This is the first of twelve videos in which I discuss various cultural and theological subjects with Brad Belschner. Within this video we discuss the challenges of gender in the 21st century. Visit the Davenant Institute’s site to find out more about their work, to watch more videos like this, and to discover many further resources.
Alastair's Adversaria 
Pingback: Video: What is Masculinity? | Alastair's Adversaria
Hi Alastair,
I have been thinking about what you said about God creating us male and female, but not asking us to ‘beget’ our masculinity or femininity. I am not sure if I have understood you correctly about this, or, if I have understood you correctly, whether what I have to say illustrates what you are saying, but I put my thoughts before you.
It sounds as if you are saying that God created us male and women and also equipped us to be masculine and feminine without giving us a detailed ‘rule-book’ of all the ways in which He has equipped us – we discover these ways by living as closely as possible to His will, as we understand it.
I think he also equips us to be mothers and fathers and that knowing the details of how he has equipped us is a process of discovery. For instance, when I became a mother, I discovered that I had some strengths which were more dominant than some of my weaknesses. One example of this is that I discovered that my great concern for the well-being of my children was more powerful than some of my fears. Two relatively minor examples of this are my former (irrational) fear of big household spiders and my (rational) fear of wasps – I was allergic to wasp stings in the days before epipens. But my children were more scared of spiders and wasps than I was, and my concern for my children resulted in me becoming quite a good spider-catcher and wasp-slayer!
When I was expecting our first child I thought a few ‘rule-books’ would help me to become a super-mum and I read widely, but when our first daughter was six-months old I binned one of the books (Dr.Spock) because Dr.Spock did not know *this* mother and *this* child and *these* circumstances, and if I had followed his guidelines, our child would have been at risk. Thereby hangs a long tale which I will not narrate here 🙂
Pingback: Video: Getting Beyond Headship Battles | Alastair's Adversaria