Book Review: Womanly Dominion

I recently borrowed Womanly Dominion by Mark Chanski from a friend. What a GREAT book! Mark does a good job of showing that following the biblical commands to be a submissive wife, and having a meek and quiet spirit does not mean we should be a wall-flower. He uses a soccer analogy, that God wants us to "play our position" and "play to win". Feminists have tried to convince us (and done a pretty good job) that to be successful we should "be like men". That staying home and taking care of our home and children is demeaning. This book shows us that, "playing our position" as women doesn't make us inferior to men, anymore than a goalie is inferior to an offense player in soccer. If the goalie decides that he is being oppressed by having to stay in/near the goalie box and goes running down the field and staying with the offense and doing the same things they are, what happens to the team as a whole? The goalie box is left unguarded and the team likely loses. And this is what we, as a society of women, have been doing for the past few generations. We've left our position (the home) and decided that to be "somebody" we need to play a man's position. God's plan was for women to be homemakers, "keepers at home" as Titus 2 tells us, helpers to our husbands. Following this plan doesn't make us weak and unimportant any more than a goalie is less important when he stays near the goalie box. Playing our position allows our husbands to play their positions (as breadwinner, head of household) much more efficiently. It allows our children to be raised by loving, God-fearing parents. God ordained that we should raise our children in the Lord. How can we do this if we are only with our children for a few non-sleeping hours per day, and we spend those hours trying to cram in all the household chores, homework, etc?

I strongly believe this is a book that every Christian woman needs to prayerfully read. Feminism has so firmly infiltrated, not only society, but the church as well, that many of my generation has never even considered that God cares about what position we play. It has so firmly infiltrated our way of thinking that when someone quotes a text like Titus 2, or Gen 2:18, it is met with anger or resentment. Being a homemaker, being submissive to one's own husband, purposing to be a helper to your husband, these are all things that are considered, even within many churches, to be "outdated", and yet God's word is timeless, how can we expect His blessings if we are not playing the position He ordained for us?