Rethinking Complementarianism
Sydney Anglicans, Orthodoxy and Gendered Inequality
In: Religion and GenderAbstract
Complementarianism, that is, Christian teaching focusing on men’s leadership and women’s submission as an ideal pattern of relationships and gendered behaviour, has been identified both as a boundary marker with little lived currency and as a contributing factor in instances of intimate partner violence. This contradiction raises a question; does complementarianism have little felt effect or does it have significant—and violent—social consequences? In this article, drawing on Scott’s analysis of Secularism as discourse I consider complementarianism as a religio-political discourse. Through analysis of published church material and stories gathered through interviews with parishioners and church staff, I explore how complementarianism is constructed and implemented in the Sydney Anglican Diocese. I argue that complementarianism is not a distinctively Christian theology, but a discourse, or story, told in community which constructs orthodoxy and both creates and limits gendered and religious identity.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Ahmed, Sara. 2017. Living a feminist life, Durham and London: Duke University Press.
-
Ahmed, Sara. 2019. ‘Using Things’ in What’s The Use: On the Uses of Use. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 21–67.
-
Anglican Diocese of Sydney. 2018. ‘Responding to Domestic Abuse: Policy and Good Practice Guidelines’. Accessed April 3, 2021. https://safeministry.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Responding-to-Domestic-Abuse-Policy-Guidelines-and-Resources.pdf.
-
Aune, Kristen. 2006. ‘Marriage in a British Evangelical Congregation: Practicing postfeminist Partnership?’, The Sociological Review, 54:4, 638–657. doi:10.1111/j.1467–954X.2006.00664.x.
-
Avishai, Orit. 2008. ‘ “Doing Religion” In a Secular World: Women in conservative religions and the question of agency’, Gender and Society, 22:4, 409–433. doi: 10.1177/0891243208321019.
-
Baird, Julia and Hayley Gleeson. 2017. ‘Raped, tracked, humiliated: Clergy wives speak out about domestic violence’, ABC News, accessed 10 Dec 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-23/clergy-wives-speak-out-domestic-violence/9168096.
-
Barr, Beth Allison. 2021. The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the subjugation of women became gospel truth. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press.
-
Braidotti, Rosi. 2013. The Posthuman, Cambridge, UK: Polity.
-
Braidotti, Rosi. 2019. Posthuman Knowledge, Cambridge, UK and Metford USA: Polity.
-
Berlant, Lauren. 2010. ‘Cruel Optimism’ in Melissa Gregg and Greggory Seigworth (eds.), The Affect theory Reader. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 93–117.
-
Cameron, Marcia. 2016. Phenomenal Sydney: Anglicans in a time of Change, Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock.
-
Crabb, Annabelle. 2014. The Wife Drought, Sydney, NSW: Edbury Press.
-
Davies, Glenn. 2019. Presidential Address. Third Session of the 51st Synod of the Diocese of Sydney, 14th October 2019. https://www.sds.asn.au/sites/default/files/Presidential%20Address%202019%20%28final%29.pdf?doc_id=NDM4MDc=.
-
Equal but Different. 2015–2016. “What we believe.” Accessed August 11, 2020 http://equalbutdifferent.org/what-we-believe.
-
Foucault, Michel. 2010 [1972]. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Translated by A.M. Sheridan Smith. New York: Vintage Books.
-
Foucault, Michel. 1995 [1975]. Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison. Translated by Alan Sheriden. 1977. New York: Vintage Books.
-
Foye, Jonathon. 2016. ‘Graving another Testament: a critical discourse analysis of the Sydney Anglicans under Peter Jensen 2001–2013,’ PhD thesis, Western Sydney University.
-
Gallagher, Sally and Christian Smith. 1999. ‘Symbolic Traditionalism and Pragmatic Egalitarianism: Contemporary Evangelicals, Families and Gender’, Gender and Society, 13:2, 211–233. doi:10.1177/089124399013002004.
-
Gallagher, Sally. 2004. ‘The Marginalization of Evangelical Feminism’, Sociology of Religion, 65:3, 215–237. doi:10.2307/3712250.
-
George, Timothy. 2016. ‘Forward’ in Edwina Murphy and David Starling (eds.), 2016. The Gender Conversation: Evangelical Perspectives on Gender, Scripture, and the Christian life. Macquarie Park, NSW and Eugene, Origen: Morling Press and Wipf and Stock Publishers.
-
Giles, Kevin. 2020. The Headship of Men and the Abuse of Women: Are they related in any way? Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books.
-
Giles, Kevin. 2017. The Rise and Fall of the Complementarian Doctrine of the Trinity, Eugene Oregon: Cascade Books.
-
Giles, Kevin. 2002. The Trinity and Subordinationism: The Doctrine of God and the Contemporary Gender Debate, Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press.
-
Hamence, Erica. 2018. ‘What Does Making the Church Safer Look Like?’, St Marks Review, 243:1, 98–113. Informit.
-
Hartley, Kara 2015. ‘The International Women’s Consultation’, Equal but Different, accessed 14 April 2021, http://equalbutdifferent.org/articles/international-womens-consultation.
-
Hochschild, Arlie and Anne Machung. 2012. The Second Shift: Working families and the revolution at home. New York: Penguin Books.
-
Jensen, Michael P. 2012. Sydney Anglicanism: An apology, Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock.
