Biblical Womanhood in the Home

This is my first contribution to the booked blog. I recently finished this book entitled, "Biblical Womanhood in the Home" edited Nancy Leigh DeMoss with the following contributors: herself, Barbara Hughes, Susan Hunt, Mary A. Kassian, Carolyn Mahaney, Dorothy Kelley Patterson and P. Bunny Wilson. Some of which may or may not ring a bell.

The books aim was to bring the focus back to what women are called to. The joy and fulfillment found in being a Biblical Woman is being destroyed by the world and its expectations and definitions of what a woman should be and look like.

Here was the overview:

I. The Glory of Womanhood as created by God
II. The Challange of Biblical Womanhood in a Fallen World.
III. The Freedom of Women as Helpers.
IV. The Joy of Women as Bearers and Nurturers of Life

One of the authors used Mary as a Biblical example of what a goldy woman should look like. I had never really heard or thought about some of the points she brought out:

Mary was an ordinary woman.

• She was not from a wealthy faimly; Jesus gave her significance.

Mary was a pure woman.

• He chose to plant the seed of His Son in a pure vessel.

Mary was an undeserving woman.

• She marveled at God's grace in choosing her.

Mary was a chosen woman.

• Chosen by God for a task of eternal significance.

Mary was a Spirit-filled woman.

• Enabled by the Holy Spirit.

Mary was an available woman.

• Her response, "May it be to me as you have said."

Mary was a believing woman.

• She took God at His Word.

Mary was a praising woman.

• In response, "My sould glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."

Mary was a woman of the Word.

• The Word was hidden in her heart; her prayer quoted in the OT dozen of times.

Mary was a reflective woman.

• After His birth, "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Mary was a humble woman.

• She was about making Him known, not her.

Mary was a trusting woman.

• She did not push her husband to believe, but trusted God to speak to him and work in his heart.
  

Mary was a submissive woman.

• Embraced the will of God; let her husband lead (protect from Herod).

Mary was an influential woman.

• Wedding feast--directed others to Him; teaching her own children.
  

Mary was a praying woman.

• Woman of prayer, as seen in Scripture.

Mary was a devoted woman.

• Followed Jesus throughout his ministry--all the way to the cross.

Mary was a loved woman.

• He made sure His mother would be cared for.

Mary was a wounded woman.

• "A sword will pierce your own soul too," She gave up her son as well.

Another section focused not a godly, biblical woman as an example or inspiration for Christian women; but the foolish woman in Proverbs 7 to show what women of the world today look like and how we should contrast that.

Anyway, the book hit home some great points and great encouragement. These were only a few things I pulled out. Here are a few Scriptures to ponder on:

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears her down." Proverbs 14:1

"It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Gen. 2:18

"Your beauty...should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is teh way the holy women of the past who put their hope in Gd used to make themselves beautiful." 1 Pet. 3:3-5

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at h ome, to be hind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." Titus 2:3-5

"A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life...
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband alos, and he praises her:
'Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.;
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."
Prov. 31:10-12,26-31

Encouraging, yet challenging.

BB Summer Review

Well, folks, the Booked Blog turned out to be very utilized indeed! Thanks for all who contributed this summer. Books from all different genres were read: theological, philosophical, historical, cultural, educational, etc. That means a lot of self-education was going on over the summer--good!

(Overall, around 40 books were read and reviewed--that's a lot of sitting!)

However, out of the 10 contributors only 6 contributed. Hmm. Should we trim the roster? Since seminary is back in full swing I wouldn't expect many new posts here until around December (at least from the main contributors). So, non-seminary contributors, it's your time to shine. Just grab a book, devote to one chapter every 2 days or so, and before you know it, bam! a book is finished and your reflections on it are often crystallized when you explain it to someone else (i.e., a review on the BB!). Do it, if not for the BB, for yourself!

Nevertheless, it's been real for now.

Suggestions? Contributor Requests? Contributor Resignations?

