" The language of contempt is not the only shadow language in the New Testament. There is also one that uses the rhetoric of men first, followed by silenced women and obedient slaves. There is another that divides reality into opposed pairs, pitting church against world, spirit against flesh, light against dark. There is even one that glorifies suffering for suffering’s sake, leading some Christians to hurt themselves—or others—for reasons that have nothing to do with the gospel. "

― Barbara Brown Taylor , Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others