S2 Ep1124: Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rachel Joy Welcher
Oct 30, 2023
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In this podcast, poet and author Rachel Joy Welcher discusses her book 'Talking Back to Purity Culture' and explores the flaws and impact of purity culture. She reflects on her experiences at John MacArthur's college and seminary, talks about authors who have evolved their views on purity culture, and explores navigating sexual temptation and healthy friendships.
Purity culture inappropriately aligned with the prosperity gospel, promoting self-centered rewards for sexual purity.
Purity culture dehumanized women by emphasizing virginity as their worth and burdening them unfairly.
Moving beyond purity culture requires healthy conversations, community, and embracing diverse perspectives to foster a nuanced and biblical understanding of purity.
Deep dives
Purity Culture and the Prosperity Gospel
One of the major problems with purity culture is its alignment with the prosperity gospel. It promised young people that if they remain sexually pure, they would be rewarded with a blissful marriage, amazing sex, and other benefits. This emphasis on self-centered rewards led to a distorted view of purity and placed an unrealistic burden on young people. The message conveyed a transactional relationship with God, which is not in line with biblical teachings.
Dehumanizing Women and Emphasizing Virginity
Another issue within purity culture was the dehumanization of women and the emphasis on virginity. The message repeatedly promoted the idea that a woman's worth lies in her sexual function and her virginity is the greatest gift she can offer her future spouse. This perspective not only disregarded the experiences of sexual abuse survivors or those who had committed sexual sins in the past, but it also reduced women to objects and put an unfair burden on them. The focus on virginity overshadowed the importance of holistic purity and ignored the transformative power of Christ's forgiveness.
Moving Towards Healthy Conversations and Community
To move beyond the damaging aspects of purity culture, it is crucial to shift towards healthy conversations and a sense of community. Rather than relying on a single book or program to provide all the answers, it is important to engage in ongoing dialogue and foster an environment where people feel safe to discuss their questions, experiences, and concerns without judgment. Encouraging diverse perspectives and acknowledging the complexity of sexuality will contribute to a more nuanced and biblical understanding of purity.
Challenging the Link Between Salvation and Virginity
The speaker reflects on the harmful belief that equated salvation with virginity. Despite never being explicitly stated, the speaker internalized this idea and associated it with being a devoted Christian. However, as the speaker matured, they realized the fallacy of this belief, understanding that God's forgiveness is limitless and not dependent on sexual purity.
Navigating the Impact of Purity Culture
The podcast episode delves into the experiences of attending conservative Christian colleges and seminaries, where there was a prevalent culture of suspicion towards those outside the group. The speaker recounts their personal journey within these environments, highlighting how legalism, spiritual pride, and hypocrisy contributed to disillusionment among students. The harmful effects of these experiences are discussed, with many former classmates deconstructing their faith due to the oppressive nature of purity culture.
Rachel Joy Welcher is a poet and author living in South Dakota with her husband, Pastor Evan Welcher, and their longed for daughter, Hildegaard. Rachel works as an editor at Fathom Magazine and Lexham Press and received her Master of Letters in theology from The University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She is the author of four books: "Blue Tarp" (Finishing Line Press, 2016), "Two Funerals, Then Easter" (Dustlings Press, 2018), "Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality" (InterVarsity Press, 2020), and "Sometimes Women Lie About Being Okay" (Dustlings Press, 2022). This podcast conversation is based on her book Talking Back to Purity Culture and it's a raw and honest one!
