The Feminization of Christendom

Love Songs and Feminine Spirituality

An example of the feminization of the church is its music. Typical praise songs refer to Jesus as a Christian’s lover and praise his beauty and tenderness. Rarely do they praise his justice or strength, or refer to him as the head of an army leading his church into spiritual battle, like “Onward Christian Soldiers.”

“There’s definitely a trend toward a more intimate music style, like the music from the Vineyard,” said Dr. Barry Liesch, a professor of music at Biola and author of The New Worship (Baker Books).

Feminized music concerns Steve Craig (’05), a graduate of Biola’s degree completion program and the director of a men’s ministry of over 400 men at Yorba Linda Friends Church in Yorba Linda, Calif.

“In our men’s ministry, we’re beginning to take out the flowery songs and replace them with the warrior-type lyrics and more masculine things that men identify with,” Craig said.

Touchy-Feely Sermons

Another turn-off for men is touchy-feely sermons. Pearcey said the modern church stresses emotions and inner spiritual experiences while neglecting the intellectual side of the faith.

“The more traditionally masculine side of Christianity enjoys crossing swords with hostile secular worldviews. So, as long as Christianity appeals to the emotional, therapeutic, interpersonal, relational areas, it’s not going to appeal to men as much as to women,” Pearcey said.

Churches should engage men’s intellects to help them see the relevance of Christianity to the “real” world of politics, industry and business, Pearcey said.

“We have to recover the notion that Christianity is true on all levels, not just for your emotional life or repairing relationships, as important as those things are,” she said.

Many churches emphasize Jesus’ softer teachings, like his love and his desire to save, and they ignore the doctrines of sin and hell, according to Podles. But men dislike liberal Christianity — “a mild religion of progress and enlightenment” as opposed to a battle between good and evil, Podles said.

Men want to expend their lives for a great cause, even if it involves risk, according to Murrow. He said that’s why the U.S. military’s “Army of One” campaign was effective. But American churches rarely teach about Christian suffering and martyrdom, Murrow said. Instead, today’s Christianity is presented as an antidote to these things, he said.

“Men are more attracted to religion if it presented as a quest, an adventure, a heroic exploit,” Pearcey said. “They want something challenging, bracing, demanding.”

To reach men, churches should stress the cost and dangers of following Christ — including Christians’ conflict with the world, the flesh and the devil, according to Podles.

Yet, men should be reminded that the sacrifice won’t always be a “huge, glorious display like William Wallace stepping out on a battlefield,” Erre said. Many times it will be staying in a troubled marriage, raising a handicapped child, or working a hated job to provide for a family, he said.

Girly-Men Pastors

Touchy-feely sermons come from touchy-feely pastors. A feminized church tends to attract more “gentle, sensitive, nurturing” leadership,” according to Pearcey.

“If religion is defined primarily in terms of emotional experience and is therapeutic, then who is it going to attract as ministers?” she said.

Pearcey said to consider a typical youth pastor.

“He’s really into relationships, very motivating, but is he teaching good apologetics? Is he teaching youth to use their minds and to understand deeper theological truths? At least the ones I’ve known haven’t,” she said. “Today, the common trajectory is for youth pastors to become senior pastors,” she added.

Murrow argues that the church needs strong, masculine leadership because men follow men. He said Jesus’ disciples are a prime example of this principle.

“Bold leadership attracts men. But even more attractive than a dynamic pastor is the sight of men in the pews who are true followers of Jesus Christ,” Murrow said in his book.

Morrow anticipates concern from some women that he is promoting unilateral male leadership. He said he is not seeking male dominance, but male resurgence.

Thoennes is also concerned about a lack of strong, male leadership in the church. But he said, if the church has become feminized, then he doesn’t see that as the fault of women or the church — but of men — who, he believes, have abdicated the involvement they should have.

“If the church doesn’t have enough strong male influence, that’s not a reason for men to stop going, but a great reason for them to go,” he said.

To help male Biola students become leaders, Student Ministries plans to launch a chapter of Men’s Fraternity next fall, led by Jonathan Morrow, a seminary student at Biola.

