Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Conservatives, Liberals, and the 50 Shades of Grey Between Them

Conservatives, Liberals, and the 50 Shades of Grey Between Them

Last updated on: July 18, 2012 at 11:50 pm by James F. McGrath

Conservatives, Liberals, and the 50 Shades of Grey Between Them 2012-07-18T23:50:06-04:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A substantial part of the Christian blogosphere has been distracted from further discussion of Ross Douthat’s piece on Liberal Christianity, by a conservative Christian blog post about the novel Fifty Shades of Grey. I have not read the novel, but from reading the blog post in question, the reactions to it, and the follow-up from the Gospel Coalition’s Jared Wilson, we see clearly that the well-being of conservative to fundamentalist forms of Christianity is not at all a given.

Let me begin by addressing the seeming cluelessness of the fundamentalists who wrote the original post and follow-up by sharing a wonderful parable about the nature of privilege which was drawn to my attention recently.

Next, let me mention Rachel Held Evans’ articulate response which not only pinpoints the key issues but also encourages positive things to do to address the underlying issues. She writes, “According to this post, sex is just another avenue through which a man must exert his authority over woman.” Rachel also usefully recommends that the folks at The Gospel Coalition read the Song of Songs.

Now on to Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter, who relates the TGC’s view of women to the issues of slavery and racism. And it is not just a comparison – as Fred Clark points out, Doug Wilson (the quote from whom sparked the most discussion) is not just a mysogynist but also a racist and a defender of slavery – literally! And so right here we get at the heart of the issue. The reason large numbers of conservatives are on the wrong side of history in our time is the same one that put so many on the wrong side over slavery and any number of other past issues. They keep adopting the same approach, seemingly unaware that if their approach keeps producing results that later generations will need to apologize for, there is something fundamentally flawed with it.

Matthew Paul Turner addresses the Gospel Coalition piece head on. Here is a sample:

I find Douglas Wilson’s thoughts about “biblical marriage” to be vile, manipulative, and downright dangerous. There’s so garbage in those four paragraphs that I have hard time believing that Jared believes them to be helpful on any level to any conversation, let alone one about crappy-written fantasy fiction. Sorry Jared. Any time words like power and control and authority and conquers and made-up terms like “true submission” are used in describing the relationship between a husband and wife, you’re not describing God’s ideal. You’re pretty much describing a gateway scenario to emotional, physical, spiritual, sexual, and/or mental abuse inside the confines of a marriage.

Eric Reitan is made nauseous by the Gospel Coalition piece. He writes, among other things, “The message treats gender egalitarianism as the problem and gender hierarchy as the solution, but it seems clear that the reverse is far more likely to be true.”

Daniel Kirk writes, “I am embarrassed for Christianity that such an advocacy of rape (marital or otherwise) could find itself onto a websites that boasts of being one of a “Gospel” coalition.”

Mike Bird emphasizes that the stance in the Gospel Coalition post is not one of complementarianism but extreme patriarchy.

Brian LePort writes, “I don’t lose sleep that groups like The Gospel Coalition exist. I am sad that they are trying so hard to monopolize the word “Gospel.” Don’t they know misogyny is available? It is far more fitting.”

Henry Neufeld finds the quote on the Gospel Coalition blog so outlandish that, if one didn’t know it was genuine, one might suspect it was parody or a straw man.

BLT offers a review of 50 Shades of Grey.

Joel Watts comes right out and accuses them of identifying sex with rape.

Morgan Guyton only has one question for Jared Wilson.

Chris Tilling manages to connect this discussion with mythicism!

Shifting gears, let’s see what those who’ve found time to focus directly on the Ross Douthat piece and the discussion it generated have to say:

Fred Clark writes about Douthat’s “concern trolling,” interacting with many other blog posts and articles in the process.

The Lead shares several defenders of the (liberal) faith.

Jill Gill suggests that booming conversations and counter-culture can emerge from the current focus on liberal Christianity.

Christian Piatt asks whether Christianity as we know it should survive.

Jonathan Fitzgerald says that his liberal church is not dying.

Kimberly Knight asks what the tenets of progressive Christianity are. She took inspiration from a post on another blog…which mentioned 50 Shades of Grey!

The Episcopal Church on the one hand, and Chick-Fil-A and the Boy Scouts on the other, view gays, lesbians, and same-sex relationships in very different ways.

Mark Sandlin wrote about reclaiming the term Christian.

Let me give the final space to an amusing bit of internet humor to which Hemant Mehta linked. Crispian Jago offers two images, both depicting software that translates from liberalese into conservativese or vice versa.

Christianity

fundamentalism

Progressive Christianity

Previous Post

July 18, 2012

Don't Let the Fact That Paul's Letters are Now Christian Scripture Undermine Their Message and Authority!

Next Post

July 19, 2012 Paul's Inclusive Vision

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz