the Empathy List #104: Male at Church

Joshua Butler & Male Bias at Church

Hello friend, Liz here.

In March, I wrote briefly about the language of sexual violence within evangelicalism, specifically regarding Joshua Ryan Butler’s inflammatory TGC article that go so much bad press (and which his publisher rushed to print 😱…).

Curious Reads: Man on Top

Welp, I’m here with an update: Butler has resigned his post of co-pastor of his megachurch in Arizona, citing the stress of the controversy surrounding his book and his staff’s/family’s overwhelm in facing it.

You can read the resignation letter here—it’s actually not a bad apology, which to my ear rings genuine, especially since Butler says he paid for additional sensitivity readings¹ (out of his own pocket?) which yielded edits that will be incorporated into the next printing. Because, don’t forget, the first printing was rushed by the publisher who was eager to offer context to the problematic excerpt at TGC… and/or to cash in on the attention.

So, in a sense, this is justice, right? To have a male author-pastor face financial and soci…