Masculine Christianity (Zachary M. Garris)

Masculine Christianity

The Western church has gone feminist. God has given men authority in the home, church, and society. Yet the church has rebelled against God’s design and embraced the unbelieving world’s teaching that women should take on the same roles and duties as men rather than focus on the home and children.

Christian scholarship and Bible commentaries are dominated by feminist arguments that both husband and wife should submit to each another (“mutual submission”), that women may be pastors and preach sermons to men, and that the Apostle Paul’s teaching on men and women was limited to Greco-Roman culture and has been transcended by our unity in Christ.

The tragedy of complementarianism

Sadly, the conservative response to feminism—complementarianism—compromised several historic Christian teachings and has thus given feminism an even stronger foothold in the church. Many complementarians fail to root gender roles in the differing natures of men and women.

As a result, they have refused to apply the Bible’s teaching about men and women beyond the home and church, leading to the embrace of women in civil office and military combat. In addition, the vast majority of complementarians have opened the door to women preaching and teaching men in the church.

Weakness and Compromise in the Church

The result is that the Western church has become effeminate and weak. Pastors are afraid to teach important Bible passages on the roles and duties of men and women, and it is no surprise that young Christian women are trading babies for careers outside the home and that churches are regularly capitulating to subversions of biblical sexual ethics.

What the church needs is to recover its masculine calling, where men embrace their God-given authority—and responsibility—in the home, church, and society. This book affirms the historic Christian teaching on men and women, critiques feminist scholarship, and urges complementarians to hold a more robust and consistent position. This is a call to return to the Bible’s teaching on men and women. This is a call to Masculine Christianity.

Contents

1. The Rise of Feminism and the Erosion of Masculinity
2. Sexual Rebellion and Repentance
3. Complementarianism’s Compromise
4. Christianity is Patriarchal
5. Gender Roles in the Creation Order
6. Hierarchy and Authority in the Creation Order
7. Masculine Authority Starts in the Home
8. Pastors and Elders Must be Men
9. Women Should Keep Silent in Church
10. Masculine Authority in the Church
11. Masculine Authority Beyond the Home and Church
12. Leaving a Manly Legacy

Recommended Reading

About the Author

Zachary M. Garris is an attorney.  He holds a Master of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS and a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University law school.