Strength and Dignity: A Woman's Role or the Absurd
With new role models for young girls dotting the stage such as Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, a presentation of what it means for a woman to be "clothed in strength and dignity" has emerged.
I don't know when, but somewhere as we trudged along in Christianity we neglected the Sola Scriptora (Scripture Alone) as authority of what a woman should be and encouraged weakness and insecurity to replace the proverbs 31 "Strength and dignity," and declared this to be the ideal Christian woman. Some non-sense about timidity and passivity being described as meekness and gentleness.
If we take a deeper look at the goings on in the 19th century, we will find that our concept of gentlemen changing away from the ideals we gained from literature, such good men no doubt existed, yet heroes have and always will be exceptions to their peers and not the average anticipation. This look at the men who ascribed weakness as virtue were the inspiration behind Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata where he makes the argument that women are being sold off to men as wives like lambs to the slaughter. These men had been debauchees, the women were held in ignorance with almost no formal sexual education. Women were dehydrated and this in connection with corsets contributed to the constant fainting and other "silly women" behaviors. Tolstoy concludes that a happy marriage is impossible, men and women cannot be reconciled and any romance is surly killed with the contract, he leaves room for one altercation however: Religion.
If men and women are living together for their own definition and sense of self (or arrogant self indulgence) than the marriage is doomed. However if there is a high accountability involved, a vow to someone that both parties esteem high than themselves, real love can and certainly shall bloom with a constancy through trial and storm. Tolstoy believes that mutual understanding is necessary to facilitate this outcome. He recommends a new platform of courtship, one that allows equal freedom in the two parties to communicate, essentially he describes what we call dating today. Of course Tolstoy was an extremist, not every selfish marriage is an outright devastation, nevertheless something had to give.
As we enter the present day troubles, the post "I Kissed Dating Good-bye" generation of christian college kids deciding how to view one another with an expensive intellectual proletariat foundation of critical thinking, we experience profound fools.
An article by a Desiring God writer missed the point of scripture informed Christianity when he decided to encourage women to be the weaker sex, to not let men be replaced because a strong woman who defends the weak and has super powers is "not how God intended it." What the author considers a woman is one who is submissive and co-dependent.
I don't blame him for this consideration, it has been held by a majority of men throughout history. Again, heroic men are not an average occurrence. What makes a hero has nothing to do with the super powers or fantastic boss battles. It has to do with a value for justice and mercy, to defend the weak and limit the otherwise unchecked power of evil. To summarize in the words of Wonder Woman, heroes chose Love. Can a woman be heroic? Can she be so and remain ideally womanly? Or is womanhood wrapped up in weakness and distress like a small frightened animal in a unpredictable world? Nature, as G-d has intended it, suggests that women are actually very resilient, withstanding childbirth for an example. Or pregnancy which is physically compared to running three back to back marathons. Imagine being capable of doing that while smiling and glowing sweetly as expectant mothers are often described.
Welcome to the frustrating world of women. When I see tantrums such as the writer of that article I count on my fingers the women of the Bible who are like his ideal: unsuprised I can recall zero. On prolonged consideration I can name two.
Many of the women that can be considered weak and pretty were not blessings but curses to their husbands: Bathsheba, her passive behavior and beauty led to her husband's death. Rachel, steals her father's idol and he hunts them down for it swearing to kill whoever has it, graciously G-d did not let it be found. She put her entire family in danger because of her idolatry.
Instead, scripture is full of robust women who challenge men instead of coddle them. Esther challenging authority to save her people. Abigail challenging David on his trust in G-d to bring him justice.
Deborah delivering judgement on men who were too afraid to fight without her, and Yael who drove the stake through the enemy's head.
Rehab, Ruth, Rebekah, Leah, and Sarah all women who defended truth and justice and laughed at the times to come because they were clothed in strength and dignity.
