Sons of Patriarchy

Based on many of these reviews, I’d say the harm and abuse is still happening, more than ever, within the church. We need to be aware of what’s going on so we can do better! Podcasts like this and Julie Roys are so important. We cannot protect the innocent until we know what to protect them from! This podcast helps illuminate the patterns of predators in the church. Peter does a great of job of listening, giving victims a voice to tell their stories, and an opportunity to encourage who may still be stuck.

I’ve been listening to each episode as it has come out. I’ve found this series to be difficult to listen to at times, simply because the content is so heavy. But the SMEs all have been excellent and really helpful in processing the ideas shared. Julie Roys was no exception. I particularly appreciated the reminder that the Reformation took over 100 years. In fact, many that helped move it forward were mocked and harassed. But that made it no less right. Keep on bringing light to the darkness, SoP!

There is much to like about the content of this podcast. Unfortunately, the editing is rather poor. It could be a tighter and more listenable podcast if the producers took more time to edit the conversations. There are simply too many pauses and filler words to make it sound any better than a conversation one would hear in the wild. Nor does this approach adopted in the podcast add any “authenticity“ to the delivery. It just sounds amateurish.

By exposing the more flagrant abuses against women in the church, you also are beginning to expose some of the subtle abuses and profound neglect these women have experienced . As a counselor , I see men and mostly women who have been told to keep their marriages intact at all costs. They experience spiritual abuse but don’t have a name for it because the abuse appears “ godly.” On Sons of Patriarchy, these women have gone through obvious signs of abuse. There are countless more , including myself, who have experienced covert abuse. Although their stories are not as dramatic, they also need to be shared.

I started listening to this podcast after leaving a church that was moving towards a fundamentalist Wilson-esque culture. While I found many of the episodes to be useful, especially the interviews with Rachel Denhollander, I am finding many of the most recent episodes to be disappointing. The host has, unfortunately, taken up rhetorical tactics used by Wilson himself in his interviews and commentaries, not to mention the design of the merchandise, which is profoundly caustic and intentionally inflammatory. What is particularly bothersome is the discussions of Christians moving away from public schools. The academics interviewed speak with authority as they spout theories that are narrow in scope and weakly supported, lumping all families who choose to educate outside of the public school system as part of a racist tradition and who function as useful idiots for Christian reconstructionism and dominionism. I would strongly encourage the host to be more responsible in his interview choices and, at the very least, include voices that are capable of speaking about education and educational choices that are less biased and narrow.