Gender & Grace: Love, Work Parenting in a Changing World

by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen

Winner of a 1991 Christianity Today Critics' Choice Award (1st place; contemporary issues). How are men and women different? How does being a male or a female affect us at work? What are the roles of husband and wife in marriage and parenting? What does Christianity have to do with any of these things? Sexual identity lies at the core of the crucial questions that everyone asks of life. Yet today those questions are harder and harder to answer. Traditions about the "real man" and the "woman's place" have been challenged. Scientists debate what nature actually dictates for male and female. And theologians engage in heated controversy over what the Bible really says about female submission and male headship. In this sane yet provocative book, an informed social scientist and committed Christian thinker braves a jungle of confusion to offer unusual insight on the part genes, culture and faith play in making us the men and women we are -- and ought to become.

Genres: Theology, Gender, Psychology, Gender Roles, Womens, Sexuality, Parenting

278 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 1990

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad this book exists. I want it to be updated and expanded.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, how I wish more books like "Gender and Grace" existed! This is a thoroughly Christian book, which takes scientific inquiries into the biology and psychology of gender extremely seriously. Too often, rhetoric around gender (especially in Evangelical circles) gets way too simplified, and appeals are made to emotions, to personal experiences, or to flat or "plain" readings of scripture. Rather than take any of these options, Van Leeuwen has managed to provide a sensible voice that is conversant with the most up-to-date (keep in mind this was published in 1990) research into gender and sexual identities. The result is a well-informed, balanced, and quite thoughtful perspective.

Readers should know that she is quite critical of the "heirarchical/complementarian" perspective, but if that irks you, I highly, highly recommend you take a deep breath and plunge in. Allow Van Leeuwen's research to inform your thinking, and give her the credibility she so obviously deserves. In particular, the chapter "The Persistence of Patriarchy" should be required reading for all "male headship complementarians."

I would love to see this book revisited with some updated research. Come on, IVPress, make this happen! This is highly, highly recommended to anyone with more than a passing interest in this subject/conversation.

[Cayce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised to see the publication date for this one was 1990. This book is way ahead of where most of our evangelical churches are in it's vision for gender identity, equality, and family life. The author bases her understanding of these topical on Scripture, but has done her homework elsewhere, finding models of family life that challenge Americanized & Western notions of gender, and calling upon us to consider alternatives to what our culture has handed us. It's a progressive work for it's time and American Christian context, but it still offers us a lot, as her vision for a God-honoring understanding of humanity has yet to be realized in our churches even today.

[Marianne Ogden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very thoughtful book addressing the challenging landscape of gender issues in our culture- an especially good read for those with Judeo-Christian values.

[Dennis Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book as she goes through the science of gender to try and determine what can be said and reconciled with biblical teaching on gender roles and what makes us male and female. In the end, her scientific conclusion for biological determination is: Not much.

IMO, by focusing so completely on the similarities between hormones, genes and hereditary styles in the early stages between males and females, she seems to have missed the idea that while the first step on the fork of a road is only a difference of a few feet, the trails lead in opposite directions and result in differences of miles. True the introduction of hormones into our bodies later have odd results, but the qualitative difference is so large in the end that it seems we need to pay more attention to those differences. If we knew nothing about males and females - if we were studying another species that almost no external bodily differences - at the discovery of everything she dismisses I believe we would shout "Eureka."

She does an admirable job maintaining a commitment to scripture's teaching on both gender and homosexuality. Her writing on homosexuality was literally decades in advance of what we are taught now. Her writing on gender in scripture is a stretch - though she does not allow any kind of gender spectrum or self-identification of gender - and her last chapter on the complementarian/egalitarian debate is a bit sophomoric.

One of the most fascinating and frustrating books I've read. It'd be interesting to read one that is more updated regarding the science, but she really was prescient in both the critique of biological determinism and the gender debate.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my college sociology class. I enjoyed Van Leeuwen’s writing style—it was easy to read and engaging. For a book published in 1990, a lot of her arguments and findings are still relevant for today. There were some aspects of her reformed Christian perspective that I personally disagreed with, but I appreciated the context that she presented them in. Overall, a great read for anyone, particularly Christians, who are struggling to understand how to deal with the concepts of gender and gender roles today.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book well enough. I re-read it now and although it is dated, it has some good material. It covers science and biology, gender differences, and cultural contributors to gender roles. The last two chapters would be interesting to see updated--one on sexual orientation as much has happened in the past 25-30 years of research--and the second on a Christian view of headship in church and home as much has also progressed in that area.

[Sarah Hubbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book very helpful and well written on a topic that has been abused in Christian culture. I love how the author adds “grace” to the debate of roles and headship in the home.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a helpful book in so many ways. Van Leeuwen brings her scientific, psychological, and theological expertise to the subject of gender. While I did not always agree with her, I found her to be a fantastic communicator and always interesting and thoughful. The 2nd section of her book, "Nature and Nurture", included oodles of helpful information about biological and psychological studies that I knew very little about beforehand. She does an incredible job of making these things accessible to people as new to these issues as me. And I often found her theological musings very helpful and rich with reflection. I think people from all along the spectrum on the subject of gender would benefit from a careful reading of this book.

[Marissa Joyce]

overall the attention paid to sociological and cultural issues through the lens of gender was excellent. The author cited many sources and interesting, current research in the field. However, I feel like the issue of gender through the lens of the Christian faith and doctrine got a rather light treatment. I was expecting to see a thorough exegesis of scripture and how the issue is explored in the Biblical text as well as in the society of the time. However, the attention paid to this subject was disappointingly brief. Though I feel like this book did not deliver what it promised; it was still a strong, academically solid, read.

[Karen]

Love this book