The myth of the servant leader

Even in these latter days, it still occasionally occurs to a pastor to gently remind his congregation that the duty of a married Christian woman is to submit to her husband in all things as the head of the household. As one can expect, this does not tend to go over well in an audience where the women understand themselves to need men about as much as marine dwellers require two-wheeled transportation.

However, before the outraged audience has recovered from its shock, stormed the pulpit and revived the ancient rites of Cybelline, this delicate reminder is almost always quickly followed by a long dissertation on how the leader of the household should not be interpreted as being an actual leader per se, but rather as a servant one, and if the ladies will just refrain from committing violence long enough to listen and reflect upon the matter, they'll soon realize that a servant isn't all that different from a slave, and therefore submitting to a husband's servant leadership is merely a matter of giving him his orders, so please, please don't hit me, just keep doing what you're doing and God will be happy, world without end, amen.

Vox Day