"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Friday, July 13, 2007
This might sound hauntingly familiar. Peter Leithart:
American Christians have unfortunately not always recognized the double-sidedness of the Christian life. During the nineteenth century, in response to the perceived "woman peril," the threat that women were taking over the church, Americans marketed Christianity as a manly religion. A true Christian is a strong Christian, a muscular Christian.
Views of Jesus adjusted to fit this vision. Artists of the past, complained advertising executive and writer Bruce Barton, seemed to think they could "make our Christ with a woman's face, and add a beard." In his bestselling book, The Man Nobody Knows: A Discovery of the Real Jesus, Barton presented a Jesus who was no bearded lady. Barton's Jesus was a "young man glowing with physical strength and the joy of living," with muscles like "knots of iron," broad shoulders, and well-defined pecs. He was a "man's man," and he oozed manliness in a way that also made him a "woman's man" (from Stephen Prothero, American Jesus).
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Comments on "Deja Vu All Over Again":
4. Mandi
- 07/14/2007 9:41 am CDT
I could be way off here.....but I like to imagine him as a Michael Landon type (from Little House on the Prairie). He was manly yet also kindhearted. He was firm but could also be very gentle. It is sort of hard for me to describe but I'm sure you all will understand what I mean.
a "young man glowing with physical strength and the joy of living," with muscles like "knots of iron," broad shoulders, and well-defined pecs
Sounds kinda gay.
:-p