Snippet: Representing Well

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s another one from that Michael Jenson article on biblical manhood and womanhood.

“Some (including many conservative Christian leaders) see feminism as having triumphed ‘in the culture’ and having become the dominant cultural voice, especially in the media, in family law, in education, and in bureaucracy. …On the other hand, many argue that the culture remains deeply biased toward men and the ‘masculine’, pointing to the paucity of female CEOs, the numbers of women in parliament, and the prevalence of intimate partner violence against women, along with many other cultural factors.”

This is an Australian Christian thinker trying to be fair to two sides of the recent (and growing) divide among Christians about the role of women in the church and defining biblical masculinity, among many other related topics.

There’s more he says along these lines that for the non-expert feels fair. I think the sides he describes probably resonate with his description. An activist or academic might say he’s simplified it too much, but he’s not trying to offer an activistic or academic treatise.

He’s just trying to be fair. He is trying to represent others well, even if he might disagree with them.

And if someone thinks he’s not been fair enough, then that’s a good conversation waiting to happen.

Can we at least try harder to represent fairly the ideas of those with whom we disagree?

Photo by Simone Pellegrini on Unsplash

Snippet: Same Movement, Different Hymn Book

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s one from Julia Wood in an interview on the Winsome Conviction podcast:

“A movement is made up of so many different voices and they aren't all singing from the same hymn book. They're singing different songs. They're singing in different voices.”

This is gold.

Julia Wood is an expert on feminism or the history of feminism in this country. One of the podcasts hosts asked her how she processes extreme ideas in the feminist movement. He quotes one that’s way out there. And the above quote was part of her response.

We hate it when someone paints us with a broad brush based on some extreme statement made by some pastor or Christian we’ve never even heard of.

I’ll use this next time I have a chance.

But I also need to ask why I let people pull me in or get away with doing this when talking about a movement or group I disagree with.