The Feminization of Christianity<\/p>\n
Does the Christian Church have a “man” problem?<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/knowledge-of-men\/the-feminization-of-christianity\/<\/a><\/p>\n Excerpts:<\/p>\n Does a lack of masculine role models at church negatively affect the recruitment and retention of masculine members? Edwin Starbuck, a prominent psychologist in the early 1900s thought so, positing that \u201cthe boy is a hero-worshipper, and his hero can not be found in a Sunday school which is manned by women.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Podles argues that men think in terms of dichotomies and conflicts \u2014 in or out, black or white. They tend to be more orthodoxic and privilege rules over relationships. Women (and more feminine men) tend do the opposite, and wish to overcome differences and assuage conflict, for the sake of greater acceptance and peaceable relationships.<\/em><\/p>\n Consequently, modern sermons tend to deemphasize the contrast between heaven and hell, sin and life, grace and justice, sheep and goats. There are less martial analogies, fewer calls for Christians to take up their cross and become soldiers for Christ. There is less emphasis on the need to suffer, struggle, and sacrifice for the gospel and for others, and more emphasis on how the gospel can be a tool towards greater self-realization and personal fulfillment. The gospel is presented not as heroic challenge, but therapy \u2013 the way to \u201cyour best life now.\u201d The focus is on rewards over obstacles. All gain, no pain.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1915, Charles H. Richards, the composer of many hymns himself, noted the overuse of \u201csongs of vague and dreamy sentimentality\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In the late 20th and early 21st centuries \u201cpraise and worship\u201d (P&W) music replaced hymns in many Christian churches. But while Murrow sees some good in this type of music, overall he thinks \u201cP&W\u201d may have even less appeal to men than the hymns of old, and \u201chas harmed men\u2019s worship more than it has helped\u201d:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cthe evidence seems to indicate that, while P&W is very appealing to some men, it\u2019s a turnoff for many more. Before P&W, Christians sang hymns\u00a0about\u00a0God. But P&W songs are mostly sung\u00a0to\u00a0God. The difference may seem subtle, yet it completely changes how worshippers relate to the Almighty. P&W introduced a familiarity and intimacy with God that\u2019s absent in many hymns.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1925, author Bruce Barton wrote that the way popular culture typically presented Jesus was as \u201ca frail man, undermuscled, with a soft face\u2014a woman\u2019s face covered by a beard\u2014and a benign but baffled look, as though the problems of living were so grievous that death would be a welcome release.\u201d Other critics of popular images of Christ argued that the weak, pallid, ethereal Jesus seen in many paintings bore little resemblance to the nomadic, rugged, whip-cracking carpenter depicted in the scriptures.<\/em><\/p>\n HAVE WE LOST IT?<\/p>\n The liturgical experiment that began 50 years ago has failed – we are not holier or more Christ centered.<\/p>\n Divine Service has become a drama for whatever agenda that is currently popular.<\/p>\n The church is no longer a place of encounter with the Lord, but a social centre, not a place of prayer, a place of chatter.<\/p>\n We have lost the sense of the sacred, which was our hallmark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Feminization of Christianity Does the Christian Church have a “man” problem? https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/knowledge-of-men\/the-feminization-of-christianity\/ Excerpts: Does a lack of masculine role models at church negatively affect the recruitment and retention of masculine members? Edwin Starbuck, a prominent psychologist in the early 1900s thought so, positing that \u201cthe boy is a hero-worshipper, and his hero can not… Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":7500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-news","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7846"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7883,"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846\/revisions\/7883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canberra-queanbeyan-parish.lutheran.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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