I am not sure I am real good at reviewing books

Woman: Her Mission and Her Life is a book written by Adolphe Monod, born in Copenhagen in the early 1800's, and considered the foremost Protestant preacher of 19th century France. I began reading this book quite honestly, thinking that the author was a woman until I took the time, which was about 90% of the way through the first reading of the book, to read the back of it. This man certainly appears to have a lot of insight regarding women and their Biblical role.

I want to say that the initial reading did bring red flags of which I marked as I went along. But upon completion of the second and especially the third careful read-through, I came away with the resolve that I shall recommend this book for I do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. In my initial reading, I thought that there was no objective way that I could recommend this book, for those "red flags" seemed to glare at me. But then it caused me to dig fervently into the living Word of God as I prayed that the Lord would give me discernment, for to me, reviewing a book to commend or not to commend to others is a ministry of which entails a sense of teaching, of which I will receive a stricter judgment. It is not my hearts desire to misrepresent a book or to recommend one that does not line up with Scripture. So to that end, there will be a few disclaimers... but then YES! Buy it. For you would certainly miss out on the blessings contained within its pages.

The book is 128 pages long, divided into two discourses. The first is a woman's mission as designed by God. The second is the practical application of that mission in her everyday life; whether she is young and unmarried, married, or called to be single. This book is a reprint taken from the 1852 edition by Arthur Hall, translated by Rev. W.G. Barrett and republished by Solid ground Christian Books.

Let me begin with the first discourse, which is 56 pages long; that seeks to answer the question, What is a woman's mission as designed by God? The author begins at the beginning. "...and the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." Genesis 2:18
The author speaks of the influence of a woman and the endeavor to sanctify that influence. It is a powerful influence that the weak possess over the strong. ...whether for good or for evil, is concealed in the hands of a woman. The author is very straight forward with no beating around the bush. It is God in His Word that proclaims the woman as the weaker vessel, not man. But then it is God who created woman and He created her to be a helper to man. Not weak as in stupid or inferior. But a helper in which her position by birth is a position of humility. The woman as the weaker vessel as used in I Peter 3:7, is the same word to describe how God has used the weak things of this world to confound the things that are mighty, according to I Corinthians 1:27. Men are called to respect the weaker vessel in that same passage in I Peter for good reason; for as the author points out that it is by a woman that Satan entered amongst an unfallen race (and might I add that man received the blame, for it says, All sinned in Adam, and not all sinned in Eve); And the author is quick to also point out that it was by a woman that the Saviour came to the fallen race.
Monod describes both the common mission and the special mission of a woman. The common mission being that all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28), which ought to be the object of your highest ambition. The special mission is not of this world. It is a mission the world will scoff at for the world has neither known it nor comprehended it. It is the mission of being a helper to man. A mission that applies whether you are single or married. For Eve is not spoken of simply as the wife of the first man; but also as the first woman, and the representative of all her sex, as Adam is of [mans], because she is in her own person the type and likeness thereof.
Monod points out so well the following:

The place which God assigns to woman has reference to this vocation of love! It is no inferior position; the woman is not merely a help for a man, but a help like a man; therefore should she walk his equal, and it is only on this condition that she brings to him the help which he requires. But it is, nevertheless, a position secondary and dependent; for the woman was created after the man, made for the man, and, in fact, derived from the man... "bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh," and so closely united to him, that he cannot degrade her without degrading himself... Her position by birth is a position of humility.

When I read that, what came to mind was the willing submission and love of Christ, which is what Monod pointed out a several pages later. What I believe to be the main point of this particular discourse is that this special mission designed by God for women can in no way be pursued in her own strength as Monod writes several times that the true godly woman finds herself 'beneath the cross or nowhere.'

I would love to point out more of the meat within this section of the book, for there is much to devour. But I must pause a moment, for it is important that I address what needs to be carefully discerned; for there are some legalistic bones to pick out. I pray this is not merely a subjective preference, but a Scripturally and prayerfully focused objective discerning. There are a few portions within this discourse that I believe Monod crosses the line of legalism. Especially when he speaks of a woman keeping herself within the narrow circle of man's world and when he writes about a very controversial portion of Scripture regarding head coverings.

It is good to point out that a woman should not seek to look like a man, nor a man as a woman. What husband is attracted to a wife that keeps herself unkept? And what is the purpose of dressing in such a way that one cannot tell what sex you are? Being feminine may seem to come more naturally to other women, but should one then seek to purposely be as God intended? Length of hair is relative. Seeking to be as God intended for His glory is purposeful. Let us be careful not to add to God's Word, for where does it have the measurements for the length of hair or length of skirt within its pages? Or are we a bunch of Pharisees that have added law upon law to follow damning ourselves without any hope?

When asking my pastor about a particular concern I had regarding how Monod handled I Corinthians 11:5-15, he wrote,

...I see the issue of headcoverings as symbols of authority. In other words, headcoverings were a cultural way of showing and respecting the God-appointed, male leadership of the church. Prostitutes at the time, along with feminists (yes, they were alive and well back then too) were known to cut short or even shave their heads as a symbol of rebellion against male leadership. The counter symbol was the headcovering, perhaps even of greater significance when a woman who had been a prostitute or a feminist was saved, revealing to the community (saved and unsaved) their submission to God-appointed leadership. I have nothing against headcoverings, if a woman so desires to wear one, however, our culture would not see or understand it as a symbol of being under authority, but would most likely see it as a symbol of fashion. In other words, I do not see the headcovering itself as necessary or spiritual, but rather it is the attitude expressed.

