-
8/12/2019 1989 Issue 4 - Book Reviews: Blackboard Blackmail and
Missing From Action, Vanishing Manhood in America - Cou
1/3
:
E
Book Reviews ;
grown-ups
in
church. When
we
were
taught to read,
we
read the scriptures.
But Lydia Shchevchenko set
me
on a
path which
took
me away from all
that. (p.
144)
lo, :
Blackboard Blackmail,
by Su
zanne Clark. Footstool Publications,
1988, P.O. Box 161021, Memphis,
1N.
38186, $8.95. 218 pp. with index.
Reviewed by the Rev. Byron Snapp,
Headmaster of the Covenant Christian
School
n
Cedar Bluff, Virginia.
It can't happen
here.
This is often the response given
when one reads about trends, new laws,
or activities that give every appearance
of
putting a damper on Christianity.
Surely those
who
would think that
great evil would result against Chris
tianity
in
a neutral or religiously plural
society are seeking to use scare tactics
or are at best misguided. This book is a
vivid reminder that such concerns are
not scare tactics
nor
are they misguided
Suzanne Clark's book is a personal
account
of
how it can happen here.
You see,
it
did happen
in
the small
town
of
Bristol, a town which sits on
the border of Virginia
and
Tennessee.
In 1982 Mrs. Clark read an article
in
the
lo
cal newspaper written by two
National Education Association (NEA)
officials that promoted public educa
tion.
In
reading
it
she
saw many inac
curacies and misleading statements.
Concerned to se t the record straight, she
wrote a cogent response. Her response
was printed. The story does not end
here. In fact, this is just the beginning.
The NEA did not take lightly to her
response. As a result
of
her article, she
was sued by the NEA for libel in the
amount
of
$100,000.
00
.
In
their spirit of freedom they gave
Mrs. Clark the opportunity to retract
her statements. To help h
er
they even
wrote a letter
of
retraction
in
which
by
signing
it
she would deny everything
she had written against the NEA in
her
response. She chose to be sued rather
than lie by signing the paper.
This book is a well-written account
of
that suit and the result
of
t Yet
it
is
far more. The reader learns of
the
steps
the NEA was willing to take to attempt
to limit criticism
of
its organization.
The author also documents several
.
'
positions
of
the NEA.
In
this docu
mentation the reader can clearly
see that
the philosophy of the NEA
is
of a
radical nature. Its objectives include
disarmament (p. 112ff), the removal
of
Christian ethics as the basis for moral
structure (p. 116ff), and the training
of
children to see that a variety
of
differing
values are equally good, thus promoting
a global community (pp. 129ff.).
Let me hastily add that this book
lackboard
lackmai
provides much encouragement
Tile
reader cannot help
but
be encouraged to
read of a Christian's faithful stand even
in
the midst
of
a lawsuit. Great en
couragement
is
seen
in God
raising
up
$70,000 to fully
pay
for Mrs. Clark's
legal fees incurred
in her
defense, ev
en
though the NEA dropped the case before
it was actually heard in court
Mrs. Clark, who has taught English
on
the college level, has penned a well
written, clearly s tated warning to Chris
tian parents who think that the public
school can ultimately have no negative
influence on their children. She quotes
the following from Nikita Kruschev's
memoirs :
I suppose you could say my politi
cal education began during my boyhood
in the little village. . . . where I was
born.
My
school teacher there. . . .
was a revolutionary. She was also an
atheist. She instilled in
me
my first
political consciousness
and
began to
counteract the effects of my strict reli
gious upbringing. My mother was very
religious, likewise her father. . . .
When I think back to my childhood I
can
remember being taught to kneel and
pray in front of the icons with the
Mrs. Clark readily admits that
God
is
sovereign and does allow some children
to survive the non-Christian training
received
in
the public school system.
At the same
time she is
mindful that
many
have not
seen the importance
of
Christianity in the midst of hours of
classes where there
is
no mention of
Christianity unless
it is in
negative
terms. Thus taught,
God is
not relevant
to spheres
of
life
other
than morning
worship. Only
God
knows how many
have thus denied
His
relevance to any
area
of
life and live accordingly. Mrs.
Clark reminds the reader that home
schools and private schools provide an
excellent alternative.
In
the
ir
climates
parents
have
direct input and much
oversight
in
the education
of
their
children. In this climate students are
equipped
to
apply Christianity to all
of
life.
The
book closes
with
several ex-
cellent apendices including an essay by
Robert
L
Dabney
on
Secularized
Education and
one on ow
Many
Law
Systems Exist? by Curtis I Crenshaw.
Another helpful aspect
of
the book
includes the original article and Mrs.
Clark's response to
t By
reading the
footnotes added to the 1982 NEA article
the reader
is
able
to gain
great insight
as to
how
to read articles discerningly.
They
may on
the surface appear to be ac
curate but in truth be very misleading.
The
book includes a forward
by
Beverly LaHaye and a chapter
on Mr.
LaHaye's work with Concerned Women
for America which provided essential
legal help, moral support, and financial
backing for Mrs. Clark during
her
ordeal.