Personally, I do not consider myself a feminist. I am pro-life, pro-Israel, and with working a minimum wage job the pay gap is not something I run into. However I do believe in fighting abusive behaviors towards women. Belittling, demeaning, and claiming that it is from a Biblically justified position makes me irate. Defending the inerrant integrity of scripture is something I take into practice by defending those who might be harmed by others who will twisted to their own perversions in search of comfort and control. (Read more thoughts on what it means to be a woman of G-d here)
A guy once told me that I was a woman who was also a knight. Those words struck me deeply, more so because it was one of the reasons he gave for our... Eh, breakup?
I told him I don't think I could be anything else, and I wished I could. Smiling he said he didn't want me to change but wanted me to know not every guy can be with a girl like that. It's intimidating.
But naturally so, heroes are not common , and if I slightly can resemble one it will be intimidating.
Will I wait for a hero to be brave enough for me or will I go out into the world, not in search of romance, but greater purpose? Who do I live for?
In his book Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard describes the Knight of Faith as a person who is not bound to mere ethics or the law of the universal. Rather the Knight of Faith acts "on the strength of the Absurd."
Such a character is defined in his mind by two persons, Abraham and Sarah. No, not Abraham's Sarah, but instead Sarah from the Book of Tobit, the girl who had a demon who was in love with her and would kill her husbands on the wedding night. Tobias the son of Tobit has also fallen in love with Sarah, and her whole family expects him to suffer the same fate of the seven men before him. But Tobias has the assistance of an Angel who has taught him how to expel the demon from Sarah's room.
Why is Sarah and not Tobias the Knight of Faith? She marries Tobias without knowing he has the means to free her from the demon. On the Strength of the Absurd she has been married seven times and yet marries once more with the hope that G-d will spare this man his life. Kierkegaard thus names Sarah the hero of the book of Tobit because she does what most would not do and what the tragic poets will not know how to glorify, she moved with faith.
As this coming week presents us with the celebration of Purim, Jewish girls around the world will wonder what it would look like to be a woman who could risk everything on the absurd chance that the king who has issued the orders for a Jewish genocide might also issue something in their defense.
I consider Joan of Arc who said she felt so strongly in her soul that G-d had called her to fight this war for him, to lead a people into freedom. She believed this unto her own death and swore even if she had a thousand mothers and fathers she would have done the same.
I look inward at my own heart, the many terrors that have taken place in my home, the trials against my hope and sanity. I suppose what disturbs people who meet those who are bent on having a heroic character is insecurity and "rationality" which declares "This is not how you were intended!"
Women like Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Joan of Arc look back as they walk toward the fray with compassion on critics, yet with determination. Turns out their armor can fit on anyone, both men and women, but you have to move on the strength of the absurd, which is to believe.
I don't know when, but somewhere as we trudged along in Christianity we neglected the Sola Scriptora (Scripture Alone) as authority of what a woman should be and encouraged weakness and insecurity to replace the proverbs 31 "Strength and dignity," and declared this to be the ideal Christian woman. Some non-sense about timidity and passivity being described as meekness and gentleness.
If we take a deeper look at the goings on in the 19th century, we will find that our concept of gentlemen changing away from the ideals we gained from literature, such good men no doubt existed, yet heroes have and always will be exceptions to their peers and not the average anticipation. This look at the men who ascribed weakness as virtue were the inspiration behind Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata where he makes the argument that women are being sold off to men as wives like lambs to the slaughter. These men had been debauchees, the women were held in ignorance with almost no formal sexual education. Women were dehydrated and this in connection with corsets contributed to the constant fainting and other "silly women" behaviors. Tolstoy concludes that a happy marriage is impossible, men and women cannot be reconciled and any romance is surly killed with the contract, he leaves room for one altercation however: Religion.
If men and women are living together for their own definition and sense of self (or arrogant self indulgence) than the marriage is doomed. However if there is a high accountability involved, a vow to someone that both parties esteem high than themselves, real love can and certainly shall bloom with a constancy through trial and storm. Tolstoy believes that mutual understanding is necessary to facilitate this outcome. He recommends a new platform of courtship, one that allows equal freedom in the two parties to communicate, essentially he describes what we call dating today. Of course Tolstoy was an extremist, not every selfish marriage is an outright devastation, nevertheless something had to give.
