In Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney, Girl Talk blogger and wife of pastor/author CJ Mahaney, tackles the famous and often debated Titus 2 passage toward women focusing on the seven virtues as a godly wife and mother.
Titus 2:4-5 – “…and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure,working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”
Over all I enjoyed this book and found it helpful, not so much in changing my own views and opinions as they are already much in line with out Mahaney lays out. I found the book encouraging and helpful in that I feel I can better explain and talk about those more controversial aspects of the passage. Particularly the phrase that woman are to be “working at home,” which in the Greek literally means to work at home.
I’ve known many women to struggle with this, myself included, and I have to say that Mahaney’s interpretation is probably the best I’ve heard. Simply put, a woman’s greatest sphere of influence is the home and other endeavors may take her outside of the home (work or volunteer, etc), but her main focus is to be on serving her family and managing her home. If she can make commitments outside of the home as long as it isn’t to the detriment of her family. As Mahaney puts it, “Working at home must always remain a constant and ongoing priority in our lives” (104).
One thing that didn’t sit so well with me was how in some passages she described the managing of the home as the woman’s sole responsibility. Portions of the chapter came across that a woman should, essentially, take care of everything home-related to free up her husband to fulfill his tasks. While I’m not opposed to being the one “in charge” of managing the home it could come across that a man should not have to have any duties around the home. He should be completely served. I’m sure this is not what Mahaney is saying, but it definitely could be construed that way.
Toward the end of the book transitions seemed weak and connections between ideas lacking at times. It almost felt like there was a rush, but I also tried to keep in mind that this book originated in a series of talks Mahaney gave. Overall, I enjoyed, found the book helpful, and would recommend it.
Leave a comment