Before there was Kristin Kobes Du Mez and Beth Allison Barr, there was Carolyn Custis James. I don’t know what the general reaction to the original 2015 version of Malestrom: Manhood Swept into the Current of a Changing World was. I know that it had a big, personal effect on me. I have preached on women in ministry and used this book in my message. I’ve preached on masculinity and used this book in my message. 

 

Specifically, it made me reconsider the story of Deborah and Barak. Before Malestrom, I always held to that belief that Barak was a weak leader who didn’t really do a great job and Deborah had to rescue him. I also went back and forth on Deborah’s place as a spiritual/governmental leader. Was she only in power because men like Barak were so weak-willed? Carolyn Custis James sets the record straight, showing what these two positions have in common: neither portrays Barak positively. It doesn’t have to an either/or, rather James writes of the “Blessed Alliance” that occurs when men and women come together and work with God. There’s no indication in the text that Barak does anything but his job. He requests Deborah to join him in battle, treating her like the Ark of the Covenant—as a thing in which the presence of God dwells. Standing together, man and woman defeat their enemy and then sing God’s praises about it. 

 

Malestrom was also the first book to introduce me to ezer kenegdo. That’s the Hebrew term used in Genesis to describe Eve as a “helper suitable.” Some scholars have looked at that word “helper” as indicating woman’s need for subservience or submission. James has us look at the term in context to see how ezer is used of military allies and, most notably, God himself. I have this book to thank for a significant shift away from what my tradition and taught me into what I now see as a healthier and more biblical option. 

 

There’s so much to this book to recommend. I really must just tell you to go out and read it. Cogent, concise, and clear, Carolyn Custis James eviscerates the patriarchy with precision and patience. The defense of “biblical” patriarchy is often couched as a defense of “biblical” manhood. James reveals that for the lie it is, showing abundantly how patriarchy ends up harming our idea of what it means to be a man. 

 

I’m so thankful to Zondervan for reprinting this book for this cultural moment. While no one less than the late Rachel Held Evans declared the 2015 edition to be “immensely timely” (and she wasn’t wrong!), seven years later the topic seems to have moved even more firmly into “culture war” territory, making James’s wise words even more poignant now. We didn’t listen very well in 2015. Maybe we will now.