologies and practices in contemporary life. Here is a book - here is a man - whose understanding and conviction have been signally shaped by the authority of God's Word. Almost at once, the reader will sense a great clarity of purpose. The formal statement of it comes towards the end of the book: "we are concerned in this book with the objective truth, revealed by God through the Scriptures, and through the faithful handing down of the Church's understanding of them through many generations". (p....). Precisely this has been lacking, both in the consideration of women's ordination, and of the broader issue of men's and women's roles in home and church. The issue has been framed, and policies have been formed, by the fashionable rhetoric of secular culture. God's will and purpose, as revealed in Scripture, has been brushed over lightly. Ironically, in the secular culture itself, the egalitarian rhetoric of feminism finds itself increasingly at cross purposes with the reality of what men and women experience in life. A substantial and growing body of empirical research finds that the egalitarian model does not produce the promised happy partnership between men and women. Pastor Christenson is a Lutheran Pastor living in Minnesota, USA. He serves with Michael Harper on the Executive of the International Charismatic Consultation on World Evangelisation (ICCOWE); he is the author of many books including The Christian Family, which has sold over 2 million copies and been translated into eighteen languages. Dr. Joanne May When I started reading Michael Harper's book, women's ordination was not an issue of great personal interest or concern to me. I have changed! I believe that in church leadership, as in family life, God has designed a system that works. Michael's straightforward interpretation of Scripture is not only theologically accurate; it is sociologically authentic. He correctly links the ordination of women with the nature of family life on the one hand, and with feminism on the other. It is important to note that feminists built their movement on rhetoric and theory that were, and continue to be, in direct conflict with well designed, replicated research. Simultaneous with the beginning of feminism, a number of research studies measured marriages that were healthy and satisfying for both women and men. Without exception, these studies described the healthy families as having an authoritative style of leadership led by the father. The mother affirmed, or submitted to, the leadership of the father. As the father was affirmed in his leadership, he was then free to serve his wife and family, and the larger community as well. In other words, empirical research confirmed the biblical model of headship. Submission and sacrifice, not the attainment of personal power, characterised this research model. A central finding in the research was that the moral development and the discipline of the children depended heavily on the father's leadership. Family relationships and the development of autonomy in the children came more from the mother. The functions of both parents proved extremely important, but they were different. When role reversals occurred, the results were often disastrous. Feminists ignored this research and opted for an egalitarian model of family life. Their rhetoric promised a rosy new world of liberation and empowerment for women. Research models in the 1990s have shown that it does not work. It does not work because it rests on a false premise. At its heart stands the erroneous belief that personal power, through the mechanism of a score-keeping egalitarianism, is the road to happiness. Michael's scholarly work has led me to consider possible links between feminism and the ordination of women. I reflected on the experience of some Protestant Churches in the United States that began to ordain women in recent decades. It seems to me that we have seen a marked change in them. In mainline Protestant Churches, adoption of feminism has become politically correct. One aspect of this has been a disproportionate emphasis on a leadership style that is distinctively female. It has quite likely influenced the role of the church in the larger society. The Church has been a responder to the ills of society. This is an important function, but aided by feminists, it has often become the only function. Something akin to a role reversal has taken place, not unlike role reversal in the family. The church no longer leads in the discipline and moral development of society. It simply responds to the dysfunctions of a society in decay. Research does not support the rhetoric of feminism that there is no difference in leadership style between men and women. The church needs the heart of women to respond to the hurts of society. But it also needs the authority of ordained male leadership, if the church is to exercise a positive influence in the world. Dr May is Larry Christenson's sister, and lives in Excelsior, Minnesota. She is a Clinical Psychologist and Family Counsellor. Appreciations I would like to thank those who have helped me with the writing of this book. I am grateful to Pastor Larry Christenson and his sister, Dr. Joanne May, a clinical psychologist, for their Foreword; our long and fruitful friendship with Larry and Nordis Christenson has meant so much to my wife Jeanne and to me. Larry's book The Christian Family was published in 1970. It is a classic defence of Christian family values. I would add my thanks to Bishop Bertil Gartner, the former Bishop of Goteborg, Sweden. He is a man of great courage and integrity, who to the end of his episcopate resisted intense pressure to ordain women in Sweden. He has helped me with some of the sections where I have mentioned events in Sweden relative to this subject. I would also like to thank David Pawson and Dr. Roger Beckwith for looking at the biblical section. Many of their wise corrections and comments have been included in the book. Jeanne and I appreciate our long friendship with Edward England, and his encouragements to continue writing. Also my thanks to Hodder & Stoughton; both of these relationships stretch back for over thirty years. This book is dedicated to the memory of my father and mother. They convinced me from an early age that "dogs have four legs", not five, and I shall be always grateful. I would like to thank my wife Jeanne. I heard once that the wife of a well known author was asked which book of his she liked the best. She replied that she did not know, because she hadn't read any of them. I have always joked that I can be sure to sell one copy of my books because my wife will buy it. Jeanne has shared fully in the preparatory reading, and the working out of each theme. Her comments and criticisms have been invaluable, especially on a subject we have both had to work out practically for many years. Authors depend to a greater or less extent on the books of others.
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