Good men, Boaz and the #MeToo Movement
The dam has been breached. Since the #MeToo movement broke, we have been flooded with stories of assault, perpetrators are neck-deep in allegations, and institutional practices that enabled predators have been busted open. The movement has overflowed to #ChurchToo, and #NunsToo.
How do we reconstruct after such devastation? How to make positive changes that are better for both men and women? How do we proceed to that (in Oprah’s words) “new day in the horizon” when nobody says “me too, again”. The movement seems to be at a loss as to how to move towards that day.
How do we go forward? How to make positive changes? The movement seems to be at a loss.
Christians, however, have one resource that the world does not. It has some great scriptural examples of how men can deal with vulnerable women. We find one of these in the story of Ruth. Even though he was born around 1100BC, Boaz might just be the radical male for our times.
Maybe we think we’re familiar with the sweet love story of Ruth. But that familiarity shouldn’t stop us from noticing its historical context. The time of Ruth is the time of Judges (Ruth 1:1)—a time of great political instability, and of particular danger for women. For example, in Judges 19-21, we read of women subject to abuse and violence from their intimate partners and from the wider community.
Ruth’s violent and volatile backdrop makes the man, Boaz, all the more striking. Here is some wisdom we can glean from Boaz in his care of vulnerable women.
