![Phillips on Dabney
“Robert Louis Dabney: The Prophet Speaks”
“[F]or those individuals who long for the days in
which a gentleman could hold the door for a
lady without some indignant feminist snorting
at him, Dabney’s writings will seem refreshingly
virile…One must not forget that Dabney wrote
in the last great period of American history in
which men were proud to be men, and to call
someone a “patriarch” was to pay him a
compliment.”
Phillips’ Introduction, xiv](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/august2007draftpatriarchy-230326112241-b27e2d49/75/August-2007-Draft-Patriarchy-pptx-8-2048.jpg)
Uploaded byCynthia Kunsman
August 2007 Draft Patriarchy.pptx
The document outlines a detailed examination of various theological influences on American evangelicalism, focusing on patriarchy and the cultural implications of submission doctrines. It critiques the integration of federal vision and traditional roles within family structures while addressing the historical context of Confederate idealism, women's suffrage, and the perceived threats posed by feminism. Additionally, it discusses the legalistic frameworks established by figures like Doug Phillips and the consequences of their teachings on church practices and familial authority.
August 2007 Draft Patriarchy.pptx
- 1. August 24, 2007 FIRSTROUGH DRAFT OF Patriarchy Workshop for March 2008 Conf Cynthia Kunsman, RN, BSN, MMin, ND
- 2. Development: “Theological Innovation” ■ Responseto Postmodernism – Disapproving of the Enlightenment ■ Family as Central to Restoration – Neo-tribalistic (legalistic and pietistic) – Narrow definitions of roles within family – Evangelical Pessimism
- 3. Contributing Influences ■ Theonomyand Dominionism ■ Christian Reconstruction ■ Confederate Idealism ■ Federal Vision ■ Submission Doctrine
- 4. Influence: Christian Reconstruction ■ Culturaland Religious Nostalgia – Little distinction between “Christian” and “American” – Puritan, Antebellum, Revivalism ■ Noll: Scandal of the Evangelical Mind ■ Keillor: This Rebellious House ■ Postman: Building a Bridge to the 18 Century
- 5. Influence: Confederate Idealism ■ Secession(Past and Contemporary) – Decentralization of the Federal Government ■ Prohibited secession was a violation of Constitution (tyranny) – Economic exploitation by the North – Slavery was a peripheral issue in the war
- 6. Influence: Confederate Idealism ■ SouthernView – North viewed as largely uncivilized, Unchristian and industrial – Film: “God’s and Generals” ■ Emancipation – Slavery was not viewed as Unbiblical ■ Opened the door to Women’s Suffrage, Feminism & Destruction of the Family
- 7. Influence: Confederate Idealism ■ RobertLouis Dabney – Most respected Presbyterian minister in the Confederacy and US – Defender of Virginia Cause – Held the Southern View
- 8. Phillips on Dabney “RobertLouis Dabney: The Prophet Speaks” “[F]or those individuals who long for the days in which a gentleman could hold the door for a lady without some indignant feminist snorting at him, Dabney’s writings will seem refreshingly virile…One must not forget that Dabney wrote in the last great period of American history in which men were proud to be men, and to call someone a “patriarch” was to pay him a compliment.” Phillips’ Introduction, xiv
- 9. Phillips on Dabney “RobertLouis Dabney: The Prophet Speaks” “His choicest words were reserved for the feminists of his day; the suffragettes. He accurately predicted that the women’s rights movement would lead to the emasculation of men, the end of the nuclear family and the overthrow of Western culture…Dabney claimed that there was a direct link between the rabid egalitarian spirit of the women’s rights movement and similar anti-authoritarian movements.” -Phillips’ Introduction, xvi
- 10. Influence: Federal Vision ■ “CovenantMembership” – Viewed as more orthodox than emphasis on “personal, individual salvation” ■ Paedobaptism, Paedocommunion ■ Extension of the 5 Points of Calvinism ■ Authors still consider themselves to be broadly evangelical
