Mark Driscoll, Will You Marry Me? Or Looking for Mr. Right at Christian (W)Life College
In my many travels through the evangelical/Pentecostal subculture, one particular subset of that life has fascinated me more perhaps than any other. The curious dating dance that occurs at bible colleges and evangelically oriented universities, where as I have been told numerous times, women go to meet their future husbands. This selective process is intended to weed out the anyone who women and men would consider incompatible and unequally yolked. Since I know quite a few of these pairings, some more successful than others, I thought it would be a good history lesson to see how the these pairings are actually orchestrated–yes, I am afraid that the marriage industry, as created by mid-20th century marketers of jewelry and other assorted wedding accouterments is not the only thing manufactured, since, it is at these bible colleges and universities, where, with apologies to Noam Chomsky, evangelicals are busy manufacturing consent–to appropriate dress, to appropriate dating, and eventually, to marriage. Here are only a few examples.
Emmanuel College, located in rural Georgia, was founded in 1919, making it one of the earliest Pentecostal bible institutes. It is a part of the Pentecostal Holiness denomination. It is difficult to disentangle the behavior from dress codes and in fact to separate all this from the overwhelming desire all of these bible institutes have to maintain marriage as the final culmination of one’s life. Emmanuel College students’ sexual lives are strictly regulated, in accordance with what the college believes is biblical teaching. As such, premarital, extramarital, homosexual relationships, acts and practices are forbidden. Emmanuel’s dress code are in keeping with the goals of regulating women’s dress and behavior by explicitly making it a way to de-sexualize women. Men’s dress on the other hand, while subtly arresting some physical attraction, (assuming seeing men without shirts is considered alluring), are meant to make them more professional, to erase the boyish appearance of youthful immaturity with the more “grown-up” look of shirts and slacks, where t-shirts are to be worn under all shirts–apparently to cov A perennial favorite for restriction since perhaps mid 19th century, but definitely since the late 19th century Holiness movement, is the prohibition on dancing. Students should at no time engage in overt demonstrations of affection, behavior, physical displays of affection in public or private that include but are not limited to “excessive kissing, inappropriate touching or laying down on couches.” (The last one I imagine would be self-explanatory).
Elim Bible Institute in upstate New York was founded in 1924. Its dress and behavior codes are focused on professionalizing the students, minimizing their casual appearance, and de-emphazing women’s sexuality much more than men. For men, there are no muscle shirts, shorts, hats or earrings. For women, there are no low-cut blouses or sleeveless tops. The rules governing behavior seemed to be aimed not only at reinforcing the moral codes of the school, but in regulating the social lives of the student’s relationships, more so than Emmanuel.
A Group Blog on American Religious History and Culture
Source: http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2013/05/mark-driscoll-will-you-marry-me-or.html
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