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Review Summary: Let's be fair about this. |
Date: 2008-09-09 |
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Details: There are all ready sufficient reviews of this book that a shopper ought to be able to make a decision whether or not to purchase it. What prompted me to add another was my impression that some of the reviews need to be questioned. This is a thin book, a light weight study on an extensive subject. Piper attempts to cover a lot of material in very few pages.
Some reviews might give the impression that this book is sufficient in and of itself to provide the reader with a workable understanding of the marital relationship. If after reading it you close the cover and think that you have sufficient foundation to live out a healthy marital relationship, you are headed for trouble. This book should be followed up by more comprehensive writings on the subject. Doing so might not appeal to many men as the role of marital head is very demanding and counter to all tendencies to be selfish.
Some other reviews give the impression that the reviewer is well versed in the doctrinal position of John Piper. If you are going to attack the theology referenced in this book, this is the wrong forum. These attacks would be better debated against books like Wayne Gruden's "Biblical Manhood and Womanhood" which provide a more extensive foundation for their conclusions. For shoppers, these reviews could lead them to demonize the book and its author, to their own loss. |
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Review Summary: Thanks for the "difference" |
Date: 2006-11-02 |
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Details: I bought this book to read on a nine hour none stop flight to Hawaii. After being seated I started reading it and could not put it down. My wife seated next to me joined in and we had a good time reading parts of it together. Upon my finishing the book on the flight, we later came to the same conclusion. There was good stuff in there for the both of us.
Many in parts of the U.S.A. have attempted to make a truth of the great myth of super moms, girls and women. Also buffoon like characters are being betrayed by many of our boys/men/dads and husbands in the media to aid this myth of the super women. This book comes to our rescue. Also with all the confusion made in parts of the world today due to an effort to take away the differences between men and women, we need a lesson on those differences and why. In comes this book. The book walks us through the created intent of the roles of the man and the woman. It helps the man to see his role and the women to see hers. All in all recognizing that both have the "same essence, therefore same value", just different roles for both to see and to live out. Within the bonds of marriage it's an aid to the male and the female on how to restore those roles and check invasive thinking patterns that come from the popular culture to work against that intent. Within this intent singles also learn how to conduct themselves as men and women, therefore diminishing unwise competition between the two sexes. He tells the man how he can be strong, yet inclusive, and loving towards his wife (girlfriend). He tells the wife how be assertive within the bounds of being lady-like, yet not undermining the role of her husband (boyfriend) in he assertion. A good work for all to read, I highly recommend it, so much so that I have bought this book and given it to others. This book is a great prelude into the greater works that deal with "the roles of men and women", and that to help us to counter today's "popular culture". HDS
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Review Summary: According to John Piper |
Date: 2006-08-31 |
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Details: Although the Bible says not to love the world and its imperfect ways, John Piper is apparently quite comfortable with the worldly definition of men and women: that is, that men are meant to be leaders over women. You know, there's a reason that Christ told us not to be worldly; the world, ever since the beginning, has had its own way of distorting God's perfect design and His plans for a peaceful life for us. The definition of women as followers and men as leaders is a classic example of one of these distortions, and yet why do so many believe it?
Piper seems to think that women naturally need men to be in charge of them and that men naturally hate women leading or teaching them. As an example, he gives us the image of a female umpire over a male baseball team and calls this unnatural. I can see why this would be unusual, but unnatural? Women have been educated teachers for centuries; in fact, that used to be one of the few professions we were allowed, and now suddenly we shouldn't teach anyone with male organs? Even if it's just teaching young boys to play ball? If a man hates the idea of being taught by a woman simply because she IS a woman, his reaction is caused by a sexist society or upbringing that has lead him to think female leadership is unnatural, not by some natural instinct that tells him it's wrong. I almost find it amusing how Piper assumes that such male pride is a God-given trait. Such discrimination needs to be eliminated, not encouraged as normal and healthy.
Piper also seems to think that women are born with a natural need to follow and truly flourish when they follow men. Submission is no more inborn than sexism; girls who believe it's their lot in life to follow a man have been taught to think so. On the other hand, if you raise a boy and a girl, treat them equally and give them all the same opportunities, you can bet that by the time college comes around, your daughter will NOT turn to you and say, "Well, rather than going to college, I guess it's time for me to find a man that I can happily obey till the day I die!" No, girls do not come up with such ideas on their own; we are born, as men are, with a natural desire to lead our own lives.
Now, granted, I have read Piper's sermons on marriage and I actually loved a great deal of what he had to say. Unlike some authors, Piper doesn't believe that husbands may command their wives, or that wives must be silent or speak in robotic tones when questioning their spouses choices. His portrayal of marriage was actually more of a partnership than I originally thought and I saw no real disrespect for women in it. The main problem I have with Piper's theology is not namely the issue of women in marriage, but of women in general. His tendency to preach against them being equal in leadership to men is what I find to be contradictory to God's design. In his own way, Piper greatly honors women (he also proves this by featuring women as heroines very often in his poetry). I just wish, on the subject of women being leaders, he would look a little further and deeper. |
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Review Summary: Impressive |
Date: 2004-07-01 |
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Details: I was very impressed by this small booklet. Piper goes through this controversial issue and lays down a solid framework for understanding Biblical manhood and womenhood. He avoids some of the extremes that we find in our society (ie. outright feminism or outright male domination and abuse) and gives some great practical advise on the fundamental differences between the two sexes. |
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Review Summary: Doesn't miss the point of the Fall |
Date: 2003-12-01 |
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Details: 1 Corinthians 11:7 "For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man." This verse says nothing about the Fall. The woman was created for man, not equally for God. Paul gets it. Piper pretty much gets it. 1 Timothy 2:12-14 "12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. 13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. 14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression." The curse of the Fall was in addition to the obvious hierarchy established through the order of creation: man then woman. Paul gets it. Piper pretty much gets it. |
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out of 8 Reviews
