Submissive Women
Women have little official voice in fundamentalism. Look at any list of famous fundies and names will exclusively be male. (Those men will also all be white but that’s a topic for another day.) Women serve a few functions within the fundamentalist church including Sunday School teacher, nursery worker, and piano player. If you ever want to see a fundamentalist squirm, ask him if his church has the biblical office of deaconess.
The rules regarding what women can do are many and complex. Not only must married women submit to their husbands but unmarried women may need to submit to their boyfriend, unless the boyfriend is in contention with the woman’s father and then of course the person who makes the final decision is…her male pastor since he is submitted to by everybody anyway.
As with any fundamentalists rule there is a great degree of nuance. For example, women can teach Spanish to men but not Greek or Hebrew to preacher boys. Women missionaries may teach men as long as the men’s skin is at least 3 shades darker than her own. A female fundy may also lead a teen choir in song but not an adult congregation. She can make meals for the church covered dish supper but not serve out the crackers and Welch’s for communion.
If you believe that the only reason Deborah was chosen to be a prophetess was that there weren’t any men available to do the job, you might be a fundamentalist.
Posted by Darrell
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Great post (although I foresee some ranting comments in the not-too-distant future – but then again, that’s just the charismatic in me talking.
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Classic. And woe betide any woman who speaks up in a business meeting (another fundy favorite), as my mother learned.
There actually are some real interesting dimensions to the role of women in fundamentalism…see Margaret Bendroth, “Fundamentalism and Gender, 1875 to the Present”.
Oh yes and there is an audible -gasp- if mention is made of asking a woman to lead in prayer.
This has always been one of my pet peeves. What if a woman hates nursery duty, isn’t cut out to teach Sunday School, or doesn’t like to cook? Suppose those aren’t her “gifts”? Then I suppose she is worthless to God? Well, then again, as mentioned in the above post, she could always go on the mission field, where her knowledge of Greek might actually be appreciated.
And what about the ignorant views like “an unmarried woman no matter what her age (it could be 50) is still under her father’s covering and should be submissive to him.” ?!?! I could go on, but i’ll refrain.
I’m with you, RJW! I once had a pastor request that I cook lunch for a group of men meeting at the church on a Saturday. Nevermind that my cooking repertoire at that time consisted of frozen pizza or macaroni and cheese. Nevermind that my husband was a far better cook than I was (and certainly enjoyed it more). Nevermind that I probably would have been better at mowing the lawn. I was a woman and, therefore, a cook.
Doesn’t the Proverbs 31 woman “bring her food from afar?” I think some commentaries suggest that verse is referring to curbside pickup from Outback Steakhouse.
How is the “office of a deaconess” Biblical?
I believe that it is Biblical for women to submit to their husbands, just like it is Biblical for husbands to love their wives. The pastor has no authority over the members of his own church, though. I know there are some Fundamentalist pastors that think they have the right to tell a woman what to do, regardless of what her husband thinks, but that is completely unBiblical.
Also, different churches have different standards in regard to a woman keeping silence in the church. I’ve seen Fundamentalist churches where the men are quiet and the women run the place (except that a man still preaches). Of course, those kind of churches are usually the ones where men have no backbone and the women tear each other apart in prayer meetings.
Check out Romans 16:1 in the Greek sometime and then do some reading on the word diakonos. I promise you’ll find it interesting.
Ever heard the girls in fundy colleges says they have been called to be a preachers wife? Is that a “calling”? There’s also the ones that say they are there for their MRS degree, as if they don’t need any training or education unless it’s about how to get a man.
Darrell, if it wasn’t translated “deaconess” in the KJV then there’s a mighty good reason for it. I don’t need your version of the Greek to correct my Bible, thank you very much.
“If you use your KJV to correct the original Greek…you might be a fundamentalist”
Yeah, there was a very good reason the translators of the King James didn’t use “deaconess.” It’s because the Church of England didn’t have any deaconesses and the translators didn’t want to rock the boat.
Wow. That was intense.
Not really.
Sarcasm. Although it’s always surprising to find a true believer here.
I grew up in what I call a Fundamentalist Lutheran church and I gave the pastor conniptions during confirmation classes wondering why women were not allowed to do anything in the church except cook and clean.
To this day, women are not allowed to vote or hold office in church. Even if the woman is the CEO of a major corporation, an 18 year old boy apparently has more knowledge for the church than she does.
This lack of respect for women and their gifts is one of the reasons why I am no longer a Lutheran.
“I don’t need your version of the Greek to correct my Bible, thank you very much.” ~ 1611girl
“Because you’d much prefer the Latin Vulgate to do the ‘correcting’.” ~ me
(Almost every English “translation” of the Bible is based on the Latin Vulgate, not the original Hebrew and Greek.)
You realize the KJV is the most woefully mis-translated English edition of the Bible ever made, right?
No, I think that would be the Good News Bible, Mairead.
If a man tried to tell me what I can or can’t do, he’d wind up with his azz as my footstool.
Perfectly said.