To shut it again on something solid

As is frequently the case, the religious feminists over at CBE's blog have again brought to mind a Chesterton quote:

The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

Their current post is about "pedagogy and gender" and reads like nothing so much as a primer on postmodern/post evangelical reimagining of Christianity. In the post author's own words, "knowledge is dialogical and communal". While I will readily admit that certain forms of knowledge are indeed communal, I hasten to add that Truth is not. Truth takes the form of a person, the God-Man Jesus Christ. But the enlightened ones over at CBE appear to be more interested in whining about patriarchalists not "sharing" than they are in bowing their knee to the one who is Truth incarnate.

To all their concerns about about closure, the opportunity for which is denied if religious feminists are excluded (as the blog manager moans in his response), I can only say that their quibble is with God himself. It is God who established patriarchy-- it is written into his works as well as his word. All known cultures have been patriarchal, even if some have been matrilineal in the reckoning of inheritance. In the beginning God established patriarchy by creating Adam first and then creating Eve from him and for him, then by calling Adam to account for the rebellion even though it was Eve who took and ate first. He established Israel as a patriarchy and eventually gave it Kings (not queens) and priests (not priestesses).

Then, in the fullness of time, God set forth his Son. Did you catch that? In the fullness of time. Jesus Christ did not take on male flesh because the patriarchal culture of his time required it, the culture of his time was patriarchal because it was right, the time was full. Jesus continued this practice by numbering only men among the twelve. After his death and resurrection, they continued His practice by only considering men as possible replacements for Judas Iscariot. This practice was continued by the early church through the Fathers and on down to our present age.

In other words, closure has long been established on this matter. It is not the patriarchalists who exclude the religious feminists. It is the religious feminists who have excluded themselves by their rebellion against God's established order.