I urge you to buy three copies of this
book -- one for yourself and one for
your local library.
You
will want to
keep your copy.
When
you finish
reading it,
it
will probably
be
pretty
well underlined as
is my
copy.
If
you
are like me you will
want
to keep
it
on
hand for future reference as well as to
show to friends. What about the third
copy? Every church library needs to
have sh
elf
space for this book. This
book provides a great opportunity for
the Christian to
see how God
does bless
The Counsel of Chalcedon May 1989 page 21
-
8/12/2019 1989 Issue 4 - Book Reviews: Blackboard Blackmail and
Missing From Action, Vanishing Manhood in America - Cou
2/3
faithful stands ofHis people in our day -
- even when this
stand
involves one
woman who seeks
to
correct the false
statements
made by
a well-known
national organization. God willing, the
reader will be much better prepared in
case one of those "can't happen here
situations does indeed occur.
Vanishing Manhood in
America,
by
Weldon
M.
Hardenbrook, Thomas
Nelson, Publishers. Reviewed
by
David
E.
Rockett, Financial Planner
and Elder
at the
Covenant Presbyterian Church
(PCA) in Forest, Mississippi.
"What's the most crying
and
urgent
need for the church?" is a question with
many competetors for the number one
slot
Able .and courageous pastors is.
one
such need; but perhaps
even
m.ore
scarce are godly elders and congrega
tions to call those
who
already exist. Of
course
I
am
totally without bias in cry
ing
for faithful stewardship
in
economic
matters. The church is woefully con.
fonned to the debt-ridden materialistic
consumerism of the status quo. Pastor
Weldon
Hardenbrook might instead
be
wail
our desperate need for true Chris-
.
tian
manliness. After re-reading
his
book
a second time since last summer,
I believe
he just
might be right.
I cannot recommend Weldon M. Har
denbrook's book,
Missing From Ac-
tion too highly. t is now our wed
ding gift companion book with Mary
Pride's
The Way Home.
Sub-titled,
Vanishing Manhood in America
Hardenbrook shows the cultural devasta
tion
that
has resulted from the feminiza
tion of American men. Men simply
don't know how
to
be
real
men -
- knowing
how
to be godly
men
with
out being either tyrants
or
wilnps.
Before I give
yo\1
some
quotes, the chap
ter
titles are: 1)
The
Death of Masculin
ity,
2 Four
False Icons, 3)
When Man-
hood Came to America, 4)
Prom
Patri
arch to Patriot, 5) Victoria's Secret, 6)
A Vanishing Breed, 7 Confessions
of
a.
Fish out of Water, 8) It's a Crime to Be
Male, 9
A
Model
for Manhood, 10)
Fatlter
Is
Not a Four-Letter Word, 11)
Marks
of
Manly Love, .12) Returning
toManhood. .
Not only
is the book well written;
Pastor Hardenbrook covers much
ground
with insightful detail, rve found
myselfre-rea ling several chapters 2 or 3
times. :But
what
does Hardenbrook
mean by
"feminization?" h e n I speak
of
feminization, I
am
referring
to
a con
ditioning process in modern American
culture.
n
which men have been
trained
to respond to people and situations in
ways that
are
more
akin
to historical
female behavior patterns than they are
to historical male behavior patterns."
The bOOk s progression gives addeq con
tent to this defmition.
n
chaptet two, entitled,
Four False
Icons Mr. Hardenbrook gives us four
modeis
of
manhood which are all false
perversions. First is "Macho Mania:
The Duke, Dirty Harry, and Rambo."
The ~ e began the macho image of a
man in charge
who
placed principle
over
pragmatism.
But
even
John
Wayne's image
was
of the loner, inde
pendent man with
no
need
for family
ties or responsibilities.
Wayne
set the
stage for progression to the Eastwood
model
in .Dirty Harry. Hardenbrook
says, "
Like
Wayne,
-
8/12/2019 1989 Issue 4 - Book Reviews: Blackboard Blackmail and
Missing From Action, Vanishing Manhood in America - Cou
3/3
the "emasculation" of Pastors by Ses
sions for
over
1300 attendees at the
men's rally; I had an all but uncon
trollable urge to stand and shout
'Then
they ought to start acting lik men "
The years since have made me more
convinced than ever that the primary
reason most pastors are treated like
wimps is because they
do
not act like
men. They
learn
quickly to tip-toe
around (priss?), compromise, and
scheme like a wimp behind the scenes.
They'd never dare show real courage, ini
tiative, leadership out front. The church
has its Machos and Archies, but an
overdose of wimpy, cowardly men. The
wimp surrenders and avoids conflict -
- he's a coward.
Hardenbrook's final icon is the
Gender Blenders: Michael Jackson and
Boy George. "He trades his masculinity
for the non-identity
of
unisex: he com
mits masculine suicide." Hardenbrook
notes there is more here than meets the
eye. When both sexes are confused as to
their true identity and role in society,
the culture is in bad trouble. A nation
al unisex mentality must necessarily be
preceded by the destruction of sexual
identities. The accompanying emascula
tion of the American male will not
bring about equality. Rather, it will
cause further confusion and ultimately
lead to the destruction of the American
man and his family."