- 11. Influence: Federal Vision ■ Criticism ■Romanist view of justification ■ Faulty Hermeneutics of Trust “Intuitive Art” (Lusk – Moscow, ID) ■ Infusion of sacerdotalism ■ Redefinition of doctrines of Reformed Theology (justification and sanctification)
- 12. Influence: Federal Vision ■ Trinity(Doug Wilson) – Submission hierarchy and relationships ■ Patriarchal Father ■ Ever Submissive Son ■ Exemplars for human relationships – Anthropomorphized reading of human (marital, esp.) relationship and roles into the “eternal fellowship” of the Trinity (deity? cmk)
- 13. Influence: Federal Vision ■ CovenantObjectivity Shift back to works and community – Adam as the “Federal (‘covenant’) representative” for all mankind – Christ, the Second Adam, viewed as the Son of Man vs. Son of God (DEITY?! cmk) – Adam’s sin was immaturity and would have been invited to partake of the Tree of Knowledge (Jordan)
- 14. Influence: Federal Vision ▪ “Imputation”(redefined) – Does not refer to the imputation of sin to Christ and His Righteousness to the believer – Challenges the value of Christ’s earthly works in the life of the believer (deity? cmk)
- 15. Influence: Submission Doctrine ■ Gothardism,Shepherding/Discipleship – Paternalistic (Romanist) ■ Pessimistic about the believer’s abilities ■ Intervention by an enlightened mediator – Works Oriented ■ Grace merited through works and attitude – Spiritual Covering Superstition
- 16. Influence: Submission Doctrine ■ NextGeneration Gothardism – Extension of works to moral imperatives ■ De-Christianized, dehumanized status ■ Pejoratives and Monikers – “non-normative” – “Canaanites” – “antinomian”
- 17. Gnostic Patriarchy… Űber-Adam? (cmk) –Preoccupationwith Adam –Redefining of Eve ■ CBMW, SBTS ■ John MacArthur
- 18. Gnostic Patriarchy… 1. Trinity ■Federal Vision ■ Bruce Ware ■ Trinity as example for all human relationships, esp. within marriage – Counsel on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood – Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – Books on the Trinity and “Open Theism”
- 19. Gnostic Patriarchy… 2. PatriocentricGospel – Man in family = God in the Trinity – Criticism of Man = “open theism” (as challenging God the Father) – Reinforces community for salvation and man’s role in sanctification of woman
- 20. Gnostic Patriarchy… 3. RedemptiveDistortion (cmk) ■ Federal Vision: Jesus does not dissolve or replace our relationship with the first Adam ■ Jesus as Catalyst to restore man to Adam’s state before the fall through speculation on the Trinity
- 21. Gnostic Patriarchy… 4. Eve:“Derivative” Image of God (Ware & MacArthur) ■ Eve was created from Adam’s substance ■ Eve is perceived as only the “indirect image” of God (Phillips denies in “Tenets”)
- 22. Gnostic Patriarchy… (Eve issubjugated to “ submitted sonship”) ■ Superimposed parallel of wife to the Son in the Trinity under man/father ■ Christ is forever the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 – Eternal, ongoing propitiation
- 23. Gnostic Patriarchy… 5. Mysterious,Salvific Man (cmk) ■ Man as earthly savior for family ■ Woman’s spiritual salvation (Romanist) Is based within man – Incomplete without man spiritually (headship) – Community (marriage), submission, childbirth
- 24. Gnostic Patriarchy… 6. Primogeniture/ Creation Order ■ Adam held accountable for sin because of headship (Ware & MacArthur) – “Sin entered through Eve” – Must direct woman’s sanctification(+FV, Gothard) ■ All women are given to deception – Man must protect woman from her inherent mental/moral weakness
- 25. Gnostic Patriarchy… 7. PatriocentricMarriage (cmk) ■ Primary Symbolism: Adamic/Patriarchal ■ Tertiary Symbolism: Christ and Church ■ “Incomplete view of marriage” ■ Must include the patriarchal ruling over wife with discipline ■ Derives from the loving Father chastening his sons (Heb 12)
- 26. Gnostic Patriarchy… Purpose ofMarriage: FECUNDITY – “Militant Fecundity” (passive eugenics?) ■ Hart (First Things), Scott Brown, Doug Phillips – Evangelism: Womb vs the Cross ■ Quoted from a Jen’s Gems website contributor (Contraception prohibited or discouraged through unspoken rule)
- 27.
