The end of male headship
It slipped by and was quietly buried yesterday evening. Nobody realized that it had died. Nobody will mourn. Male headship is dead. Denny Burk DVR’d the Superbowl to watch Downton Abbey, the exact episode in which mother, wife, daughters and sons-in-law take up the spade and bury male headship. Lord Grantham will not be obeyed.
A week ago, Sybil, the youngest daughter gave birth. Lord Grantham put the fashionable London doctor in charge. His wife asked the local doctor to also be present. The local doctor sensed immediately that something was wrong. Sybil had high blood pressure and suffered from preeclamspia. However, Lord Grantham overruled, following the advice of the London doctor, and Sybil was not delivered by C-section. She died giving birth.
In the meantime, the estate is going down the tubes from mismanagement. The sons-in-law are aware of this and make moves to take over management before bankruptcy ousts them all from the ancestral estate. The last straw is when Lord Grantham barges in on the ladies at a luncheon and orders them back home because the cook who served dinner is a reformed prostitute. At this point the ladies – wife, mother and daughters – rebel. They will no longer be dictated to. Sybil has died.
For those who find it fanciful – a soap opera – good. But for many women, they know the agony of the “head of the house” making medical decisions in disagreement with the female members of the family. Some women have also experienced bankruptcy through the stupidity of male headship. But we know now that Christian leaders are watching Downton Abbey on Sundays and will soon realize that there will be no resurrection for male headship. Amen.
I predict that Lord Grantham will once again be dearly loved by his lady – he will be allowed back into the bedroom. But he will no longer be obeyed.
BLT 
Nice post — but one that demands a “spoiler alert” in the DVR age (I haven’t started watching the series, which I have complete on Blu-Ray, so I didn’t catch the references, but if I had I would have been seriously annoyed.)
Oh dear! I heard it all on the internet myself before watching this episode since I was a week behind. But you wish to watch the whole thing at some future date without knowing how things turn out? If I did that I would have to walk around with my fingers in my ears going lalalalalalalala. Well you get the drift – my sisters must dissect every episode.
But this issue has unusual significance for me. When 9 months pregnant, I was sent from the doctor’s office straight to the hospital for high blood pressure, and the baby was delivered by C-section ASAP.
Hi,
I wondered if it might be possible to email you with a question and clarification regarding a conversation thread a few months ago on the think http://www.theology.co.uk website regarding Al Wolters and the use of “authentien” pre-constantine. The information didn’t seem to tie up when I researched what Al Wolters had written.
Thanks for any help.
Adam: some BLT bloggers may have limited Internet connectivity this week; so please be patient — I am certain we will get back to you soon!
Theo,
Thanks for this. Adam and I have had an excellent email exchange in the last few days. It does not cover any new ground, so I hesitate to blog about it. But it went well.