Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce

Jul 06, 2012 Adam Omelianchuk rated it 3 of 5 stars

Kathryn Joyce’s Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement is an expose of sorts on a curious theological trajectory among conservative Protestants who seem to believe that raising large families–with the man as the head of the household–is the means for taking America back to it Christian roots. As an Christian egalitarian who finds any theological justification for hierarchal gender roles to be mistaken, I was curious to see what Joyce, an outsider from a secular persuasion, would ha...more Kathryn Joyce’s Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement is an expose of sorts on a curious theological trajectory among conservative Protestants who seem to believe that raising large families–with the man as the head of the household–is the means for taking America back to it Christian roots. As an Christian egalitarian who finds any theological justification for hierarchal gender roles to be mistaken, I was curious to see what Joyce, an outsider from a secular persuasion, would have to say about those who take up the banner of “complementarianism.” Not surprisingly she focuses on the fringes the evangelical/fundamentalist landscape where such extreme views are taken to be normative:

-A woman may not work outside the home in any capacity.
-Women should abstain from developing intimate female friendships so as to safeguard the highest levels of intimacy for her husband alone.
-A woman is to view her husband as God’s ordained representative to whom she must entirely submit. If a woman fails to submit and is deemed unrepentant by her (male) pastoral leaders, she is subject to church discipline.
-A woman ought to stay with an abusive husband and try to “win him” with submissive behavior.
-A woman should be ready and willing to gratify her husband’s sexual desires at any time.
-Couples should have as many children as biologically possible so as to fulfill God’s commandment “to be fruitful and multiply.”
-Any form of contraception or natural planning is absolutely forbidden.
-All sex acts ought to be performed with the intention of being open to the possibility of conceiving a child.
-Families ought not to send their daughters to college.
-Homeschooling is the only moral option for educating children.
-A woman’s contracts or promises may be nullified by her husband or father as she has no moral or legal right to autonomous self-determination.
-A woman must be courted by a suitor by first seeking her father’s permission/blessing. Dating is absolutely out of the question.

In my experience, few if any who hold to a complementarian reading of gender roles abide by such strict moral standards. Joyce’s storytelling does not seem to note the fact that many self-styled complementarians–dagreement with regard to biblical interpretation notwithstanding–function as practical egalitarians who see their marriages as instances of equal partnerships. In this sense, Joyce’s portrayal is unfair. Nonetheless, I think she paints a fair picture of what it looks like to take complementarian ideas too seriously: a blinkered culture of patriarchy that exemplifies male domination at all levels.

Readers will be scandalized by the teaching and behavior of Doug Philips, RC Sproul Jr., Michael and Debi Pearl, and many others, but one will wonder why there are no citations, no footnotes, and no bibliography. Joyce’s book is seriously lacking by way of needed documentation so discerning readers can go to the hoars’s mouth so as to warn those who under the influence of such teaching. Alas they will have to take her word for it, which may good enough for some, but hardly helpful for others.(less)

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Apr 24, 2009 Naida rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was really looking forward to learning more about the Quiverfull movement and the patriarchical structure that supports it. It is the opposite of everything that I believe in so reading this was pretty much a "know your enemies" sort of thing...

I found this book to be very academic and not quite what I expected. For a movement that professes to have tens of thousands of followers, it was very light on 1st person accounts. When she finally does interview a woman in the movement the book becomes...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Lynn Joshua rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have been part of the homeschooling movement since the early 80's and am familiar with every name in this book. I have watched over the years in dismay as good principles have often been taken out of balance and some teachings have become extreme and oppressive. I was really hoping to read an in-depth critique of the Patriarchy movement from an insider. It's a bit difficult to read even a much-needed criticism from someone who thinks all religious believers are backward and ignorant. She doesn...more
I have been part of the homeschooling movement since the early 80's and am familiar with every name in this book. I have watched over the years in dismay as good principles have often been taken out of balance and some teachings have become extreme and oppressive. I was really hoping to read an in-depth critique of the Patriarchy movement from an insider. It's a bit difficult to read even a much-needed criticism from someone who thinks all religious believers are backward and ignorant. She doesn't understand the basics of faith, sacrifice, or giving up your own desires to serve others. She also seems a bit confused about certain theological ideas. (Really, is she surprised that many religious believers eschew birth control? Is she not familiar with church discipline? She must know that most churches do have standards members must abide by or be asked to leave. For example, Cheryl Lindsey was continuing to teach at conferences on how to have a good marriage while secretly carrying on an affair.)