As we enter the present day troubles, the post "I Kissed Dating Good-bye" generation of christian college kids deciding how to view one another with an expensive intellectual proletariat foundation of critical thinking, we experience profound fools.
An article by a Desiring God writer missed the point of scripture informed Christianity when he decided to encourage women to be the weaker sex, to not let men be replaced because a strong woman who defends the weak and has super powers is "not how God intended it." What the author considers a woman is one who is submissive and co-dependent.
I don't blame him for this consideration, it has been held by a majority of men throughout history. Again, heroic men are not an average occurrence. What makes a hero has nothing to do with the super powers or fantastic boss battles. It has to do with a value for justice and mercy, to defend the weak and limit the otherwise unchecked power of evil. To summarize in the words of Wonder Woman, heroes chose Love. Can a woman be heroic? Can she be so and remain ideally womanly? Or is womanhood wrapped up in weakness and distress like a small frightened animal in a unpredictable world? Nature, as G-d has intended it, suggests that women are actually very resilient, withstanding childbirth for an example. Or pregnancy which is physically compared to running three back to back marathons. Imagine being capable of doing that while smiling and glowing sweetly as expectant mothers are often described.
Welcome to the frustrating world of women. When I see tantrums such as the writer of that article I count on my fingers the women of the Bible who are like his ideal: unsuprised I can recall zero. On prolonged consideration I can name two.
Many of the women that can be considered weak and pretty were not blessings but curses to their husbands: Bathsheba, her passive behavior and beauty led to her husband's death. Rachel, steals her father's idol and he hunts them down for it swearing to kill whoever has it, graciously G-d did not let it be found. She put her entire family in danger because of her idolatry.
Instead, scripture is full of robust women who challenge men instead of coddle them. Esther challenging authority to save her people. Abigail challenging David on his trust in G-d to bring him justice.
Deborah delivering judgement on men who were too afraid to fight without her, and Yael who drove the stake through the enemy's head.
Rehab, Ruth, Rebekah, Leah, and Sarah all women who defended truth and justice and laughed at the times to come because they were clothed in strength and dignity.
Personally, I do not consider myself a feminist. I am pro-life, pro-Israel, and with working a minimum wage job the pay gap is not something I run into. However I do believe in fighting abusive behaviors towards women. Belittling, demeaning, and claiming that it is from a Biblically justified position makes me irate. Defending the inerrant integrity of scripture is something I take into practice by defending those who might be harmed by others who will twisted to their own perversions in search of comfort and control. (Read more thoughts on what it means to be a woman of G-d here)
A guy once told me that I was a woman who was also a knight. Those words struck me deeply, more so because it was one of the reasons he gave for our... Eh, breakup?
I told him I don't think I could be anything else, and I wished I could. Smiling he said he didn't want me to change but wanted me to know not every guy can be with a girl like that. It's intimidating.
But naturally so, heroes are not common , and if I slightly can resemble one it will be intimidating.
Will I wait for a hero to be brave enough for me or will I go out into the world, not in search of romance, but greater purpose? Who do I live for?
In his book Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard describes the Knight of Faith as a person who is not bound to mere ethics or the law of the universal. Rather the Knight of Faith acts "on the strength of the Absurd."
Such a character is defined in his mind by two persons, Abraham and Sarah. No, not Abraham's Sarah, but instead Sarah from the Book of Tobit, the girl who had a demon who was in love with her and would kill her husbands on the wedding night. Tobias the son of Tobit has also fallen in love with Sarah, and her whole family expects him to suffer the same fate of the seven men before him. But Tobias has the assistance of an Angel who has taught him how to expel the demon from Sarah's room.
