Greetings and salutations. This is Life and Books and Everything, and I'm Kevin DeYoung,

and I wanted to read to you today. The Desiring God article I wrote came out the middle of July, July 19, entitled Death to the Patriarchy, Complementarity, and the Scandal of Father Rule.

What is the difference between patriarchy and complementarity?

And which is the better term for capturing the full vision of Christian manhood and womanhood?

Most complementarians steadfastly avoid the word patriarchy, wanting to distance themselves from many associations with oppression and prejudice.

On the other hand, critics of complementarianism

are eager to saddle their opponents with the charge of defending patriarchy. The terms often

function as a way of communicating, I'm not that kind of conservative Christian, to which the

reply is, oh, yes, you are. So what is the most accurate term for those who want to recapture a lost vision of

sexual differentiation and order? Defining to everyone's satisfaction terms like patriarchy and

complementarity is nearly impossible. I'll do some definitional work in a moment, but I don't want

this article to become a tedious academic inquiry into the usage and history of these terms.

I also don't want to define the terms so that complementarity becomes a convenient gloss for good

male leadership and patriarchy ends up meaning bad male leadership. To be sure, that distinction

isn't totally misguided, but if that's all I said, my argument would be entirely predictable.

And a bit superficial.

As I'll argue in a moment, there is nothing to be gained by Christians reclaiming the word

patriarchy in itself.

In fact, reclaim is not even the right word, because I'm not sure Christians have ever

argued for something called, quote, patriarchy.

Complementarity is a better, safer term with fewer

negative connotations, though that is quickly changing. I've described myself as a complementarian

...