Peace!
EP

Revelation and Reason

Revelation and Reason: New Essays in Reformed Apologetics (360 pp) is a collection of essays edited by Scott Oliphint and Lane Tipton, two profs from Westminster Philly. This is an outstanding resource. Here are the contents:

----Part 1 Reformed Apologetics: Exegetical Considerations
1. Some Epistemological Reflections on I Cor. 2:6-13-Richard B. Gaffin
2. Resurrection, Proof, and Presuppositionalism: Acts 17:30-31-Lane G. Tipton
3. The Irrationality of Unbelief: An Exegetical Study-K. Scott Oliphint
4. The Case for Calvinistic Hermeneutics-Moises Silva
5. Paul’s Christological Interpretation of Creation and Presuppositional Apologetics-Lane G. Tipton
----Part 2 Reformed Apologetics: Theological Foundations
6. Divine Aseity and Apologetics-John M. Frame
7. Consistently Reformed: The Inheritance and Legacy of Van Til’s Apologetic-Michael S. Horton
8. A Confessional Apologetic-Thom Notaro
9. Theologia Naturalis: A Reformed Tradition-Jeffrey K. Jue
10. The Eschatological Implications of Genesis 2:15 for Apologetics-Bill Dennison
----Part 3 Reformed Apologetics: Methodological Implications
11. The Old-New Reformed Epistemology-K. Scott Oliphint
12. The Fate of Apologetics in an Age of Normal Nihilism-Michael Payne
13. Turn! Turn! Turn! Reformed Apologetics and the Cultural Dimension-William Edgar
14. Van Til and Transcendental Argument-Don Collett
APPENDIX - Cornelius Van Til and the Reformation of Christian Apologetics-K. Scott Oliphint.

----This is a fairly technical book. It is great, but I would only recommend it to those with a little background in Reformed apologetics. It is in some ways, simply more exegetical, theological, historical, and methodological ammunition to support Van Til's presuppostional method of apologetics. My favorite parts of the books were chapters 2, 5, and 10 where the contributors combined the insights of Cornelius Van Til and Geerhardus Vos, two of my favorite theologians.

----This is my last contribution to the booked blog. It has been fun and hopefully fruitful. I wanted to review a few more(one on new covenant theology, living Christianly in this world, and biblical theology), but time is gone. I would recommend all three though. Enjoy the Fall. Learn.

Rob Bell: SEX GOD

Well, let me take this opportunity to exhort many of my fellow Christians to take the time to occasionally read those with whom we don't see eye to eye. Many people will miss out on the depth and insight of this book simply because it is written by Rob Bell. Although I would surely differ from him on some important issues and might not recommend all of his material, I will refer to this book again and again for pastoral reminders of the Gospel-centered wonders of human sexuality.

Here's why:

What is This Book For?
The subtitle of this book is Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality. Basically, Rob Bell discusses what a lot of churches and pastors won't: Sex and God. Many don't even think the two words should even be mentioned in the same sentence, much less have any connections. That fact about sex is that God created it and it brings Him glory. Sex doesn't make God blush. God intentionally designed sex, with all of its biological and emotional pleasures, to create a special connection between a married man and woman, which in turn points to a special connection between God and His people. Thus, sexuality is never an end in itself. When the divine design of sexuality is misunderstood or misused (like in fornication or homosexuality), the soul satisfying intention is also lost. In reality, only Christians can understand what sex is truly about. Unfortunately, sex is often considered taboo in church or Christian discussions. Yet, humans were created as sexual creatures. To partake of sex outside of its marital design is destructive and will wrench the soul of true sexual satisfaction; yet to reserve any discussion of sex for only married people can likewise have adverse affects. There should be a healthy balance of sexuality in the lives of people of all ages, namely, acknowledging that God is for sex and has created humans to be sexual, yet to explain that God has wisely designed that sex is to have its fullest Gospel expression in Christian marriage. Rob Bell's overall emphasis in this book is that sexuality was created by God to ultimately be a spiritual act that serves as an image of Him with His people. Very good. Rob Bell talks about sex to Christians, and he does well.

Key Chapters and Quotes

"You can't talk about sexuality without talking about how we were made. And that will inevitably lead you to who made us. At some point you have to talk about God" (15).

Chapter 3: Angels and Animals
These two words describe the extremes that people go to when it comes to sexuality. "Angels " are those who abstain totally from acknowledging sexuality in any form until marriage. His idea comes from Matt. 22:30 that basically mentions that in heaven there will be no more marriage or sexuality. "Animals" are those who indulge in sex and are lead along unhindered by sexual impulses. Good chapter with good discussion.

