BuzzFlash Reviews

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BuzzFlash has been offering a number of books recently that provide insight into the right wing fundamentalist movement and so-called "literal" interpretations of the New Testament.

One thing that is important to note is that the fundamentalist movement -- as monolithic as it may seem to secularists -- is diverse and nuanced.

Author Kathryn Joyce just had her book on the "Quiverfull" movement released, a branch of fundamentalism which rides especially hard on patriarchy and "wifely submission." Although virtually all fundamentalist denominations are patriarchal (think of the last time you saw a female tele-evangelist or Grover Norquist fundamentalist pal), the Quiverfull movement is ultra-patriarchical.

In particular, the Quiverfull movement not only preaches the submission of the wife to male decision making and will (including sexual access upon demand), it particularly emphasizes the perceived New Testament notion of going forth and multiplying: i.e, that is to say having a boat load of children.

On a site of sect followers, Quiverfull.com, it is written:

"We exalt Jesus Christ as Lord, and acknowledge His headship in all areas of our lives, including fertility. We exist to serve those believers who trust the Lord for family size, and to answer the questions of those seeking truth in this critical area of marriage."

King James Version
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3-5 (KJV)

One of the books featured on this Quiverfull site is about the Dugger family, "20 and counting." Obviously, having 18 children makes you a role model family in the Quiverfull movement.

Kathryn Joyce approaches the Quiverfull followers with deep curiosity and the restraint of a good journalist. You can get an idea of the book in this excerpt, posted in Mother Jones Magazine.

Joyce's book is like walking into another world; in fact it is, except that these are a splinter group of the people who are so important to the coalition that Rove put together for the Republican Party. Government to them is a usurpation of God's will.

Patriarchy is essential to understanding the right wing, fundamentalism, and the authoritarian structure of the Republican Party.

"Quiverfull" -- by focusing on one particular theological outlook -- provides a detailed window into what we as secularists are up against, and whose power the women's movement must understand in order to diminish its impact.

As Joyce notes of the "stand by your man" stance of Ted Haggard's wife, which led to her retreat from public church life: "It should be a lesson to outside observers of the patriarchy and submission doctrines as well that to follow these ideas to their conclusion can mean, in very real ways, to disappear."

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