Yet, much of the church is seeking further feminization, through attempts to increase female clergy and to create gender-neutral Bibles and hymns. Many liberal seminaries now graduate equal numbers of women and men, or more women than men, like Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School.

(Currently, Biola’s seminary, Talbot School of Theology, is about 76 percent men.)

Johnstone believes the feminist movement in mainline churches has contributed to the decline in male membership.

Restoring Balance
Murrow said churches that seek to reverse this feminization might face opposition, as the leaders in his church first did.

But he and other leaders in the men’s movement, like Gardner, believe a masculine spirit will bring men, and gender balance, to the church.

“Once you start attracting a man’s full heart, soul, mind and strength — and he sees that there are ways he can use all those in the church — then we’re going to start seeing a turnaround of the absent man,” Gardner said.

Full link.
http://magazine.biola.edu/article/06-spring/the-feminization-of-the-church/

A777

Men Want More Anthems, Less Hugging in Church
By Anne Thomas|Christian Today Reporter

A new survey has suggested that men who go to church would like less hugging and holding hands and more singing of anthems and “proclamational” songs.

A survey of 400 readers of U.K's Sorted, a Christian magazine for men, found that 60 percent of men did not like flowers and embroidered banners in church. Around 52 percent also said they were not too keen on dancing in church either.

The survey suggested that men were uncomfortable with physical contact such as holding hands and with activities such as sitting in circles to share their feelings.

Almost 60 percent of the respondents said they enjoyed singing in church, but many added comments saying they preferred anthemic or “proclamational” songs over emotional love songs.

Sermons and talks were popular with respondents, with 72 percent saying they were the best part of the service.

Sorted editor and publisher Steve Legg noted, “Jesus recruited a bunch of 12 ordinary blokes before He began his ministry proper. They spent three years together doing stuff. He sat down and ate with them and built relationships,” according to the Daily Mail.

“The comments at the end of the survey showed that what appeals to men is doing stuff together – sports teams, fishing, pub quizzes, paint-balling, DIY projects, curry nights, bowling, clay pigeon shooting and going out for a beer.”

The survey and its results will be discussed at next week's Christian Resources Exhibition in Sandown Park.

Legg added, “I often walk into churches and they are like Laura Ashley showrooms with all these flowers and banners and tissues. Men just don’t feel comfortable with that.

“Certainly, with the singing, I am fed up with singing these sentimental lovey dovey songs. On the football terraces we are very passionate, chanting and cheering, and we want more songs like that. We want fewer girly songs.”

Sorted provided a list of ten hymns likely to prove a hit with male worshippers:

Onward Christian Soldiers
And Can It Be
Guide Me O Thy Great Redeemer
All People That On Earth Do Dwell
Be Thou My Vision
How Great Thou Art
Amazing Grace
Eternal Father, Strong To Save (For Those On Peril On The Sea)
Our God Reigns
Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind Forgive Our Foolish Ways

I agree Star. Amen!

Would like to see real women and real men of God, today.

This feminist spirit is not what a true women of God should be, either. It has affected women, too.

I have actually read some articles by women online, decrying the girly songs. I will try to locate them and post them. I think there is a bigger impact when women are actually lamenting the superficiality of words today and the turning of Jesus into our "romantic lover".

A777

I appreciate what Dr. Morey says. Men's priorities are wrong. Yep, men have abdicated their responsibility in the home so how can you expect the church to reflect anything spiritually healthy.

It's not God's fault, He is calling and wanting to raise up men and desiring to fill men. But, He will not do it without a willingness and hunger and cooperation from men.

You know as well as I do what God's remedy for Israel was when they forsook the Lord. Suffering, judgement, chastening. It woke some of Israel out of their slumber, but not all. God's pleadings in the OT, basically bounced back to Him and they seem to be bouncing back to Him, today.

A777

Ovadia, there is usually a little more to a marriage than someone writing one paragraph in a forum.

Husband and wife must be in agreement and walking together in the Lord. If they put up a united front, then the children cannot use one against the other. What we have here is unequally yoked man and wife. Husband and wife mutually submit to one another in love. But if they are not in agreement how can they walk together in the Lord and lead the children?

