Influential pastor Douglas Wilson, co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, wants to repeal the Nineteenth Amendment—he does not want women to vote. Wilson is described as a major figure in a movement termed “masculinism” or “Christian patriarchy,” which actively opposes feminist advances and reasserts male dominance in both public and private life. Journalist Helen Lewis observes that Wilson’s brand of patriarchy “is religious, influenced by the notion of male ‘headship’ of the family and Saint Paul’s belief that godly women should be quiet.”
Wilson and those in his movement often refer to their beliefs as biblical and traditional. They teach about “biblical” womanhood and “traditional” gender roles in the home. But what do people—whether patriarchal firebrands like Wilson or our own clergy, legislators, colleagues, and neighbors—actually mean when they say that something is traditional? Whose tradition are they referring to? For that matter, what does it mean for an idea to be biblical in this context?
When these terms are invoked, we should pause and examine contexts, meanings, and underlying motives.
