The term is often used to equate to benign things such as traditional values or previous generation culture norms. It is often seen as the only appropriate response to "feminism" which is seen solely as the tentacle of matriarchy. There is no "either/or" choice for the patriarchal people. There has to be someone in control - and it is either male and female, patriarchy or matriarchy.
Oddly, for proponents of the Gospel of liberation and freedom the term egalitarian or even democracy is treated as a four-letter word.
Patriarchy is a political-social construct. It was the driving force in the ancient world shaping the cultures of many lands. The Roman controlled culture of the New Testament will strongly influence how the emerging church processes behaviors.
What causes this tension in the first place? One underlying problem is in how people view redemption and how they view the concept of the trinity.
Richard Longenecker, noted scholar, has noted that this tension in views concerning creation and redemption is at the heart of the problem in church thinking. When creation order is stressed, subordination and submission are emphasized alongside later commands to silence. Where redemption is emphasized, the focus tends more toward freedom, mutuality and equality.
"Paul also lays emphasis on redemption in such a way as to indicate that what God has done in Christ transcends what is true simply because of creation." (New Testament Social Ethics for Today (Eerdmans, 1974)92). This hints at a vision of the Church redeemed, "in Christ," as being "post patriarchal.
The argument for greater participation of women in Christian faith is based either on the concept of humans created in God's image, given dominion, sinning and then being punished. That punishment will be interpreted as a) a woman will try to have power over a man (not really supported by the text) or b) her desire will be to her husband, but his ongoing response will be to rule over her instead of being in close relationship.
Patriarchy births the decision to see an eternal hierarchy within the creation account, which in turn influences how people conceptualize the theology of the Trinity (eternal subordination of the Son to the Father theory) and how they interpret relational dynamics between men and women (woman eternally subordinate to the male rather than an equal creation in God's image and a co-heir with Christ).
This beginning mind-set of eternal subordination versus a freedom via Christ to be true "co-heirs" with Christ illustrates the entire complementarian vs egalitarian tension.
Patriarchy is about power. It is the struggle with hubris and male mankind's greatest Achilles heel. The emphasis among those preaching a Gospel of Patriarchy is about authority, dominance, control, leadership, and inflation of male worth over female worth as a natural order.
Christians are defined as "Christ like" and those characteristics promoted by Patriarchalism ignore the servant mentality of leadership (who would be greatest must be like a servant), as well as the expectations of demonstrations of daily love, mercy, grace, kindness, and sacrifice. The focus is not on the Great Command to spread the Gospel but on maintaining a power structure and control. The focus is not on growing as disciples but safeguarding dominance in the marriage or home. The focus is not on loving and helping others but securing a position as the alpha male, dominant, and controlling head of a church or home.
Added to this level are pure ambassadors of social patriarchy. Not preachers, they are counselors, politicians, businessmen, and institutions that promote patriarchy as the best social structure. They want to make voting a male only, head of the household activity, reduce women's access to education, and control "gatekeep" her interactions with other women or online.
They often define themselves as "high value" men who must be catered to by subservient wives or companions. Current events show that these two groups the Christian Patriarchs and the Social Patriarchs are joining forces. Around them are also clustering white supremacists, antisemites, and other negative forces wooed by control an power.
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