Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Biblical Perspective on Men and Women

by Sheldon Vanauken (author of A Severe Mercy)

“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)