Jesus’s “living water” can help wash away the toxic masculinity of Christian Nationalism.
Purity culture
Purity culture Red State Christians, cover In her book, Red State Christians, Angela Denker suggests that Evangelical Christian women who helped deliver Trump to the White House are conditioned by the “purity culture” of conservative patriarchal Christianity to see themselves as possessions of men rather than as human beings with their own rights. Women are vessels to be passed from father to husband. Further, they are to make themselves available to men as a sign of their purity before God. So, the idea of being sexually grabbed and used was not too far off from this distorted worldview.
Misogyny
Purity culture is part of the toxic masculinity of Christian Nationalism which “is a movement by, for, and in support of men,” Denker says (178). Carter Heyward adds that the sin of misogyny (hatred or disdain for women) feeds the culture of Christian Nationalism.
Jesus and the Woman at the Well
The story of Jesus’s encounter at the well with the woman from Samaria (John 4:5-42) stands in stark contrast to the misogyny and toxic masculinity displayed by Trump and other men of his ilk. There’s no grabbing of anything here. Jesus does not forcibly take anything from the woman. Instead, he asks her for water and engages her in respectful conversation. Ultimately, their encounter leads to her restoration in the community.
Central Question. What does Jesus teach us about the value, worth, and dignity of women as we counter the misogyny of “purity culture” and toxic masculinity today?