“I do not for a moment believe that men
are superior to women—only different. To me, one of the God-given joys of this
life is the radiant, forever intriguing, complementary difference of man and
woman, not just superficially sexual but deep and awesome.
Man and woman are
equal, yes, but equal in importance and value; and not, thank God, identical.
Equal in importance as a nut and bolt are entirely equal in importance without
being identical—and doing a job that neither two nuts nor two bolts could do,
holding something together.
Man and woman do what two men or two women cannot
do: they hold humanity together. A man and a little pseudo-man won’t do it
either. A man and a woman. I can fall on my knees, figuratively at least,
before the mysterious wonder of womanhood, even as a true woman sees a splendor
in manhood. Masculinity—that which initiates and leads, as the eternal
masculinity of God does—needs femininity, feminine response, to complement and
complete it. Helpmeet is the biblical word: a suitable or fit help, a
completion. Thus man and woman together in that awesome mystery of one flesh is
what our Lord ordained for us.”
(From the article “Uni-sexism” in The
Intellectuals Speak Out About God, pp. 325-326)