- 28. Phillips as Prototype History ■Son of Howard Phillips ■ Nixon’s Executive Branch ■ Constitution Party Founder and Presidential Candidate ■ Doug’s Training ■ William and Mary ■ George Mason School of Law ■ No (peer reviewed) Bible College or Seminary
- 29. Phillips as Prototype Activitiesin San Antonio, TX ■ Founded Vision Forum (1998) ■ Homegroup ministry for Homeschooling families ■ Boerne Christian Assembly (2000) ■ Vision Forum Ministries
- 30. Phillips as Prototype BoerneChristian Assembly ■ Grew from homegroup ministry ■ Reformed Baptist, Independent, congregational government ■ No “pastor”, recognizes “fellowship of elders” – Founder, primary and/or sole elder-”shepherd” but denies pastoral role
- 31. Phillips as Prototype VisionForum Ministries (Non-profit organization “projects”) – Faith of Our Fathers Project ■ Christian Reconstruction – National Center for Family Integrated Churches ■ Potentially functions as a denomination
- 32. “Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy” ■Original Document circa 2003 – So legalistic that it had to be pulled and re- written (more than once) ■ “Consolidated Statement” about Patriarchy to “counter critics”
- 33. “Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy” ■Spheres of Dominion – Only men in public square – Women in the home although may serve patriarch outside home in his business Original document declared any work or employment outside the home to be “sin”
- 34. “Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy” ■Education of Children – No public school or secular based curriculum; private school “discouraged” – No women to be trained outside the home Original document declared public or private Christian school enrollment to be “sin”
- 35. “Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy” ■Father and His Older Children – Adult children under the jurisdiction and control of patriarch until marriage – Daughter “given in marriage” ■ may decline her father’s choice – Grown, married children required to submit to parental counsel and approval (Venoit’s “Uncle Ned”)
- 36. “Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy” *Informal Implications * – Authoritarian – Male generational submission – Women’s chief duty: bear patriarchs – Courtship ■ Refer to Robin Phillips’ counter argument – Family together as a group – Dispensing of existence (de-Christianization)
- 37. Heterodoxy to Heteropraxy? ■Vision Forum allegedly hijacked a creation science excavation project – DinoDeception.com (see bibliography link) ■ Excommunication of problematic members – Baited a local Presbyterian church into violating their own legal requirements
- 38. Heterodoxy to Heteropraxy? ■Aggressive Reaction to Critics – Blog campaigns – Enlisted essayists ■ Threatened and Actual Lawsuits – www.UnderMuchGrace.com for documentation ■ Threatened (SCCCS and excommunicants) ■ Actual suit over creation science excavation (DinoDeception.com)
- 39. “National Center for FamilyIntegrated Churches” ■ Mission under Vision Forum Ministries: – “Preserving Our Covenant with God through Biblical Patriarchy and Multi-Generational Faithfulness” ■ Self-Declared Denomination? – Affiliate (as church or individual contact) – Church planting organization – Nicene Creed and NCFIC Confession
- 40. “National Center for FamilyIntegrated Churches” ■ “A Biblical Confession for Uniting Church and Family” (Artifice that supports Phillips?) – Plurality of Elders (supports Phillips lack of accountability) – Acceptable families must adopt “non- normative ones” for participation – Separate activities (e.g. Sunday School) vilified as they separate the family unit
- 41. “National Center for FamilyIntegrated Churches” ■ Father as patriarch – Negative view of church leadership – Intervention from other church representatives within families vilified – Submission to eldest, multi-generational patriarch – “Heart-level relationships” with father ■ Home churches denounced
- 42. Critics ■ KW (Pete)Hurst (“homies”) ■ www.patriarchy.org ■ P. Andrew Sandlin (Center for Cultural Leadership) ■ Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Intl. ■ Midwest Christian Outreach ■ Blogs, blogs, blogs, …
