:,

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ED 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 in 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 local 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 set 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 her 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 it 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
Blackboard
Black mai I
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, even
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 stated 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 their 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 How Many Law
Systems Exist?, by Curtis I Crenshaw.
Another helpful aspect of the book
includes the original article and Mrs.
Clark's response to it 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 shelf 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
faithful stands of His 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. It 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
myself re-rea!ling several chapters 2 or 3
times. :But what does Hardenbrook
mean by "feminization?" I speak
of feminization, I am referring to a con-
ditioning process in modern American
culture. in 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.
In 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 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, <:;lint Eastwood is
afraid of no one. But unlike Wayne,
Eastwood to have no respect for
God. . . . The old macho image was,
"God, guts, and guns built America."
But the new macho image is simply,
"Guts and guns built America." "The
new macho challenges the traditional
masculine image by . removing its
soul." "As the movie Rambo so vividly
demonstrates, the new macho superhero
is perfectly capable of single-handedly
destroying half of North Vietnam,
along with a contingent of Russian re-
serves, while at the same time intimi-
dating ,his own government." Harden-
brook labels the Mach-Manic, "a war-
rior a cause."
Hardenbrook's second false model is
the Archie Bunker type. Labeled "The
Great Pretender," he is a living lie.
Despite his incompetence and inferiori-
ty, the Great Pretender masks his ignor-
ance with a facade of macho lingo.
The Counsel of Chalcedon May, 1989 page 22
Hardenbrook writes: "There he is. A
. man who gaifl!i a sense of personal
Worth , by con'stantly belittling his
family. . . . I cau Archie, the man, the
"Great Pretender." "He imagines he
x:ules over his family and neighbors
while everyone but Edith ridicules hiin
behind his baek." "Archie Bunker is
simply another false, but funny, Ameri-
can male icon. He keeps his frightened
domestic world at arms length through
a constant stream of caustic verbiage.
Not knowing what true masculinity is,
Archie ... . pre(ends."
Hardenbrook's third icon is the World-
Class Wimp: Dagwood Bumstead. It is
interesting that 'Blondie', developed
fifty-five years ago is the most popular
of approximately 128 comics in news-
papers. Hardenbrook says, "Like the
fathers in many other cartoons and tele-
vision seties, Dagwood is regularly the
butt of jokes. Needless to say, no man I
know will admit to being a wimp. But
the . feminists have only thrived in a
culture infected by wimps. Hardenbrook
asks, "Is Dagwood a tragic figure rather
than a comic one? I ask because the
father more than any other male is
singled out for special ridicule."
"Strong men on television are either.
bachelors, widower, or divorced, and the
married men with children are portrayed
as somewhat ridiculous, incompetent,
confused. Nobody could hate or fear the
poor devils -- a humane PersOil cmild
only pity them." (page 21)
At the risk of reminding you of
bytery meeting:
"Unlike the macho man or the pre-
tender, he is usually a very sensitive
guy. In fact, he's so tender he's been in
line for every sensitivity seminar to hit
town in the last fifteen years. Don't
worry about being offended by him.
He's always 'nice'. Somewhere he's
found a modem beatitude: 'Blessed are
the passive, for they shall avoid con-
flict.' And avoiding conflict is of para-
mount importance to the wimp. Under
no circumstances would he turn over
tables and drive out money-changers as
Jesus did. He avoids a fight at all costs.
Worse than Dagwood, he'll even let his
family fall apart rather than confront
forces that to destroy it." (page 22)
In this vein I recall a well-known re-
formed preacher/writer bewail at length
how Sessions fail to treat their pastors
like men. As he went on and on about
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 like 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 theW ar 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 who forsook covenant dependen-
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 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 these 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 have to chase after
phony models who didn't know him,
who didn't belong to him, who didn't
care about him. All he needed 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. n
"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 of Chalcedon May, 1989 page 23