Are Men God's Gift to Women?
For those who believe in "the greatness of masculinity" the answer is 'yes.'
A common phenomenon for pastors is that books are mysteriously left on their desk without note, name, or explanation.
I honestly don't know how it happens. Our office door is normally locked when we're not there or during services, yet books mysteriously always find their way onto my desk. There must be a Mark 2:4 style opening in my roof where people can lower them down!
Anyway, it's sometimes insightful as it gives a feel for what people in the congregation are reading (or want me to read!). Often they're getting rid of entire libraries and it's interesting to dig through what they've read over time.
Recently one book left on my desk caught my eye entitled God's Gift to Women: Discovering the Lost Greatness of Masculinity by Eric Ludy.
I honestly thought the title was a joke or using some type of sarcasm or tongue-in-cheek playfulness, but as it turns out it's dead serious.
The book really is about men (and a particular style of masculinity) being God's gift to women.
Lest we think this is some sort of fringe publication that no one ever read (it's actually published by popular Multnomah Publishers in 2003), I did some research and found this is a bestselling author of many books, most on similar topics.
I don't know nor had I ever heard of Mr. Ludy. Honestly, he strikes me as a soft-hearted guy trying to do good who has a heart and ministry to help fathers to raise up sons in a difficult world (part of his current ministry). And by no means is this a Mark Driscoll style of macho-masculinity being promoted.
Nonetheless, some of the statements are quite jarring and hard to defend as biblical. Ludy is "a huge fan of femininity" (I would argue he's a huge fan of his version of femininity) and is "convinced that true manhood . . . is nothing short of an awe-inspiring gift to womanhood" (pg. 10).
Ludy claims that women want men to "heroically protect" femininity "like a knight in shining armor" (182-83) and must train as the "protector of his family" (195).
The front cover actually has a picture of a knight in armor riding a horse and waving a conquering flag of some sort.
Modern femininity, he writes, "is in need of a champion," and the argument is that that champion is truly masculine men who are "defenders of everything beautiful and pure within the heart of a woman" (201).
Again, I'm not wanting to pick on brother Ludy here. He doesn't come across as prideful or purposely misogynistic in any way; I think he's truly trying to do what he feels is good and helpful for men.
But I can't seem to reconcile his picture of masculinity with the Bible. In fact, one of my main critiques would be the book has very little scripture or theology to back up any of his ideas about masculinity. In my opinion, his view of godly masculinity is much more culturally influenced by a Disney-eque romanticism of what it means to be a man and woman than it is biblically inspired.
Why am I writing about this? Well, as I said, this is apparently a bestselling author who mainly writes on this subject and apparently still has quite a bit of influence (and hasn't seemed to change his position or thinking on these topics from what I can tell).
And I've seen this kind of teaching be very influential in the church and make its way into all kinds of men's studies, curriculum for church men's groups, etc. And I simply don't find it biblically convincing.
I mean, if anything, the Genesis account portrays women as God's gift to men, rescuing him from his loneliness!
Most importantly, this is definitely a "men lead, women follow" type of paradigm for marriage and church leadership and structure, something we recently preached about, showing that's not a biblical model in any way.
Ultimately this perspective harms the church, it's witness in the world, and robs people of God's fuller vision of the co-equal partnership between men and women in God's kingdom.
Want to learn more about egalitarian leadership? My new book is out in digital format next week and hard copy can be pre-ordered now!
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ABOUT JOSEPH
Pastor, Author, and sometimes pretends to be a scholar
Joseph (PhD, University of Birmingham) is the author of The Pentecostal Gender Paradox: Eschatology and the Search for Equality.
Since 2015, he and his wife have together pastored Oceanside Community Church on Vancouver Island, where they live with their four children.
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