Mansplaining Ephesians, by Michael Hoffman

By Michael Hoffman, Crisis Magazine, Aug. 27, 2024

Michael Hoffman is resident of Erie, Pennsylvania. He enjoys playing and composing music, writing fiction, and volunteering for conservative Christian causes.

Too often priests feel a need to tone down or even contradict the words of Sacred Scripture when they conflict with today’s zeitgeist.

Over the course of my relatively short career as an extraordinary proclaimer of the Word, my audience has responded with blank stares and occasional approving smiles. At least until this past Sunday, when I chose to read the longer version of the 2nd reading. St. Paul, who can sometimes be impenetrably obscure, is extremely and almost uncharacteristically blunt: “As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.”

As I paused to let this sink in, I caught an undisguised glare from a woman in a front row. Further back in the church, a child began questioning his parents. I can only assume he was asking what I could possibly mean by such a statement. Paul’s follow-up about how men should love their wives clearly did not quiet the congregation. As I stepped down from the lectern, I met an accusing stare from the pastor. Not only had I wasted time by not choosing the shortest available option, I had made his job as a pastor harder. The parish’s delusion was on trial. …

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