Husbands don't order wives around like drill sergeants, either. Wives are heirs of life together with husbands and are sisters in the Lord, too.

A777

Even as a woman I hate how feminized the churches have become, and how passive the male membership. It's not just men who desire masculinity back in the church it is also the women. One cannot even find a real man to marry anymore.

One cannot even find a real man to marry anymore.

They're out there, but they're just as uncommon as real women. It's a double edged sword. Unfortunately in my life I've met more of the former than the latter...

....where does submission come in.

Submission is her job. Loving her unconditionally no matter how much she submits or doesn't submit is yours. You do what Christ commanded you to do as a husband, and let Him sort her out for what she has to be doing. We were given a command without an exception, there's no disclaimer after "love her like Christ loves the church".

Colossians 3:19

Husbands, love your wives AND DO NOT BE EMBITTERED AGAINST THEM.

Christ never obligated himself to love any one who didn't submitt to his headship (LORD)

You won't find that in the Bible, so I'm not sure where you're getting it from.

Mark 10:20-22

And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.

You think it's possible that Jesus didn't know that the young man wouldn't submit to His Lordship before He felt a love for him?

Nice dodge. In that respect then, God hated you too until you found Christ, yet it says in Romans 5:8 that He showed His LOVE for us that while we were YET sinners, Christ died for us. You can sit in your apartment and feel as right and as justified as you want, but the fact is you still have an unconditional command from Christ concerning your wife that you're not holding up your end of. You're not splitting hairs with me, you're splitting hairs with the Word of God.

You were quick to point out Sarah calling Abraham my lord, but you should pay even closer attention to the verse after it.

1 Peter 3:7

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

Are God's covenants based on our faithfulness, or on His? Be like Christ dude. If this is a conversation about the masculine aspects of Christianity, then don't mind me speaking to you like a man. Man up to your role. No matter if she holds up her end or not, that's not on your head before God.

The reason I assume you feel right and justified, is because that's what you're fighting for right now. The "rightness" and the justification of your position. You can go ad hominem on this if you want to, but that's the first sign that you can't refute what's being said.

You have yet to deal with any of the unconditional commands of Scripture. You can continue to take more potshots at me, but that won't help the issue much. I'm not saying this to tear you down, I'm saying this because you have a chance to resolve it. It's an awesome thing to be a husband. It's not an easy thing, but it's an awesome thing. Despite your arguments, you know what the Word says, and you know your role to play. Sometimes it's a bummer hand, but that's between you and God. You can make the right choice, bro. It's not easy, but it's right, and you can do it!

Hi Everest

Christ never obligated himself to love any one who didn't submitt to his headship (LORD)

You won't find that in the Bible, so I'm not sure where you're getting it from.

But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men.

Where does it say in that passage that He was their husband, and that they were the church? Or that He didn't love them? Even still, it didn't prevent Him from taking on a fate worse than death itself on their behalf, even though He didn't entrust Himself to them.

One feeds the other; the lack of masculinity can result in women in the church taking up the roles meant for men. Men become so passive that women begin to take up the reigns and end up wearing the pants (speaking figuratively). Thereby women become less feminine. Whenever i find a woman who is domineering, controlling, it is almost always the case that her husband is also passive. Like Ahab. Of course, it is not always clear which came first, his passivity or her domineering.

Of course, it is not always clear which came first, his passivity or her domineering.

That's a good point. On a similar note, I heard a study one time saying many times when premarital fornication is at play in a relationship, it will create a role reversal in the relationship after marriage. I'm not saying this is the case with everyone mind you, but the way things are getting, even with those who take on the name of Christ, it wouldn't surprise me to see this potentially being the case many a time.

Lot of good stuff there, Ginny.

Don't forget the TV (Terribly Vulgar).

Fathers camp out in front of it on weekends. They are AWOL. Absent without leave.

Sons mimic them and play video games all day.

Everybody wants their entertainment (which feeds the feminine spirit) and at the same time use entertainment as a babysitter for their kids.

There is no relationship building or getting out of the living room and exploring life.

