09.09.04
Posted in culture at 5:42 pm by
In the last entry, the one about the sex of God, Just Pat had a wonderful comment about the true nature of fallenness being evident not only in the “second class ism” of women but also fallen in the way that we look at the nature of power. Specifically, our human concept of power is a fallen concept.
If you know me personally, you also know that it doesn’t take much to convince me that anything is fallen. I believe it all is fallen. However, in this case I want to take a different spin on the way we view power as a fallen structure. Traditionally, we view power as having some intrinsic nature that can be fallen. I would argue that power–like leadership, humility, or most other conceptual values–is not actually fallen. BUT, in every case without exception the way power is exercized IS beyond a doubt fallen. This is a minor change in the way we define fallen but I think that it could turn out to be key in our mutual understanding of this discussion.
So, power, in practice and observance and treatment is fallen. What the hell does that mean? I think it means this. We treat people as people of power based upon imperfect and fallen criteria. Two wonderful examples of the criteria we use are ethnicity and sex and money. People are given power on the basis of their skin color, whether or not they have a penis, and whether or not they drive a lexus. In this sense, rich white men have been given power regardless of whether they are truly deservant of that power. It also seems relatively logical that fallenness flows like a river out of this kind of power.
But to really get anywhere without simply spinning our philosophical wheels, we need to determine what unfallen power is like. Perhaps that clouds the issue a bit, more clearly, we need to determine what the requirements for power should be. I’d like to make a few suggestions for what qualities those in power should have. Being a person of humility and a lover of justice would be two key things. A person of integrity, whose love of truth and equality supercedes thier love for personal gain. Likewise, it seems plausible to expect that this power should be a benevolent power.
Perhaps we’ve all been so trained by our culture to expect power to be something that it was never intended to be that now we’ve begun the propogation of a false power. It even seems quite plausible to imagine that had God been man today, he really wouldn’t have been seen as very powerful at all!
It’s quite possible (or probable) that JustPat meant something entirely different still about a fallen power. She may have meant that what we perceive as power isn’t really power at all. That we see those as powerful that have no real authority to call themselves powerful. This too is an interesting concept, though different than the one I just wrote about. I’ll need to think more about this.
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Posted in culture at 5:42 pm by
In the last entry, the one about the sex of God, Just Pat had a wonderful comment about the true nature of fallenness being evident not only in the “second class ism” of women but also fallen in the way that we look at the nature of power. Specifically, our human concept of power is a fallen concept.
If you know me personally, you also know that it doesn’t take much to convince me that anything is fallen. I believe it all is fallen. However, in this case I want to take a different spin on the way we view power as a fallen structure. Traditionally, we view power as having some intrinsic nature that can be fallen. I would argue that power–like leadership, humility, or most other conceptual values–is not actually fallen. BUT, in every case without exception the way power is exercized IS beyond a doubt fallen. This is a minor change in the way we define fallen but I think that it could turn out to be key in our mutual understanding of this discussion.
So, power, in practice and observance and treatment is fallen. What the hell does that mean? I think it means this. We treat people as people of power based upon imperfect and fallen criteria. Two wonderful examples of the criteria we use are ethnicity and sex and money. People are given power on the basis of their skin color, whether or not they have a penis, and whether or not they drive a lexus. In this sense, rich white men have been given power regardless of whether they are truly deservant of that power. It also seems relatively logical that fallenness flows like a river out of this kind of power.
But to really get anywhere without simply spinning our philosophical wheels, we need to determine what unfallen power is like. Perhaps that clouds the issue a bit, more clearly, we need to determine what the requirements for power should be. I’d like to make a few suggestions for what qualities those in power should have. Being a person of humility and a lover of justice would be two key things. A person of integrity, whose love of truth and equality supercedes thier love for personal gain. Likewise, it seems plausible to expect that this power should be a benevolent power.
Perhaps we’ve all been so trained by our culture to expect power to be something that it was never intended to be that now we’ve begun the propogation of a false power. It even seems quite plausible to imagine that had God been man today, he really wouldn’t have been seen as very powerful at all!
It’s quite possible (or probable) that JustPat meant something entirely different still about a fallen power. She may have meant that what we perceive as power isn’t really power at all. That we see those as powerful that have no real authority to call themselves powerful. This too is an interesting concept, though different than the one I just wrote about. I’ll need to think more about this.
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Just Pat said,
September 9, 2004 at 9:55 pm
Yep, I was thinking about all those things: about power over us, our power over others, influence, perception… I think the crux of power’s fall in our human nature is the failure to acknowledge that all power belongs to God. Out of that rebellion comes our control issues, our elevated and deflated esteems, our stereotypes. Even as I’m writing this, I feel my own resistance to the phrase “all power belongs to God.”
“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”
Visiting Atheist said,
September 9, 2004 at 10:38 pm
Back when I was a churchgoer, women who complained about being told that their place was in the home and nowhere else were told that they didn’t really understand the nature of power; that true power isn’t about control, it’s about service. Therefore, the argument went, women who aren’t free to leave their homes to pursue their gifts truly have more power than anyone else because they’re serving their families and the Lord (leaving the men with their God-given right to head the family).
I’m quite certain you don’t mean anything like this, but just as a lurker, I’m wondering how a reevaluation of the concept of power addresses your original concern. You happened to couch what you perceived as a problem in terms of power, saying that maybe women need equal power in the church; and while examing the nature of power will surely be useful (examining anything is likely to be useful), does it really get to the heart of what you were originally concerned with? Is the best way to talk about “gender inequality” in terms of power, or in terms of something else?
I’m not saying it is or isn’t, since I surely don’t know; I’m just trying to get the lay of the land.
Cheers,
VA
Just Pat said,
September 10, 2004 at 6:19 pm
It’s not my blog, so pardon my response, BC; I think truly that a warped sense of power has everything to do with inequality between the sexes, races, economic tiers. Not so much an direct answer to the original post regarding the misogynistic worship experience, but isn’t power at the root of it?
I do believe the statement that true power is in service; but truth of this sort is dangerous when used to manipulate others. Again, power warped.
J.R. said,
September 10, 2004 at 6:48 pm
Unfallen power = Love, it is all over scripture, it is the power of God.
not to be cheesie.
Brandon said,
September 10, 2004 at 10:05 pm
Ultimately, VA, to answer your question, my address of power wasn’t really intended as a continuation per se of the sexism posts. But thanks for clarifying, I can see how that may have been confusing.
Visiting Atheist said,
September 19, 2004 at 4:18 am
I guess that answers my question. Thanks.
Cheers,
VA