However, the author is correct in pointing out that things are terribly wrong in some of these circles. The Christian teaching that the husband is the head of the home is to work in harmony with the Bible's instructions to both to walk in true oneness of mind, heart, and purpose, including a willingness of each to defer to the another. The Pearls and others have done so much harm in teaching that only women should "submit" or defer to men. Such out of balance teaching has lead to the notion that the father is the center of the home and the intermediary between God and his family; and the belief that a female must always be under the complete control of a man, and a daughter should not attend college or even be allowed to leave home until the father transfers her from under his authority to that of her (selected by Daddy) husband.

If you can get past her view that all large homeschooling families oppress women, this book illustrates how dangerous it is when one scriptural principle is emphasized to the extreme while the ones that temper it are ignored.(less)

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May 20, 2013 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book certainly made an impression on me. If all it says about the Quiverfull movement is true, it's a scary, scary thing. However, I kept feeling as I read the book that Joyce had mostly seemed to take official policies, leaders' speeches and the word of those who had left the movement as the whole truth. I kept wishing she would spend some time with a family that is actually part of the movement and still believes in it, just to give that perspective. I know that often the official word on...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Joyce rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book would be a look at the patriarchal movement that encourages its women to have as many children as possible and that it would concentrate on individual women in the movement. Instead it's a detailed examination of the power the religious right is exerting on American and even global politics - as in the War on Women, it comes right from these people who stress the necessity of a "complementarian" lifestyle in which there are definite male and female attributes that don't mix....more

