Church Model Marginalises Men Analysis

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Throughout the article entitled “Church Model Marginalises Men”, the author goes to great lengths to explain how the church has become feminized. For numerous years, the church has been a place of worship and refuge to both men and women who strongly believe in Christianity. However, in this article Robert Shaw argues that “though the churches manage to vary in beliefs, practice and customs, they share similar problems and culture, that over the years, have somewhat excommunicated men from within the movement of the church”. A few churches still follow the same traditional pattern: a male being the head of the church, supported by his first lady and a congregation made up of both men and women. The article “Church Model Marginalises Men” is…show more content…
The author used the “logos” theory of persuasion which is usually used to persuade an audience by using logical arguments and supportive evidence. Robert Shaw’s argument was that the church had become too feminized. According to Pivec, modern Christian movements too believe that the reason for the absence of men in the church is because they too believe that the church has become feminized. Shaw provided a lot of reasoning as to why the men are absent. He stated, “The Victorian era saw the rise of church nurseries, Sunday schools, lay choirs, quilting circles, soup kitchens, girls’ societies, potluck dinners, etc” (Shaw). All of these activities are seen as feminine. Most men don’t cook, enjoy singing, nor play a huge role in the nursing of their children. These activities made the men feel alienated. Men are more so interested in sports or activities which prove their masculinity. Shaw also stated that the definition of a Christian changed to one where aggression and being bold weren’t accepted, but being receptive and passive was. This tells us that all manly behaviors weren’t accepted. The men were expected to change their ways in order to be accepted by the church. The author also stated that “the church’s attention is focused on utopia”, and encouraged intimacy such as hugging and shaking hands (Shaw). All of those new practices where that favored by women, as men aren’t known for showing much

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