He also sent me the following illustration (this one made me chuckle a bit):

Donald Grey Barnhouse, former pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, held a Bible Conference in Montrose, PA around 1928, for about two hundred young people and a few older people. One day two old ladies complained to him that some of the girls were not wearing stockings. These ladies wanted Pastor Barnhouse to rebuke them. Looking those two old ladies straight in the eye, he said, “The Virgin Mary never wore stockings.” They gasped and said, “She didn’t?” Barnhouse answered, “In Mary’s time, stockings were unknown. So far as we know, they were first worn by prostitutes in Italy in the 15th century, when the Renaissance began. Later a lady of nobility scandalized the people by wearing stockings in a court ball. Before long everyone in the upper classes was wearing stockings, and by Queen Victoria’s time stockings had become the badge of the prude.” These ladies, who were the holdovers from the Victorian epoch, had no more to say. Pastor Barnhouse did not rebuke the girls for not wearing stockings. A year or two later, most girls in the United States were going without stockings in summer and nobody thought anything about it. Pastor Barnhouse added this note: “Nor do I believe that this led toward the disintegration of moral standards in the United States. Times were changing, and the step away from Victorian legalism was all for the better.” (Swindoll, Oxcart, p. 339.)

Again, let me remind you that within the pages of this book are some excellent points and it is a book certainly worth having in your library. But I cannot, in good conscience, fail to warn you of the the things that concern me lest you think I align myself with them. I sincerely apologize for the lengthy review but please bear with me as I write about the second discourse that addresses the practical application of what that mission looks like in a woman's everyday life.
The practical application of this mission both according to the Bible and according to nature, is one of love with humility near man, and resolved to accomplish that mission through Jesus Christ, who alone can prepare you for it. It is a mission that should be accepted as coming from His hands, in a spirit of faith and obedience. Remember that it is not so much the position , but the disposition. Monod further points out that this can be accomplished by a tender devotion in a humble equality. It is a position that is not dependent on whether or not your husband, or whomever authority you are under as a single woman, is fulfilling theirs. But is solely dependent on the fact that it is to God that we must all give account, not to man, and each one will have to bear his own burden.

A woman's submission to her husband, within Biblical reason, is her chief obligation. Am I the crown of my husband as it speaks of in Proverbs? Am I a snare to him or a helper? Has my devotion to my husband become idolatry? Do I help strengthen his hands in battle? Or do I weaken him? Do I rely on the fidelity of God? Am I such a wife that my husband would groan in secret over the day when he was blind enough to seek my hand for causing him evil instead of good? Those are the kind of questions this next section caused me to rightfully ask myself. For I have to admit that the first seven years of my marriage, I was the cause of much grief to my husband. But by the grace of God alone, the Lord used the steadfast testimony of my husband to draw me to Himself and transform my life so intensely that I can humbly and joyfully recall my husband saying to my daughter, "Your mother is an excellent wife. I pray you end up like her." Yes, I am boasting. Not of myself, but of the Lord and HIS transforming power. I find it a miracle that my husband would say such a thing for I see that I have SO far to go in this journey. But then, what good my husband sees in me is Christ alone... and then perhaps it is also a picture of love covering a multitude of sins. As Monod essentially asks, without the blessing of God, what are our most sincere resolutions? But rubbish, I say.

I do like how Monod does not limit this book to just married women, but addresses this mission application towards that of young unmarried women, and women who seem to be called to be single. Even in such callings, Monod points out that the woman is to be a help to the man. Monad writes, I love to see the woman under the cross, with the Bible in her hand, it is above all, the young woman I love to contemplate in this attitude, preparing herself for that future career which is known only to God, but which can be faithfully fulfilled, whatever it may be, only under the cross, with the Bible in her hand. Monod then goes on to write about the great care this young woman should take that he considers grave and delicate. That of giving herself to a man in marriage. A man, he says, that is virtuous, religious, and capable of entering with you into the Christian idea of a marriage. For in this resolution, he believes, many ill-assorted unions would be prevented. Monod provides a much-needed admonishment regarding the ills that will be inevitable to a woman that resigns herself to a living burial in the heartless joys of the age. A woman that embraces the world instead of Christ, pursuing the frivolity of the world by the vanity of her own heart. He then illustrates the thought-provoking difference between a woman serving the world for her glory verses a woman serving the Lord for God's glory.

Monod addresses, also, the call of motherhood and the valuable influence the mother has in raising her children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. At this point I personally believe Monod goes too far in some respects. No mother should get the glory that is God's alone. I do believe, out of the experience of my own life's testimony and not having been raised by a mother, that it is important to point out that God can take and transform a life so profoundly, even if one is not raised in a Christian home. I was rather confused regarding Monod's writing of how a man (the father of the child) has not all that is necessary to form the spirit of man, because the spirit has a feminine element. There were a few pages, after the "feminine element" statement, in which those blaring red flags were aflame. God-willing it is not due to my ignorance or misrepresentation of Monod's purpose. Again, these concerns are not to the degree that I would say not to get this book. No. For in any book written by man, even the most stellar, doctrinally sound, Christian, will have bones amongst the meat. I do have to add that Monod's closing pages are both engaging and convicting for he calls for the love and humility of all the elect of God, for the glory of God.

Older books, of which I love, can sometimes go beyond Scripture and have very time-limited, cultural perspectives. This book seems to have a touch of that along with a significant amount of invaluable, timeless counsel. All things prayerfully considered, I do believe this is a must-read as I have come to agree with W.G. Barrett when he writes, no woman can thoughtfully read this small volume without being influenced for the better...