Chapter 6: Worth Dying For
This is Rob Bell's chapter on leadership and submission. This is maybe one of my favorite chapters. Basically he wraps up leadership and submission by saying both husband and wife are to submit to each other (though the husband as head) with the mindset of Christ's selfless death, hence the phrase, "worth dying for." This chapter is partly geared toward women. He challenges them to not give themselves away (or to fill the void of wanting to be loved) to a man who will not treat them as if they were worth dying for. Good.

"The husband's waiting for the wife to submit is actually a failure to lead" (117).

From chapter nine, Whoopee Forever:

"If you are single, and you've been sent messages or it's been hinted at or even said to your face that you are somehow missing something, that you [as unmarried] aren't good enough, that you don't fit-that's not true. It's not just that you're fine single. The premise of the Scriptures is that you are able to serve God in ways that those who aren't married can't. The tilt is for being single, not away from it" (164).

There are more things to quote, but they are connect to larger ideas apart from which would just seem dumb. Read the book.

Concerns

My main concern obviously revolves around the things he says that are questionable. One should definitely be ready to spit out some bones here and there. Bell speaks a lot by asking questions, which is somewhat indicative of an attitude of uncertainty in truth. There were times where I saw how my thinking drastically differs from his. For instance, he would say that sex equals marriage, and that, say, a cohabiting couple might be married in God's sight (137, notice the uncertain approach). I don't agree. For one, Jesus didn't recognize the woman at the well (John 4:18) as having a husband even when she was living with a man (and most likely having sex). Also, if God viewed sex as creating a marriage then the Bible would not speak of fornication, only adultery. Things like that. I think Bell is inclusive in his view of denominations, considering things like the Protestant ordinance of the Lord's Supper to be the same thing as a Roman Catholic Mass (28). Then there is the fact that he presents God's love as God taking "a giant risk" (97) and making Himself vulnerable to heartbreak by creating people. He stresses that God lets us make the move when it comes to loving Him, and would never "override our freedom" by His power (98). All the 5 points of Calvinism in me cringe at such a human view of God's love. Those are a few examples. But, I think any discerning reader may see through these issues, for they don't necessarily undermine is whole point.

My Recommendation

Rob Bell is very gifted, clear, readable, and pastoral. I enjoyed reading this book. His writing style is very, well, bloggish (if that makes sense). He writes his book as if he were writing a blog, that is, with very simple expressions that model a casual conversation. A whole paragraph might be the word, "Yes." It will keep your attention and you will get through a chapter in no time. Yet, I am not sure that I would recommend it to all indiscriminately. There are things that I would want someone to have strong convictions about first before picking this up. This book is definitely useful and should be considered, but I would have people begin their notion of Christian sexuality by first Googling the word "sex" with the name "C.J. Mahaney" or "John Piper."

Ok, well, that is probably the last book for me this summer. School starts Monday. I will have a summary of this summer's activity on the Booked Blog in a few days. Keep it locked.

Peace.
EP

Persuasions

I really enjoy reading Douglas Wilson. I agree whole-heartedly with him 80% of the time. Unfortunately that other 20% of disagreement is on the doctrine of justification, a notion that is bound up with the very heart of the gospel as evangelicals have formulated it since the time of the Reformation. This book is great though.

It is a fictional account between Evangelist and several objectors to the Christian faith. Evangelist is on his way to the City and along the way tries to warn and persuade people who are heading to the Abyss. Wilson is a great writer, very witty, sharp, and satirical at times. Wilson is also a Van Tilian presuppositionalist. This book is all example with no theory. It is a very refreshing and easy read. Here is the table of contents:

The Road
Randy--Immorality
John--Antinomianism
Janice--Feminism
Jack--Agnosticism
Rev. Howe--Empty Scholarship
Mark--Atheism
Robert--Election
Jim and Sarah--Marriage
Dorothy--Hypocrisy in the Church
Bill--Salvation and Sanctification
Miriam--Pantheism
Paul--Evolution
Michael--Roman Catholicism

Shopping for Time

This 94 page book is an easy read, so there's no excuses, ladies. I finished in 2 settings, one being a long Sunday afternoon on the couch. :) It will be most helpful to those who have not spent much time on the Mahaney's website (www.girltalk.blogs.com), because much of the material is covered there. However, it is a terrific reminder to all of us with more details then you'll get on the blog.

