“Passionate Housewives” debunks cultural clichés with biblical truth about authentic womanhood

Are you a Christan woman who is wearied by the "Stepford Wife" stereotype or the myth of the Happy Days homemaker of the 1950s?

Jeannie Chancey and Stacy McDonald have produced the biblical antidote to such popular but false portrayals of the stay-at-home mom with their new book, Passionate Housewives Desperate for God: Fresh Vision for the Hopeful Homemaker, published by Vision Forum.

The goal of the book is clear: to debunk dangerous myths that exalt androgynous power women, the desperate house wives whose worth is measured by the degree of their self-ambition, the shape of their bodies and their money-making skills.

Stacy McDonald says she and Chancey wrote the book with the intention of weighing popular notions of womanhood upon the scales of Scripture and then pointing women to a far more biblical worldview of womanhood than is peddled by such popular culture icons as "Desperate Housewives."

"One of the reasons Jennie and I wrote this books is because there are ‘desperate' women who need to hear the truths of Scripture," McDonald writes. "They need to know about God's wonderful solution to their desperation-and that it won't be met by chasing after more ‘me time.'"

The book is a biblical tour-de-force in defense of biblical womanhood and deals with numerous topics, including:

• The false gospel of self.
• The beauty of a God-centered, Gospel-exalting marriage.
• Why real women are passionate about true womanhood, marriage and motherhood.
• What the Bible teaches about servant hood, servitude and slavery-and the difference.
• Real-life examples of biblical womanhood.
• Why being a homemaker is not a waste of God-given talents.

McDonald also authored Raising Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters. McDonald and her husband James have 10 children and operate Family Reformation ministries (http://www.familyreformation.org/) in Central Illinois.

Along the way, McDonald argues that "evangelical feminism" is merely a baptized version of its secular counterpart.

"Like a filthy and unruly stray dog on bath day, feminism has been scrubbed and perfumed and presented to us as biblical," she writes.

"The biblical directives given to women to be wives, mothers and keepers of the home are minimized or set aside as quaint but unnecessary options. Although they still view homemaking as a legitimate life choice, in their opinion it certainly shouldn't be viewed as enough and definitely not the best."   

Chancey, a former feminist, and her husband Matthew have eight children and live in Alabama. Her website ladiesagainstfeminism.com exposes the damaging effects of feminism and celebrates the beauties of biblical womanhood.

"Mine is not a story of perfection," Chancey said. "I was once a Christian feminist; I've seen the other side. I know how empty it is. I've done my share of straying, most of it due to my own pride. I went from die-hard homemaker-in-training to dedicated career woman-and then God gripped my heart.

"My journey into and back out of feminism is one that took me from a rich home life to the lonely pinnacle of barren ‘accomplishment,' then back gain to a blessed home and family."

Tomorrow, Gender Blog will feature an interview with the authors, Chancey and McDonald.