No time for TV in the country.

Satan has strategies and plans against the Church and executes them.

A777

Hi Everest,

Where does it say in that passage that He was their husband, and that they were the church? Or that He didn't love them? Even still, it didn't prevent Him from taking on a fate worse than death itself on their behalf, even though He didn't entrust Himself to them.

Deleted. Solomon got to me.

Is it possible that we could discuss the issues arising from personal contributions (like Enochh's) without losing focus on the topic?

Fair enough. I stand by the words I've written, but I apologize if I've been misunderstood for lacking grace and understanding.

I always enjoy reading the opinions of me...

Haha, you're in good company. You'd better bring enough tissue for The Notebook this Tuesday. I'm tired of always having to use the hem of my lacy shirt when we run out.

Hi Everest,

Fair enough. I stand by the words I've written, but I apologize if I've been misunderstood for lacking grace and understanding.

I mean, we can quite easily discuss whether there is a limit to the accountability a man has to suffer for his wife's excesses, just as we could discuss why it is that women leave men who have emptied her bank accounts, ruined her good name and reputation, and included her in debts she had nothing to do with raising. Thankfully, we are no longer sent to prison until we have paid all that we owe.

This topic is about the femininization of men.

This makes the second story this week where men have left 'their own home' because of some over-powered women.

Everest is right to side against any man that's letting Women Chase You Out of Your Own Home. That's number one.

On the other forum where just this last week I read a very similar situation. One of the brothers was wise enough to inform the man who left his home because his wife believed and followed some of the well known false-prophets against his will - that he may lose everything he worked for [his house] because she could claim "abandonment" - but that part is not the main point.
A man should Never let some rebellious woman or two, run him out of his own home. This happens a lot and if we're talking about "Men Being Men" - how does this represent the Thread Topic if women can out-power and run a man out of his own home - even if he leaves willingly of his own accord - how is that Scriptural???
Doesn't say much for this topic we're on here.

Jesus gave little reason to leave one's spouse.

Some would break up a home rather liberally.

The Femininization of Christianity is the Topic here.

Leaving women who are over-powering their men would definitely fall under this catagory.

I say Amen to Everest who sees that we don't break up marriages for any old reason we choose and according to the topic at hand - we sure as life don't let females be the cause of a grown man to run.
Get these topics Scriptural and you'll see where Everest - though single is right on target about "marriage and men".

.... and, I saw this teaching come into the Church when some began to twist Ephesians 5. I've even seen this twisted version of Eph 5 posted here within this last week as well.

Here it is - Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church

From Ephesians 5:21 and up from that verse, Paul is speaking to The Church and THEN goes on in Verse 22 to talk to Husbands and Wives.

The teaching that has femininized men came in with the WOF movement. I watched it come into a excellent AoG Church that I was a member of back in 1979.
My Pastor got it out straight-ways, once he saw how many were trying to push WOF on others in our Church.

Those from the WOF told the men that they had to submit to their wives because of that one verse 21 that was aimed by Paul to The Church.
That men could not rule their household unless they came to a consensus with their wives.

Poppycock and a twisting/wresting of Scripture!

There are so many verses, through-out GOD's WORD that plainly say that even in the Church - Men are over women and Husbands over their wives.

And single women ought to watch how they post to this topic because it's "women taking authority over men" that is the "other half of this story" of the Femininization of Men in The Church.

Prove your points out Sola Scriptura or just leave it until you can!

Everest, hello,

I had another thought. Previously when posting today, I deleted part of a post because it was getting too detailed and dragging on! But, there is one thing to bring to attention, namely, that Paul did counsel not to be 'yoked' with unbelievers in marriage. Even Christians contemplating marriage ought to consider whether they are, primarily, 'yoked with Christ'. This is an important part of God's design for order within a marriage.

This is a tough topic. There's a tremendous amount of pressure put on men to be men in this sinful world, but I believe that is why GOD chose Paul to be the Main man in our New Testament.

