- Biblical™ Manhood and Womanhood:
A system whereby certain roles are assigned to men to play (typically decision-making, earning a salary, protection, preaching in church) and other roles to women (typically submission, house work, child care, dressing and acting to please a husband – husbands are not told to please wives -, emotional support, gentleness). Major problems with this system include that
(1) it is not prescribed, or even often exemplified, in the Bible – it is not very Biblical,
(2) it squelches a lot of gifts which do not fit into a person’s assigned gender box,
(3) it mostly cannot be lived by the unmarried, the widowed, or the Christian child, and
(4) almost all of the fruit of the Spirit is assigned as a women’s role and not a man’s.
An organization that exist to promote egalitarianism between men and women.
- Complementarian:
This word is derived from “complement/ complementary.
Complementarianism is a gender-role based theology that rests on two pillars, namely wifely subordination below their husbands at home, and restricting certain church leading and church speaking tasks to men. Those who coined the term also believe wifely subordination and male church lead are both based on essential differences in how God made man and woman to function.
The name could be deceptive: “Complementary” suggests nothing about hierarchy, nor about pushing people into “roles” that does not come natural for them. Some egalitarians believe the name was deliberately chosen to deceive.
- Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood/ CBMW:
An organization that exist to promote complementarian theology, especially Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
- Egalitarian:
The dictionary definition is somewhat wider, but here it usually means a form of Christianity that believes God calls both men and women to serve, and to lead, in the home, church and world, that gifts and callings outside the (fe)male gender role box is equally valid for a (wo)man.
- Patriarchy:
Most of the oldest mentions of patriarchy on this blog is about a system called “Biblical patriarchy”, whereby the Bible is (mis)used to keep women below men. Biblical™ patriarchy, like complementarianism, believes in wifely subordination below their husbands at home, and restricting certain church tasks to men, but they add a belief in female subordination in the public sphere.
Their views tends to be even more restrictive than complementarians. They often believe that women should not go to college, not earn a salary outside the home, that daughters practice being “helpmeets” by being servants to their fathers, that children should be home schooled largely so they do not learn anything their fathers disagree with, that fathers should pick husbands for daughters, extreme clothing rules for daughters, that children from baby to late teens (and sometimes even wives!) should be punished physically for any disobedience, etc.
More recently it often refers to systems of male rule in general, whether inside or outside the church. The context of the post will usually make it clear what form of patriarchy is meant, and the first type will often be called “Biblical™ Patriarchy” or “Christian™ Patriarchy.”
- TM, as in “Biblical™ ” or “Christian™ ”:
The trademark symbol indicates that the word is what a group call themselves. Using this acknowledges their name choice, but means I doubt if these ideas are Christian/ am sure their allegedly Biblical patriarchy is everything but “Biblical”.
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Are there other words on this blog that you suggest for me to include?
Biblical Personhood 