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Nov 17, 2012 Lois rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was intrigued by the title of this book. I read several reviews, both pro and con, and thus I had to read it for myself, keeping an open mind. First, let me state my position. I sit squarely on the fence, barbed wire notwithstanding. After reading this book, I am even more ambivalent.
In a nutshell, patriarchy is a branch of the home schooling movement and a twig of evangelical churches. Patriarchy is by definition the fundamental belief that the man is head over his wife and Christ is the he...more I was intrigued by the title of this book. I read several reviews, both pro and con, and thus I had to read it for myself, keeping an open mind. First, let me state my position. I sit squarely on the fence, barbed wire notwithstanding. After reading this book, I am even more ambivalent.
In a nutshell, patriarchy is a branch of the home schooling movement and a twig of evangelical churches. Patriarchy is by definition the fundamental belief that the man is head over his wife and Christ is the head over the church. (Eph. 5:21) I have no problem with that. (Just for fun, google patriarchy sometime, and start reading.....very thought-provoking!)
In the introduction, Ms. Joyce explains what aroused her interest in writing this book. The first event was the Southern Baptist 1998 statement that wives were to graciously submit to their husbands. The second event was when pharmacists started refusing to fill prescriptions for contraceptives based on morality. Kathryn Joyce describes herself as a "secular feminist who writes about religion." Therefore, I read the book through that lens, cringing when she used terms like antiabortion, pronatalist, anticontraception and even religious right. Generally, labels turn me off because of who's defining them, and there is no shortage of places the author's verbage gets in the way. For example, in a profile, she makes reference to the biblical woman wearing modest, feminine dress, and avoiding sex and dating before marriage. Her tone seemed to mock this as weird or undesireable.
Joyce does a good job of explaining the various components of patriarchy: male headship. female submission, vision, quiverfull, agrarian lifestyle, etc. None of these issues arouse any suspicion of being strange or questionable, particularly in the Christian home school community. We're pretty used to seeing large families, many of which dress their daughters in home-sewn jumpers, carry the new baby in a sling, bake bread from fresh-ground grain, and make their own soap. I remember 10 years ago I called all the differences degrees of conservativism. Whether children watched movies, attended dances, celebrated Christmas or whatever, all of these were individual family choices. It was the world that looked at us homeschoolers as strange, because we had the belief that parents should have control of their children's education. We expected snide comments and criticism from the world. In this book, it is evident that a growing chasm exists between different factions of the Christian homeschooling community. This alarms me greatly, as I will explain later.
What makes patriarchy (and its evil cousin patriocentricity) unique from the usual man being head of his family, is the amount of authority granted to the man by God, as they see it. Not only is the man head of his family and his wife a submissive helpmeet, but he is prophet, priest and king. In other words, God only speaks to the man. He leads the family worship, raises up his godly seed, and the woman doesn't act, think or speak without his explicit instruction or approval. The man is completely responsible for his family's spiritual welfare, and as long as his wife and children are in complete obedience to his lordship, they will be saved. A thread of legalism runs through everything they do. Joyce recognized and showed the cookie cutter families that she encountered. Reading this book, one would think there is rampant abuse as well. I will withhold judgment on that, as I personally know many families who fit the profile who are not abusive by any stretch. (Some people think teaching your children to do chores is child abuse. I do not agree.) The only abuse that PROBABLY is prevalent is spiritual abuse. In a complete patriocentric family, the man has the role of Christ, by which his family is redeemed and sanctified.
Sometimes I felt Ms. Joyce painted with a broad brush, categorizing any large home schooling family with its own business, harp-playing daughters, entrepreneurial sons as patriarchial. She devoted almost half of the book to Doug Phillips of Vision Forum, a leader and founder of this movement. I already had serious reservations about many of his teachings, and reading more about him and his beliefs confirmed my thoughts. She left no one out. To her credit, she personally interviewed many of the leaders, their wives (I'm sure with their husband's oversight!) and people who had left that lifestyle. She cites her sources, many of which came from the patriarch's own publications and web sites. She includes Michael and Debi Pearl, a brute in my opinion, who has actual instructions on the use of the rod (PVC pipe is one "training tool.") Bill Gothard, Voddie Baucham, Geoff Botkin, Nancy Campbell, RC Sproul Jr., and the pioneer of the modern homeschooling movement Mary Pride, are all researched. I found myself exclaiming, "No, not them too!" every time one of my favorite teachers or speakers was mentioned. Again, Kathryn Joyce, being a feminist, would probably NOT understand the concept of biblical submission, so I took each account with a grain of salt. She didn't criticize as much as present the evidence, so that the reader could discern. I appreciated that.
It is difficult to address all the issues in this book, because there are so many: the biblical mandate to populate the world demographically to advance God's kingdom, adult daughters remaining at home under their father's authority until she is given in marriage, reconstructionism, home churches, Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy, and not allowing wives or daughters to attend college or work outside the home. Yes, much, much legalism in the name of biblical authority.
The bottom line for me is this. Every Christian homeschooler, who wants to recognize what is going on around them, should read this book. This is already a divisive issue among churches and home schooling groups. My alarm comes from the idea that human authority takes precedence over the work of the Holy Spirit in the believers' life. Every cult has an authority figure with a bloated sense of self-importance, who preys on the weak, the helpless (the submissive????) who allows no disagreement or questioning. Two verses of scripture come to mind. (As a woman, I want you to know I study the Bible myself, and my head heartily approves of me. It blesses his heart when I share with him what God has been teaching me.) The 14th chapter of Romans deals with principles of the conscience. Verse 4 says: "Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand." And Gal. 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, the is neither male nor famale; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." I think those under patriarchy are under the law, and not under grace. Whereas many areas of the Christians' life should be between him and the Lord, patriarchy says that unless you homeschool, unless you disciple your children in exactly this way, unless you have 6 or more children, you are living in disobedience. In their view, a family with no children, or two, are living in sin. I heartily recommend this book.

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Sep 26, 2012 Shana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read this year. I first became interested in Quiverfulls after researching the Duggers, a Christian family who has a reality show on Lifetime called 18 Kids and Counting. I was curious about their background and how they came to have so many children, and came across this movement to build God’s army.

Joyce explores the world of the Christian Patriarchy Movement, in which women are cons...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Stefanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

Have you ever attended a Christian church service and wondered why the gender imbalance (mostly women?) So have several Evangelical pastors and - voila - a marketing scheme to bring men into church by giving them ultimate power and a 1950s family is created.

Kathryn Joyce, a secular feminist, gives a balanced view into the lives of families who have chosen to be "quiverfull" - having as many children as they biologically are able (cf The Duggars on television.)