-
Lloyd, Moya. 2005. ‘Essentialism: a risk worth taking?’, in Beyond Identity Politics: Feminism, Power and Politics, London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 55–72 http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.4135/9781446221914.n4.
-
Lowick, Vicki and Annabelle Taylor. 2019. ‘Evangelical churches believe men should control women. That’s why they breed domestic violence’ The Conversation, accessed 6 Jan 2020, http://theconversation.com/evangelical-churches-believe-men-should-control-women-thats-why-they-breed-domestic-violence-127437.
-
Maddox, Marion. 2013. ‘ “Rise up Warrior Princess Daughters”: is Evangelical women’s submission a mere fairy tale?’, Journal of Feminist Studies in religion. 29:1. 9–26, https://doi.org/10.1353/jfs.2013.0013.
-
Mahmood, Saba. 2011. ‘Religion, Feminism and Empire: The new ambassadors of Islamophobia’ in, Alcoff, Linda Martín and John D. Caputo (eds.) Feminism, Sexuality, and the Return of Religion. Indiana University Press, Project MUSE. muse.jhu.edu/book/2093. 77–102.
-
Moore Theological College, 2021. “Values.” Accessed April 3, 2021. https://moore.edu.au/about/values/.
-
Mowczko, Marg. 2013. ‘Mutual Submission is not a Myth’, Marg Mowczko: Exploring the Biblical Theology of Christian Egalitarianism, accessed 14 May 2020 https://margmowczko.com/mutual-submission-is-not-a-myth/.
-
Mowczko, Marg. 2020. ‘Mutual Submission in Ephesians 5:21 and 1 Peter 5:5’, Marg Mowczko: Exploring the Biblical Theology of Christian Egalitarianism, accessed 14 May 2020 https://margmowczko.com/mutual-submission-ephesians-5_21-1-peter-5_5/.
-
Murphy, Edwina and David Starling (eds.), 2016. The Gender Conversation: Evangelical Perspectives on Gender, Scripture, and the Christian life. Macquarie Park, NSW and Eugene, Origen: Morling Press and Wipf and Stock PublishersOgden, Steven G. 2017. The Church, Authority and Foucault, London and New York: Routledge.
-
Pepper, Miriam and Ruth Powell. 2019. ‘Responses from churches to those with experiences of domestic and family violence: Church attender and clergy attitudes and actions.’ Paper presented at the Australian Association for the Study of Religion: Religion and Violence Conference, University of Newcastle, NSW December 5–6, 2019. NCLS Research.
-
Powell, Ruth & Miriam Pepper. 2021. National Anglican Family Violence Research Report: Top Line Results. NCLS Research Report. NCLS Research.
-
Priest, Naomi. 2018. ‘A health and social science view of domestic violence and churches’, St Marks Review, 243:1, 25–42. Informit.
-
Scott, Joan. 2018. Sex and Secularism, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
-
Sessions, Erin. 2018. ‘ “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires”: How does the Song of Songs speak to Australia’s problem with intimate partner violence?’ Crucible, 9:1, 1–16 https://www.crucibleonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Sessions-Do-not-arouse-or-awaken-love-until-it-so-desires.pdf.
-
Sharp, Shane S. 2014. ‘Resisting Religious Control’ Violence Against Women, 20:12, 1407–1427 doi: 10.1177/1077801214557956.
-
Smith, Claire. 2012. God’s Good Design: What the bible really says about men and women, Kingsford, NSW: Mathias Media.
-
Thompson, Mark (ed.), for the Sydney Diocesan Doctrine Commission 2015. Human Sexuality and the ‘Same Sex Marriage’ Debate, Sydney NSW: Anglican Press Australia.
-
Treweek, Dani. 2014. ‘One Woman’s Voice: Some personal reflections on the realities of Complementarian ministry’ in Peter Bolt, and Tony Payne (eds.), Women, Sermons and the Bible: Essays interacting with John Dickson’s Hearing Her Voice, Matthias Media, chap. 2. ebook (epub) Adobe Digital Editions.
-
Truong, Mandy, Mienah Sharif, Dave Pasalich, Anna Olsen, Bianca Calabria and Naomi Priest. 2020. ‘Faith-based communities’ responses to family and domestic violence: CSRM Working Papers: No. 1/2020’ CSRM Working Paper, The Australian National University, Canberra, accessed 23 March, 2021, https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/faith-based-communities-responses-family-and-domestic-violence.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 915 | 328 | 31 |
| Full Text Views | 84 | 29 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 179 | 61 | 8 |
Rethinking Complementarianism
Sydney Anglicans, Orthodoxy and Gendered Inequality
In: Religion and GenderAbstract
Complementarianism, that is, Christian teaching focusing on men’s leadership and women’s submission as an ideal pattern of relationships and gendered behaviour, has been identified both as a boundary marker with little lived currency and as a contributing factor in instances of intimate partner violence. This contradiction raises a question; does complementarianism have little felt effect or does it have significant—and violent—social consequences? In this article, drawing on Scott’s analysis of Secularism as discourse I consider complementarianism as a religio-political discourse. Through analysis of published church material and stories gathered through interviews with parishioners and church staff, I explore how complementarianism is constructed and implemented in the Sydney Anglican Diocese. I argue that complementarianism is not a distinctively Christian theology, but a discourse, or story, told in community which constructs orthodoxy and both creates and limits gendered and religious identity.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 915 | 328 | 31 |
| Full Text Views | 84 | 29 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 179 | 61 | 8 |