Paul was only 5 feet tall or less. He was not much to look at and especially not pleasant to look at after all the floggings, beatings, eye-problems and so forth that he received. He even mentions that when he was present at times with the church, that he's not very impressive, but we all know how truly bold Paul was and the power of GOD that was on that man. Blinding one guy and be such a threat to the heretics and pharisees.

We also know that he was very tender toward women, yet wrote the most of a women's limits. We know that women traveled with him and ministered the Gospel with him, so to me, Paul is the #2 Image of the Perfect man - or a true man's man, as some would say -- Second only to the Example of Jesus Himself - the Perfect man and our main example of what a man should aim for.
But yes - Paul as well, as he said, "Follow me as I follow Christ".

Paul's my hero and we could all pray for one another, that GOD show us the Perfect balance.

Even if a woman is a prophetess, she's only to speak up - but not continue on once told to be quiet by a head of that particular church and just to leave if he goes over-board with his authority and she needs to know 'when' and 'where' to speak up, in a Church setting - moment by moment and situation by situation, as the Spirit of Christ leads.

Men know by the example of all that Paul wrote about women, of how they are to treat women.
Neither gender should gain-say over the other and I suppose that's the bottomline.

We've been praying that this topic would come up.
Both men and women in Christ, need to be set free from the world's standards and know how to be mighty in Him without going over any of the perimeters from His Word to both genders.
Men are to protect the Church from sin and anything false.
We as women are built to want to be protected. Amen!
And if Paul, as non-impressive as he 'looked' could protect every Church he ever visited, plus more, by his letters written from prison, etc - than any man can protect GOD's Sheep, as David protected his father's sheep - then went and killed Goliath as just a lad who had faith in his GOD.

Protecting was Deborah's job as well, but that should not have to become a standard. To my understanding, she was appointed Judge [and was a prophetess] - but didn't 'covet' that position and may have had it handed to her because there wasn't a man to do the job. A very rare case. Very rare.

A judgment from GOD from His Word is when "women shall rule over you and children be your oppressors." Isa 3:12

Ok, I just wanted to get back just a bit to the Feminization of Christianity.

C. H. Spurgeon complained that “There has got abroad a notion, somehow, that if you become a Christian you must sink your manliness and turn milksop.”

Jesus is not really presented as a warrior these days. Jesus did real battle in the flesh against the Devil and expects us to do the same.

1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Yet, today, He is portrayed as a lover. He has traded His sword for a daisy.

Today, we preach a "personal relationship with Jesus", instead of repentance and a relationship with the Father.

What man does not want a relationship with his Father?

Here is a quote from Deborah Gyapong.

"But many Christian leaders still don’t get it. As David Morrow points out in Why Men Hate Going to Church, many of the songs now sung in church “have the same breathless feel as top forty love songs.” In addition, women are now encouraged by some Christian pastors and writers to think of Jesus in frankly romantic terms. Naturally enough, such forms of piety tend to create psychological barriers for men. The idea of Christ as our brother challenges a man to become a better man, but the idea of Christ as boyfriend is challenging in a different sense."

"Onward Christian Soldiers" is passe in most churches.

Praise music has accelerated this trend. Not only are the lyrics of many songs quite romantic.

-"Hold me close, let your love surround me. Bring me near, draw me to your side."
-"I'm desperate for you, I'm lost without you."
-"Let my words be few. Jesus I am so in love with you."
-"You're altogether lovely...altogether wonderful to me."
-"Oh, Lord, you're beautiful. Your face is all I see."
-"You are beautiful, my sweet, sweet song."

Think of the mental gymnastics that must take place inside a man's subconscious mind as he sings lyrics like these. He's trying to express his love to Jesus, a man who lives today, using words no man would dare say to another, set to music that sounds like the love songs his wife listens to in the car."

David expressed his love to God quite well in the Psalms. There, men will find a good example of a man expressing his love to God.

The "Feminization of Christianity" has been going on for a long time. This is not a recent strategy of Satan. Leon Podles actually wrote a book called "The Feminization of Chrisitianity" and although Catholic, his research covers 19th century Protestantism and earlier where he shows roots that the "Feminization of Christianity" began quite some time ago. He reveals some keen insights into this phenomenon.

