all the difference in the world
I am pulling together a couple of disparate strands of thought here, so bear with me. I was reading Future Margins’ post on why people blog - is it ego, antidepersonalisation, sharing or wannabe writers?
At the same time I was interested in darren’s research into gender balance in the Christian world. My initial comment to that post read in part:
What proportion of god-bloggers are ministers or in full time ministry? What proportion of ministers or those in full time paid ministry are male? In my experience there is a predominance of professional minister god bloggers, and that professional ministers are predominantly male.
So looking at people who blog, and people who minister (at least in my little part of the blogosphere this applies to many of the same people), should the same question be asked? Why are you in professional ministry - ego, sharing, calling, vocation - what is it?
I am really intrigued by the relative scarcity of women in professional ministry, even in a denomination such as ours which is very accepting of women in leadership. To be blunt, I have seen a lot of women in theological and ministry study, and a lot of those women are now no longer in church ministry. Why? Particularly in an environment such as the church which often has a membership which is disproportionately female?
This may be hidden sexism, it may be an aberration, it may be because males are inherently better suited to ministry. It could be because males enjoy professional ministry more. I don’t know the answer. And depending on the answer, I don’t know what it would say about us.
The film “leap of faith” starring Steve Martin (it was released in 1992, so if you haven’t seen it by now, you can’t complain about spoilers) tells the story of a shyster travelling preacher who goes from town to town healing people of their ailments by faith. His cynical side kick accuses him of being a fake. His response? “If it does the job, what difference does it make?”.
Of course at the end of the film, in a way that he never expected he actually succeeds in legitimately healing someone and promptly decides to leave town and leave the game behind because he is so freaked out. The young guy that he has healed (and who can now walk without crutches) begs him to say. The preacher says “it’s all fake, can’t you see that, kid?”. The kid responds by quoting the preacher - “If it does the job, what difference does it make?”
The preacher: “It makes all the difference in the world”
May 29th, 2003 at 11:20 pm
Could it also be a bit of a reflection of general trend in society that women do not tend to get into high leadership or management roles? Perhaps this could be the stained-glass ceiling?
May 30th, 2003 at 8:56 am
Research into the “glass ceiling” indicates that, to a certain extent it is self imposed. Most women look at what they have to give up to attain one of these positions, i.e. a life, and decide the price is too high. If only more men were as sensible.
May 30th, 2003 at 9:02 am
It is interesting to take the perspective of motivation. What motivates someone to seek one of these positions? It is not to be religous you can do this without occupying a ministry position, in fact you can provide pastoral services to the community from any rung in the church, including being a humble member of the congregation.
People who seek these positions are motivated by power (no value judgement here). This is a much more common motivating force in males then in females.
July 3rd, 2003 at 7:10 pm
As women gain more & more education, they leave Churches where a judgmental malegod puts them down
starting with blaming Eve & saying she was made from a male’s rib. Some Churches in this free country say God is both Father & Mother harking back to Hebrews’ Ya-(E)veh, or combined malefemale
God. Others go even farther back, to worship of
a Cosmic Mother, where that dreaded word Goddess was positive, going back to When God Was a Woman,
& still others to an essentially female Goddess with a sacred Daughter and Son. American Churches are becoming advocates of peace rather than war, & by golly, some say that’s what the Lord Jesus Christ preached! What woman writer said
“Theology is ultimately political”? However, let’s not forget there are real mysteries in life & Nature, which religions seek to explain. Whether we’re left or rightwing politically, we all face death & life’s mysteries, such as amazing healings, & birth … so religion is also ultimately spiritual. It is devoutly unnatural for either men or women to rule the other gender.
Only mutual respect & kindness is a true path, or women, the agape love that Jesus preached.
far from Utopian, it’s also the only practical path! whether we believe in the Lord or the Lady Of Real Divinity.
July 8th, 2004 at 7:04 pm
Leap Blogging
While Jordon Cooper moves his blog over to a new platform and sort of takes a break, Mark Morris has reappeared to help keep a friends blog going. Lee Ann Millinger responds to FutureMargins blogging rant with with some positive and realistic reasons w…