Just want to say thank you to everyone who helped fund the new podcast. It IS ALREADY FUNDED, and we have two days to go. YES!
Any addition funds that come in will got equipment, maintenance costs, and subscriptions fees that will make it even easy to produce and sustain a high quality podcast.
Sounding: Do men and women read the Bible differently?
More women go to church. The church has become feminized. Men are bored. There is no place for men among all the emotions and sentimentality.
You’ve probably heard something similar, (this is a long even-handed piece; and this is against the feminization of the church, and me on a podcast all for the feminization of the church).
Explanations range from men and women having different risk avoidant behaviors, to different socializing factors, to essentialized gender differences.
But two researchers came up with something totally unexpected: intimacy and the Bible.
Gender Gap? Yes, and No
When looking at “religiosity” levels between men and women, Kent and Pieper used “biblical literalism” as a leading indicator. When it comes to reading the Bible they came up with three categories: literal, interpreted, and skeptical.
You can read the entire study here, or a summary here.
Skipping to the conclusion, Kent and Pieper found that, generally, more women read the Bible “literally” than men do, which would mean they are more religious in general.
BUT, when you take into account a man or woman’s “intimacy” with God, the gender difference totally disappears.
As Kent says, “Our study indicates that those who feel closer emotionally to God tend to take the Bible more literally. We think this has to do with religious narratives in which God is thought of as a person you can talk to, a God who talks right back. That’s the tradition of the Hebrew scriptures, in which God speaks to prophets as they recorded his words, and in the New Testament where people interact with Jesus or receive insight from the Holy Spirit.”
And this is the real interesting part.
Intimacy/Attachment and the Bible
Certainly more needs to be said about whether woman are actually more prone to religion than men (which I doubt). But what I find most interesting is that once you factor in “intimacy” with God, people generally take a more literal view of the Bible.
Why is that?
The researchers link intimacy with “attachment theory” indicated by questions like “I have a warm relationship with God,” “God knows when I need support,” “I feel that God is generally responsive to me.” And they linked intimacy with “proximity seeking behavior” (an indicator of attachment) through questions about church attendance, Bible reading, and prayer.
Basically, “both men and women who took the Bible more literally were more likely to say they had “a warm relationship with God” and reported spending more time alone praying and reading the Bible.”
Last Thought: Not reversable
While the researchers don’t make this exactly clear, it seems intimacy and literalism is connected one-way.
That is, to have a high view of God’s involvement in your life (intimacy) means you will also have a high view of the Bible (literalism). But it isn’t proven that a high view of the Bible (literalism) means you have a high view of God’s involvement in your life (intimacy).
I think the difference between Fundamentalists and Pentecostals proves this point. Most Pentecostals (seeing intimacy) are Fundamentalist in regard to the Bible (literalists). But most Fundamentalists are not Pentecostals.
So What?
I would love to hear your thoughts on why more intimacy with God results in a higher view of the Bible.
Is it because if we believe that God is regularly active in our lives it is easier to believe the interactions (the supernatural aspects) we find in the Bible?
Is it because if we truly love someone (God) then we will be on the look out, and listen intently, to their words?
Is it because once we have learned to hear the voice of the Shepherd that we begin to hear it more and more in and through the Bible?
Something else?
If you want this weekly sounding in your inbox every Friday, you can sign up here.