On Nov. 1, Peter Herbeck, vice president of Renewal Ministries, and his wife Debbie Herbeck, founder of Pine Hills Girls’ Camp and women’s ministry Be Love Revolution, engaged with the reality of masculinity and femininity in their lecture titled “The School of Love: Lessons in Authentic Masculinity and Femininity.” They discussed the mystery of God revealed in masculinity and femininity and the cooperation between the two, specifically in one’s journey to salvation in a fallen world. 

“Essential masculine and feminine nature has been distorted by the Fall,” Debbie Herbeck said. “Identity has been tied up with external standards of worldly success.” 

Vice President of Catholic Society, Emma Purdy, has known the Herbecks since her high school involvement in Debbie’s Be Love Revolution. She invited them to speak on-campus.

“I think at Hillsdale there is a tendency to focus on the philosophical and logical components of our relationship with Christ and the way we relate with one another as men and women,” Purdy said. “But Peter and Debbie Herbeck conveyed this message through a more spiritual lens which I think is really refreshing for Hillsdale’s campus. I think they did a great job of relating the head and the heart in a very spiritual way that we are all thirsting for.” 

Peter Herbeck’s faith started to come alive in college after reading Matthew 6:33. He made it his mission to seek the kingdom of God first and God’s way of holiness.

“To seek the kingdom means to seek the King…over time, this became the truth of my identity,” Peter Herbeck said. “Don’t be anxious about who you are, because God will show you.”

Whereas the Bible urges us to find our identities in God, society tells us to listen to our fallen human hearts, Peter Herbeck said. People receive their identities from God, rather than developing them on their own.

“Contemporary culture doesn’t pay attention to biblical revelation about the condition of the human heart,” Peter Herbeck said.

Through his masculinity a man is called to represent Christ, Peter Herbeck explained. Christ represented perfect masculinity in his meekness. Peter Herbeck described meekness as “strength under control and in the service of love.”

Debbie Herbeck referenced the Hebrew word for ‘femininity,’ which means ‘to receive and nurture.’ 

“A woman reveals the beauty of the mystery of God,” Debbie Herbeck said. “A woman is God’s weapon, which he uses to penetrate and transform a culture. As women, we have an important role to play in the culture, to restore society. The Blessed Virgin Mary really shows us what redeemed femininity looks like.” 

Men and women “share a common reality in the Lord. Teaching us how to love,” Peter Herbeck said. “We are brothers and sisters in Christ first. Healthy friendships between men and women do not need to be sexualized.” 

Debbie Herbeck concluded by discussing the difficulty of being a committed Christian in today’s world.

 “Communion with God is the key to it all. Otherwise our lives will not bear fruit – male or female,” Debbie Herbeck said.