Biblical womanhood

Biblical womanhood is a movement within evangelical Christianity, particularly in the United States. It adopts a complementarian or patriarchal view of gender roles, and emphasizes passages such as Titus 2 in describing what Christian women should be like. According to Rachel Held Evans, it is driven by the conviction that "the virtuous woman serves primarily from the home as a submissive wife, diligent homemaker, and loving mother."[1]

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Christianity and gender
"Adam and Eve" by Albrecht Dürer (1504)
Theology Proverbs 31 1 Timothy 2:12 Biblical womanhood Christian views on marriage Deaconess Jesus's interactions with women List of women in the Bible Ordination of women Paul the Apostle and women Rape in the Hebrew Bible Stay-at-home daughter Women as theological figures Women in the Bible Women in Christianity
Major positions Christian egalitarianism Complementarianism
Other positions Asian feminist theology Biblical patriarchy New feminism Womanist theology
Ordination of women in Christianity Ordination of women in Catholicism Ordination of women in Protestantism (Anglican • Methodist • Presbyterian)
Church and society African and African-American women in Christianity Christianity and homosexuality Fallen woman Transgender people and Christianity Women in Church history
Organizations Feminist Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus Egalitarian Christians for Biblical Equality Complementarian Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Patriarchal Vision Forum (defunct)
Theologians and authors (by view) Feminist Anne Eggebroten Grace Jantzen Virginia Ramey Mollenkott Letha Dawson Scanzoni Egalitarian Gilbert Bilezikian Greg Boyd Gordon Fee Kevin Giles Stanley Grenz Kenneth E. Hagin Paul Jewett Roger Nicole Frank Stagg William J. Webb Complementarian Don Carson John MacArthur Susan Foh John Frame Wayne Grudem George W. Knight III Albert Mohler Douglas Moo Jennifer Morse Dorothy Patterson Paige Patterson John Piper Vern Poythress Douglas Wilson
Theologians and authors (by branch) Roman Catholic Hildegard of Bingen Julian of Norwich Catherine of Siena Christine de Pizan Juana Inés de la Cruz Edith Stein Pope John Paul II Phyllis Zagano Eastern Orthodox Frederica Mathewes-Green Protestant April Ulring Larson Catherine Booth Lise-Lotte Rebel Katharine Jefferts Schori

Institutions supporting the movement include Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,[2][3] while organizations associated with the movement include the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Notable writers include Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Susan Hunt, Mary Kassian, Carolyn Mahaney, Dorothy Patterson, Elisabeth Elliot, and Priscilla Shirer. Edith Schaeffer's 1971 book, The Hidden Art of Homemaking, has been described as "perhaps unintentionally, a landmark book for proponents of biblical womanhood."[4]

Rachel Held Evans suggests that "biblical" is a loaded term, and argues that adherents have "refused to acknowledge" that their interpretation involves a "certain degree of selectivity".[5][6][7] Advocates caution that "most women in Third World countries... would find our American, evangelical stereotype of biblical womanhood completely foreign and often simply physically impossible."[8] Some conservative Christian women have critiqued Evans's interpretation for undermining faith in biblical inerrancy.[9]

In 2010, Molly Worthen wrote that "'Biblical womanhood' is a tightrope walk between the fiats of old-time religion and the facts of modern culture, and evangelicals themselves do not know where it might lead."[10]