Jeanie Miley’s topic—reconciling the gender war—addresses a history of gender prejudice both in the church and the secular world. With characteristic spiritual empathy, Miley insists now is the time to put preconceptions to rest and celebrate strengths unique to each individual.

Within each person, a complementary balance of masculine and feminine strengths exists, she asserts. Indepen-dence, power and logic are masculine strengths, as intuition, empathy and compassion are feminine, but they are not limited to either sex. Instead, these gendered strengths support one another and when used in cooperation, allow a wider scope of relationships and creativity.

Miley resists militant feminism; she broaches a volatile subject with sensitivity but without apology. She applies her conclusions to the individual—the relational and the communal—asserting that for social reconciliation to occur, joining forces must begin within.

Issues of oppression, fear and misguidance surface as Miley uncovers the roots of shame, and she mourns the still-active perpetuation of gender prejudice in the church. But for her, “spirituality is about waking up, becoming aware and fully alive.” Joining Forces makes a convincing case for civil dialogue within the church to understand one another, following Jesus’ call to bind and to heal.

— Carrie Joynton,
Communications intern

I've been reading Jeanie Miley's new book Joining Forces: Balancing Masculine and Feminine. Several of you at Southland make appearances in the book (all positive), so you may want to check it out. Jeanie covers quite a bit of ground in this book, talking about the many struggles we humans encounter as we attempt to live out our maleness and femaleness in this world and in the church. She starts where every discussion should start on this topic, with the great truth that God made both male and female in his image. In fact, when we read Genesis 1, we realize that a community only truly reflects God's image when both male and female giftedness are allowed to shine.

The church has struggled with this for a long time, from many different directions. The most obvious is in the way the way the church has attempted to quiet feminine forms of leadership, whether openly or subtly. How many Spirit-filled sermons, how much pastoral care, how many wise decisions have been hampered through the centuries because well over half of the church's participants have been refused a voice? On the other hand, while the church has emphasized male leadership through the centuries, it has often struggled to attract and keep male participation at the lay level (this has been true since the beginning days of Christianity when a Roman official described the church as a collection of "women and slaves"). Books about why men hate the church are the latest fad to hit Christian book stores. They seem to indicate that male ways of thinking and acting often feel out of place in current styles of worship.

Click here to read full review.

— Reverend Taylor Sandlin
Southland Baptist Church