Here is an excerpt of his first chapter, Armies of Women.

DESPITE THE CONSTANT COMPLAINTS OF FEMINISTS about the patriarchal tendencies of Christianity, men are largely absent from the Christian churches of the modern Western
world. Women go to church; men go to football games. Lay men attend church activities because a wife, mother, or girlfriend has pressured them. As Tom Forrest, a priest active in international evangelization, points out, only 25 percent of the participants in Catholic gatherings he has attended are men, and “when men do come, they are often brought along with some resistance by their wives.”

The strategy of American revivalists in the Second Great Awakening in the gage in private religious activities far less often. British sociologists Michael Argyle and Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi have observed that “the sex ratio
[women to men] is consistently greater for saying daily prayers than for church attendance or membership. The latter are again more under the influence of social pressures, while prayers are a private matter and reflect
more spontaneous religious concerns. This suggests that the larger sex ratios should be taken more seriously than the smaller one.”

The lack of commitment by men to the practice of the Christian religion is even more pronounced than the statistics for membership and external practice suggest.
In general, men who have a strong connection with the feminine through a close relationship with a wife, mother, or girlfriend are more likely to be involved in Christian activities than men who do not. If a man goes to church, he goes because a woman has wheedled him into what he would normally consider unmanly behavior. But if he goes voluntarily, he suffers suspicions about his masculinity. John K. White summarizes the popular attitude: “A devastating criticism of Christianity is many men see it as not only irrelevant, but as effeminate.

Words and phrases such as ‘unmanly,’ ‘for women and kids,’ ‘wimps,’ and ‘they can’t make it so they hide behind God’ are common.”4 Writing from his experience of charismatic communities, Stephen Clark laments that “Contemporary Christians often lack an ideal of manly character, and they do not value some of the character traits that ought to be prominent in a man ....

The contemporary picture of Christian character is all too often feminine, and the Victorian notion of femininity at that.”

The Religious Male The clergy have long had the reputation of not being very masculine. The mainline, liberal Protestant minister in the early twentieth century had a reputation for being soft and working best with women. This reputation provided fuel for fundamentalists, who denounced liberals as “little infidel preacherettes” in sermons with such titles as “She-Men, or How to Become Sissies.” But all clergy were open to attack, all had to face the “popular stereotype that men of the cloth were neither male nor female.” The clergy were seen as exempt from masculine trials and agonies; they were part of the safe world of women. As one layman put it, “life is a football game, with the men fighting it out on the gridiron, while the minister is up in the grandstand, explaining it to the ladies.”

In nineteenth-century New England, ministers of the most important churches were “hesitant promulgators of female virtues in an era of militant masculinity.” But the dominant churches of nineteenthcentury New England had long been feminized. Not only was the proportion of women in the churches extremely high, both the milieu and the ministers of the church were far more feminine than masculine.

Businessmen disdained the clergy as “people halfway between men and women.” Ministers found the most congenial environment, not in businesses, political clubs, or saloons, but “in the Sunday school, the parlor, the library, among women and those who flattered and resembled them.” Moreover, they were typically recruited from the ranks of weak, sickly boys with indoor tastes who stayed at home with their mothers and came to identify with the feminine world of religion. The popular mind often joined “the idea of ill health with the clerical image.”

In the vision of Unitarian minister Charles Fenton (1796-1842), playing Sunday school children have replaced stern Pilgrim Fathers and “adult politics have succumbed to infantile piety, Ecclesia to a nursery. Masculinity is vanquished in the congregation and, even more significantly, in the pulpit.”

By the end of the nineteenth century, the effeminacy of the mainline Protestant clergy had become a commonplace of satire. A Catholic novel, The Last Rosary, caricatured the minister: “He was a Methodist, a Revivalist, a Baptist, an advocate of women’s rights, an earnest worker in the field of missionary labor, provided said field consisted in gliding here and there to nice little evening parties, shaking hands—or, more properly speaking, finger tips—with ladies whose age forbade the custom of whole-hand shaking.