Hardenbrook surveys the manly men
tality of the Pilgrim/Puritan early sett
lers and contrasts it
to
the independent
Patriot who emerged after theWar of In
dependence. You might not agree with
his every comment, but his insight into
the damaging nature
of
independency is
excellent Autonomous independency
can easily lead to anarchistic individual
ism and lack of responsibility. I recall
Peter Marshall making a similar com
ment concerning the second generation
Puritan whoforsook covenantdependen
cy for self-sufficient independency in
his book, The
Light
and the Glory.
Hardenbrook comments:
"As men left the church and ceased to
discuss theology, the American view of
God would now change as well. It was
at this time, according to [Peter] Stems,
that 'the image
of
God lost ground.'
American Christianity now began to
focus almost exclusively on a feminine
and sentimental Jesus. This would have
an increasingly negative effect on
American men. With the Father in
heaven missing from view, the father in
the home took a leave
of
absence as
well.'' (page
54)
Hardenbrook has much to say about
the influence of the feminist movement
on American manliness. But the femini
zation he addresses began in the early
1800's.
By then women dominated the
membership
of
most churches. The in
dustrial revolution left women either
away from horne competing with men
at work, or at home as an idle consumer
with little
to
contribute. She became
the self-righteous moral crusader who
evolved into the pompous pedestaled -
- Victorian woman. Since men retreated
to dominate only politics and business;
the family, church and
school, once
the
domain
of
men, became dominated by
women. Men, Hardenbrook's insight
and comments
are
so good that your
wife needs
to
read the frrst eight chap
ters.
"Several generations
of
American
boys have grown
up
under a feminized
culture, and each generation has been
more
o n f u s e
about male identity than
its predecessor. . . . there is not an
American male today who has escaped
the feminizing influence of Victorian
ism. (page 79)
Hardenbrook covers too many sub
jects to deal with in this review. I just
list some telling ones: Feminine
models for boys in Sunday School and
elementary school; crime statistics and
missing fathers from the horne; sex
change and male inferiority; the im
plication of God
the
Father; Patriarchy;
and Job 29 as a model for manhood. All
of
hese are interesting and handled with
skill and clarity.
Chapter eleven: 'Marks
of
Manly
Love' is probably the best chapter in
the book. I've read it four or five times
and hope it's published in pamphlet
form and widely distributed. Let
me
give you some quotes:
"There is only one true love: the love
of
God
the
Father.
But
like two cuts on
a diamond, males
and
females reflect
His love somewhat differently, which is
why they need each other. The frrst
mark of masculine love is that it ini
tiates. How do we know this? Because
as we consider God the Father, who is
the source
of all
love, we fmd Him as
the prime initiator
of
love. . . .'' (page
150)
"Because love is their responsibility
to initiate, and is not dependent upon
subjective feelings, men are freed from
the tremendous burden
of
having to
wait for the arrival of great emotional
intensity before making that frrst move.
. . . To choose to love and to initiate
that love toward people is to act like a
man (page
151)
". . . . many men fantasize about
women always being the initiators.
This compulsive need
to
be on the
receiving end of love is, frankly, one
way to check whether a man has been
feminized or not." (page 152)
Hardenbrook's second
mark of
manly
love is love that Commits. "Patriarchal
love 'bears all things.' American males
who want to act like real men commit
themselves to carry the pain
of
others
instead
of
running away and hiding.
Patriarchal love 'believes all things,
hopes all things.'
That
means that
males who want
to
act like real men
commit themselves
to
faith and to the
future. Probably
the
most missing
element of committed love in today's
feminized American male iS' his willing
ness to endure
all
things.'' (page 152)
Hardenbrook goes on with love that
Unifies, that Sacrifices, that is Zealous
and that Models. Men, you've got to
read it for yourself I'll close with a few
quotes under the heading, "Where the
Rubber Meets the Road."
"So what do men do? I know what I
did. I sat down with my son and told
him
that
be
didn't
ha
ve
to chase after
phony models who didn't know him,
who didn't belong to him, who didn't
care about him. Al l he ne
ede
d to do was
to be like me. Egotistic? Not on your
life. Risky? Absolutely But established
our relationship
the
way it was meant
to be. Does that mean a man has to be
perfect? No. It just means that he better
have a heart for what is right I make
mistakes, but I also repent
If
my son
imitates me in that, he will be fine.
"In the effort to recover responsible
manhood, fathers must declare them
selves the models for their sons. This is
the normal relationship that brings
boys to manhood. It is part and parcel
of true patriarchal fatherhood. The
apostle Paul boldly declared this truth
to an entire church when
he
said, 'For
in Christ Jesus I have begotten you
through the gospel. Therefore I urge
you, imitate me.'" (page 161) [ J
The Counsel
o
Chalcedon May, 989 page
3
