By now everyone has read John Piper's ideas about figure skating and hierarchical theology that he tweeted earlier this week, but a thought that just doesn't leave me is that Piper unwittingly makes a case for egalitarian theology.
You see, in ice-skating the coach can be either a man or a woman, and the coach has the final say, just as God has the final say in the life of a Christian.
In an article that appears on Piper's website, "Desiring God," John Ensor tries to make the case for a leading male skater and a supporting female skater:
"Sochi is helping me be a better husband. And the Olympics are freshly making my wife to delight in her role as well. The surprising lesson is on display in figure skating pairs.
At its best, this event displays the strength and beauty of unity: how two different people become one. The gold goes to that couple which has most mastered the skill of male leadership and female support making one glorious whole."
(Read the whole article at http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/an-olympic-lesson-for-husbands-and-wives)
But how can the man lead when it's up to the coach what moves the couple makes? The man doesn't command his partner to follow his preferences, nor does the woman submit to the man's decisions. The final decisions have been already been made by the coach in partnership with the dancers, taking into account their strengths and weaknesses; a good coach does not ask the dancers perform moves they can't. Hence, Ensor's analogy makes the coach the leader, and in more than one case that leader is a woman. And because the leader can be either a man or woman, the leadership model that figure skating provides is one in which the most competent dancers become leaders, leaders that help other dancers excel. This is an egalitarian model, not a hierarchical model.
If figure skating requires competent leaders, who have acquired their competence from years of training, why doesn't the church?
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