. . . Mild tea drinking, a little sherry, claret occasionally, and other helpsof spiri-tuous kind, did go some length in elevating whatever there was of manhood in his composition to thoughts of heroic work and conversion of sinners.” But Catholics, too, had their problems in nineteenthcentury America, if we may judge by the repeated efforts to get Catholic men to attend to their religious duties.

During the first half of the nineteenth century the English identified weakness and femininity with saintliness. George Arthur, the most Christian figure in Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s School Days has an “overidentification with his mother and sisters.” On his sickbed, he looks like “A German picture of an angel . . . transparent and golden and spirit-like.”
To be Christian, for the mid-Victorians, was to lack the exuberant physical masculinity of the normal boy, to be weak, to be helpless, to be a victim.

In other words, the religious man was like the Victorian ideal of woman, who was supposed to suffer from mysterious complaints, to be unable to engage in vigorous activity, and to find sex distasteful.

A777

I went back and changed the title of this thread to the "Feminization of Christendom". I don't think it is accurate to say Christianity.

I don't consider all parts of Christendom to be Christianity, but I do observe that this "spirit" has infected most if not all parts of Christendom (even in some House Churches).

I think organizations of men are more susceptible to the spirit of the age and being "pleasers of men", willing to change in whatever way is necessary in order to keep attendance numbers high.

If we imbibe the world, we will look and act like them and the feminization of the world can be seen in it's public school policies, politics, children's sports teams, diversity training at work, sensitivity training, clergy hiring of females, gun control, etc, etc. I think others can come up with many more examples as this is fairly pervasive in everyday life.

The world has long ago become a fixture in organizational Christianity and that is why it is so easy to manipulate by the powers of darkness. Whatever is the latest fad in the world, the "church" then tries to compete with it or copy it.

A777

There is NOT a Feminization of Christindom but a Desantification of it. Men don't want to go to chruch because they love Sin more than they love Christ, this article makes our "manliness" an excuse, well its a bunch of beans.

I think that sums it up pretty well.

*Update*

Yes, the "desanctification" of Christendom is certainly a big factor. I guess that is a "nice" way of saying the Great Falling Away. And that includes both men and women.

So, I would not be so quick to indict ALL men that do not go to church as "in sin". "Go to Church" is not necessarily "not forsaking the assembling of yourselves", and in many cases it is just a big show.

I still have to agree with Leon Podles, and his new book "The Church Impotent" (previous book, The Feminization of Christianity) deals even more with this problem and traces it back to the 13th century. As one commenter says, "this is not so much about maleness as it is about masculinity".

Here is the rest of his comment which I cannot improve upon followed by a couple of more to give you some more insight into this problem. It's not just about "romantic love songs to Jesus". The problem is much deeper and wider.
That is just one manifestation.

There is a scene in C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles in which one of the children says to another, about the Christ-figure Aslan, "After all, you know, he isn't a TAME lion." And I believe it was Lewis also who said that perhaps Goodness was a more terrifying thing than we had imagined. Mr. Podles' book reminds us of at least one reason why men do not go to the modern mainline and Catholic churches: it is because those churches have tamed Jesus Christ, and NO LONGER TREMBLE BEFORE HIS MAJESTY. Those Churches are, fundamentally, not serious about what they are doing.
How many people realize that, in the whole of the Gospels, aside from his greeting Nathaniel with the words, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile," Jesus never praises his disciples, never says that they are good people, never allows them to celebrate themselves; he promises them rewards, but those are for giving up all they have and following him. Indeed, Jesus is often quite sharp with them: "If you, WHO ARE WICKED, know how to give good things," "Get thee behind me, SATAN," "O YE OF LITTLE FAITH." Yet the disciples follow him. Why? Mr. Podles knows why -- men look up to those who love them enough to strengthen them, to discipline them, to make them undertake the arduous adventure. Podles' description of the Penitentes in New Mexico made me wish that I, too, could show my love for Christ in such a drastic way; it nearly made me weep.