Why is Sarah and not Tobias the Knight of Faith? She marries Tobias without knowing he has the means to free her from the demon. On the Strength of the Absurd she has been married seven times and yet marries once more with the hope that G-d will spare this man his life. Kierkegaard thus names Sarah the hero of the book of Tobit because she does what most would not do and what the tragic poets will not know how to glorify, she moved with faith.
As this coming week presents us with the celebration of Purim, Jewish girls around the world will wonder what it would look like to be a woman who could risk everything on the absurd chance that the king who has issued the orders for a Jewish genocide might also issue something in their defense.
I consider Joan of Arc who said she felt so strongly in her soul that G-d had called her to fight this war for him, to lead a people into freedom. She believed this unto her own death and swore even if she had a thousand mothers and fathers she would have done the same.
I look inward at my own heart, the many terrors that have taken place in my home, the trials against my hope and sanity. I suppose what disturbs people who meet those who are bent on having a heroic character is insecurity and "rationality" which declares "This is not how you were intended!"
Women like Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Joan of Arc look back as they walk toward the fray with compassion on critics, yet with determination. Turns out their armor can fit on anyone, both men and women, but you have to move on the strength of the absurd, which is to believe.
Hi Tirzah,
ReplyDeleteI love your writing, as it challenges me and encourages me in my Christian walk as a woman of God. Your insight is sharp, and your vocabulary well utilized. For this article, however, I would have enjoyed seeing you flesh out your argument more, that to be a woman in the sphere of belief, faith, and Christianity, will look quite absurd, in a beautiful and fantastic way, and that this shallow understanding we have of the Christian woman is insufficient.
The other thought that I had was, feel free to throw that article writer under the bus. I.e., I think it's possible to disagree kindly while still naming what was written and by whom. It might help, if nothing else, readers to understand where you're coming from in your response if you linked the Desiring God article.
Third, I do not think Bathsheba's beauty, nor even her passivity, can be the blame for the death of her husband. A strong woman indeed it would take to resist the judicial power of a king. Whether or not she had any part in the affair is a whole different discussion, which I think would need to be had very carefully, if simply for pastoral reasons. How we as Christian leaders/influencers talk about women like Bathsheba is very important. However, David's lust and desire thereafter to cover up his sin is the ultimate reason for Uriah's death.
Thank you again for your thoughtful writing. I look forward to more, as always.
- Hannah
Hannah,
DeleteThank you for your thoughtful insights! I actually linked a previous blog post that fleshes out those thoughts a lot more, if you haven't read it please do and let me know what you think! Honestly I expect a whole thick book requires the space, maybe that will happen in the future. :)
Concerning Bathsheba, historically she has been blamed and many sermons have been written wrongly on the surmise that it is a question of female modesty and some rubbish on her having caused David to stumble.
However, in rejecting that premise we must not join the other which says she is entirely innocent. David was lustful and behaving entirely in the wrong, however he (even in a murderous rage) was always open to correction as exampled by the several times men and women challenged his behavior. Both Abigail and Nathan are complete contrasts to Bathsheba and the guy who followed David's orders to put Uriah in danger. Bathsheba's weakness is in that lane, she did not tell her husband what had happened but actually tried to sleep with him to pretend he was the father of the baby she was pregnant with. Israel was not like other kingdoms, the king's we're always held to a higher standard before G-d and stories of justice for parties those people established in authority abused were seen. So those are some ideas to keep in mind concerning Bathsheba and David. The poor girl never considered calling out to G-d, I am convinced (following the consistency of 1 & 2 Samuel) that if she had it would have been recorded. David's plea and confession of guilt are recorded twice.
It follows that Bathsheba did not consider it possible that anyone, even G-d would listen to her. Our duty if we are more like Nathans and Abigails is to be present for those like Bathsheba and to prove by our own actions that 1. We are safe people to confide in. 2. That there are options to find help. 3. To stay devoted in our own prayers and study of scripture so we are not blind when these circumstances take place.