AND, if you live in Louisville, you can order it from the Book Nook at $9. Get out, right!?! We love the Book Nook!

Okay, here's the idea. God has called us to many things concering our time - make the best of it, redeem it, use it, etc. Biblical wisdom on our stewardship of our days on earth is plentiful. The Mahaney gals make an analogy of shopping. We gals are savvy shoppers. I didn't know how much fun it would be to work on getting nutritious and yummy meals on the table for increasingly LESS money by learning savvy shopping tricks. Yet, we cruise along life spending our time on this or that without planning, thinking, or considering carefully the best "bargains", if you will. With this analogy of shopping carefully for time, the Mahaney gals maintain the regular Sovereign Grace Ministries' balance between rich theology and precious practical living tips.

Some of it is just plain funny. Dustin and I get a huge kick out of some of their advice for the first tip (Rise Early).

Be prepared to feel absolutely miserable for about ten to fifteen minutes. But the misery soon turns into pure gladness as you experience the delight of meeting with God and reap the benefits the rest of the day. Fifteen minutes of misery is certainly worth fifteen-plus hours of peace and productivity.

So with school rolling around shortly and our newly reinstated "rising early" goals, Dustin and I are beginning a new night routine. It's funny. To us, anyway. We'll say our good nights and include, "Hey babe, you ready?" "Huh?" "Are you ready to feel awful in the morning? Man, we're going to hate it. We're going to curse our alarm clock and feel like crud. Terrific!" "Can't wait. Good night." It goes something like that anyway.

On a different note, this book gets at your motives. Of course, it hits on the things I always need to hear. For this topic, WHO am I trying to please with how I spend my time? Myself? My co-workers? My house guests? My LORD is the only answer that is sufficient.

"Only God gets His to-do list done," was the loving reminder that C.J. gave his gals awhile back. I love it. One of my church friends has the entire quote written on a note card in her kitchen.

Each chapter contains tips about the why's and how's of being savvy shoppers of time. It's geared towards women, but I think this one would be a good read for the guys, too. Dustin and I just love the Sovereign Grace Books. They are so helpful to marriages, families, etc.

I don't want to ruin the book for you, but another neat part was when they talk about interruptions as sovereign deliveries (based on a Lewis quote.

What about you? When was the last time you had a visitor when you were trying to finish your reading for seminary? When was the last time you got stuck in traffic that made you late and annoyed? When did you map out your to-do list only to have circumstances change everything? WHO caused these things to "interrupt" your plans? That's right. Your Maker and Sustainer.

Those are just a few of my favorite sections, although I loved everything they said about taking the time to plan out your year, your week, your day, your relationships, etc. There are a million needs out there and we women want to tackle them all. But we can't and we shouldn't. What things should we choose based on what season we are in as women? If you don't know, go grab this book.

And don't forget the most important tip in the book: sit still.

A much more thorough review can be found here. I've kept this short for the sake of time. :)

Buy it here.

Read an interview with the Mahaney gals here, here and here.

Philosophy & The Christian Faith

The author writes that the aim of this book is to make a survey of the main thinkers and intellectual movements of western thought of the past thousand years, with a view to showing how they affect Christian belief" (9). He writes, "There are many people who have heard of such names as Kant, Hume, Aquinas, and Kierkegaard and keep coming across terms like empiricism, rationalism, Existentialism and Logical Positivism, and who want to know what they mean and how they affect Christianity" (10). This is the book for those people. He divides the book into 4 sections:
1. Medieval Philosophy
2. From the Reformation to the Age of Enlightenment
3. The Nineteenth-Century Ferment
4. Philosophy and Faith in the Twentieth Century
-----In just over 300 pages, Brown covers a lot of ground. This is a great intro to philosophical theology, or for a general overview of the history of philosophy.
Quotes:
-----"to go through life putting off thought about ultimate questions is to miss the whole point of human life." 30
----"As we saw when we were looking at theological trends in the nineteenth century, Evangelicals made great contributions to evangelism and even to biblical scholarship; but they contributed little or nothing to the philosophical defence of their faith. For many, scholarship had a largely negative value. It was useful to defend the faith against hostile criticism. Few Evangelicals seem to have considered the philosophical implications of a faith based upon God's revelation of himself and their significance for apologetics." 245