But I suppose what most endears this book to me, and what most infuriates me about the rather niggling criticism it has received in two of the reviews here, is that it bothers to take the winning of men's souls seriously, something which the Churches, in their lukewarm love, have found too inconvenient or upsetting to do! How comfortable our mainline Churches have become -- old biddies' clubs! Niceness and smiley faces are not going to save the soul of the tattooed man on the streetcorner: who, by the way, probably has a man's keen and ruthless insight into what is merely sentimental and phony. If he is to be saved, Christ must do the work -- and the one who preaches Christ to him had better have Authority in his -- and I use the pronoun advisedly -- voice. Anthony M. Esolen

I read this book several years ago, and am still digesting some of the author's ideas. There is much to ponder here, and a careful reading of it will throw much light on the ways in which the modern Church has been yanked off-balance by overemphasis on a feminine or bridal Christian mysticism. This bridal mysticism, which began to grow after the thirteenth century, focuses on Christ as Lover and tends to disregard the many images of Christ as Warrior, Priest and King. The author contends that to dwell excessively on Christ as Lover is to repel healthy men, and it is a reasonable conclusion.
The author also shows how men nurture, and how Christ, in His divine masculinity, nurtured and still does nurture, His Church. This nurturing is accomplished with the shedding of men's blood, as Christ shed His, and it stands in contrast with feminine nurturing, in which women feed others with our bodies and hands. I found this a very profound idea, and it made me view the relationship between Christ and His Church, as well as between men and women, in a different light. It gave me much more respect for men and their sacrifices than I had before.
I am not sure if his thesis can explain the absence of men from church life, but it seems reasonable that it must in part explain it. This book is worth reading for the detailed view it gives of the bridal mysticism in the Church, and for the other possible spiritualities available to men it suggests. K. Manizade (a woman)

A777

I think that in a sense, the decline of masculine ministry in the church is an identity problem that doesn't necessarily point as much to the feminization of men, but has numbed them as to their function...and this primarily because of the Clergy Laity system that mandates a priest-class to function over everyone.

In that functioning, [ of clergy/laity ], Yes...there has been a neutering... EVERYONE has been neutered except the ministry class;..and that could be construed as feminization. "The people"...the "congregation" has been taught to submit...and that propels a PASSIVITY by the virtue of it's nature.

In effect, another, other than the Lord Jesus Christ has become your head. Your identity as a Priest..[ we are a nation of Priests..]...and your Ministry...[ as each member supplies ] has been swallowed in the ego of another...and even if his lectures [messages] are beneficial....the person-hood that you were created to be and the Life that you were created to dispense...has been squelched...stymied.

You are not qualified to participate, or are you welcome. THIS, as I see it, has created the nuetering of the male in the church, as well as destroying any response, male or female, to the Lord. It has paralyzed everyone for what you were created to be.

Through the PASTOR/PRIESTHOOD.The body functioning, has been reduced to the PEW...the bump on the log spectator that may have the freedom for an occasional Amen...as long as it is not too loud. The head of the ministry...the head of the church...has been brought low to the confines of a MAN...rather than each and every member contributing as the Spirit would lead.

1 Corinthians 11
"Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.
3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head."

Christ is the Head of every man, and the well-spring of his ministry...which in turn invigorates his personality....person-hood, to be and to respond to the holy ministry vessel that he was created to be.

Add in the Jezebel Spirits [affecting both male and female..] that muddle the authority issues, the Pastorette, as the Co-Pastor...[ It's right out front there on the marquis!! Pastors Bill and Marsha!!]

...and the traditional Clergy/Laity style church is a mine-field...and usually where the Spirit is Quenched...[ Can you see that where the Spirit is quenched....YOU ARE TOO!! ]...He has already left...and they call it blessed.

It has become a dead zone...and men leave, and resist...and maybe not knowing why...but feel unfulfilled, and repressed. It's because they are.

Hi Veronica226,

Good to see that others are recognizing this. I think many are at that.

It's just the spirit of the world (age) in the church. Men have allowed themselves to be spiritually castrated and BrotherTom mentioned something very important, the Nicolaitan spirit. We are all servants of the Lord and servants should not be masters over other servants. But there are a lot of other factors that contribute to this, also. Many have been mentioned. I will check that book out that you listed.

A777