The economic, emotional, and financi...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Jessica Snell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mothering

Wow, this was an interesting one. Definitely with the read, though it was easy to identify places where her bias made it impossible to fully understand certain theological ideas. Still, I think she largely came to some good conclusions – the extremes of the patriarchy movement are not good. I think it is, in the end, a problem of elevating the roles of the sexes above the gospel. Sure, men and women are different. But if you make those differences the focus of your life, as opposed to making Jes...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Cassandra rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

First of all, I made the mistake of not reading very far into the description of this book. I saw Quiverfull pop up a few places on the internet and it sparked my interest. My church is anti-abortion but does not have a clear stance on birth control.

Well… the book is more about the subtitle than the title. It is titled Quiverfull but doesn’t spend much time analyzing the Quiverfull movement. Instead, it focuses on the subtitle of the book, “Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement.” The first s...more First of all, I made the mistake of not reading very far into the description of this book. I saw Quiverfull pop up a few places on the internet and it sparked my interest. My church is anti-abortion but does not have a clear stance on birth control.

Well… the book is more about the subtitle than the title. It is titled Quiverfull but doesn’t spend much time analyzing the Quiverfull movement. Instead, it focuses on the subtitle of the book, “Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement.” The first section of the book looks at wives’ roles and beliefs about wives inside the patriarch movement. The second section focuses on mothers. The third section (the shortest in the book) takes a look at daughters who are raised in Patriarchal families.

I was hoping for more information about the Quiverfull movement and an analysis in the light of Scripture. Instead, the book describes various beliefs of the Patriarchy movement. The author does not attempt to make an argument on the right or wrongness of the beliefs, merely how some church leaders and members interpret and live out the beliefs. Of course, the members that the author chose to highlight are those who abuse the belief system, who take advantage of their wives. The few who are happy/content to believe in patriarchy and a quiverfull lifestyle are presented with an overly large dose of skepticism. It seemed as if the author’s attitude was that “this could never be true. No woman could be happy in a marriage like this. She must be faking it.”

I was interested to learn two very important things about the author, both of which made me question her feelings that come across throughout the book. First, the author is not a Christian and is open about that. Therefore, it is hard for her to understand people following Scripture. The author never attempted to analyze the Patriarchy or Quiverfull beliefs in light of Scripture. She analyzed the beliefs from the viewpoint of a non-Christian feminist. This affects the way she discusses various lifestyle choices.

Also, I don’t believe the author is married. Though she did not come out and say in her book that the idea of wives’ submission is ridiculous, the sentiment came through. It’s hard to listen to someone criticize marriage roles when she has not or is not experiencing them herself. It’s like taking parenting advice from someone who has never been a parent.

Basically, the book did not offer criticism in light of Scripture. The criticism was from a feminist viewpoint, more of a “how can any woman live like this?” That type of criticism doesn’t mean anything other than someone’s opinion. (less)

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Jul 28, 2011 Sarah added it

Shelves: spiritual, womens-studies, politics, nonfiction, historical

This book was enlightening, to the point of actually being terrifying. It actually scared me more then any horror movie I've ever seen. The author doesn't put much of herself in this book, she just lets those who live this frightening lifestyle talk. And talk they do.

I wasn't surprised by much in this book, not the acceptance that domestic violence is always the woman's fault, not the casual racism, not the creepy incestuous father-daughter relationship. But it was almost overwhelming to see it...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Julia Reed rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

By turns fascinating and really, really scary, this book is an inside look at life in the "Quiverfull" movement, a loose association of movements primarily characterized by rejection of birth control and acceptance of "Biblical Manhood and Womanhood" principles (i.e. men as the head of the household, spiritually, morally, financially. Women as submiting to the headship of men and acting as man's helpmeet).

I'm the first to admit that I find families like the Duggars (19 Kids and Counting, probab...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Rachael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Quiverfull is a journey through a subculture which values wifely submission and the bearing of the most children as possible as the highest goals of a woman's life. Joyce clearly did a lot of field work to produce this book and her observations are fascinating. From the somewhat amusing to the truly dark this book explores what happens when a woman's entire life becomes singularly devoted to serving her husband.

My main critique of the book would be a lack of contextualization. Joyce does provide...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Rarely does a book evoke a visceral reaction in me as I’m reading it. But I found myself incredulous, angry and frustrated as I read.

First, some background. How did I even come across this book? After seeing a few episodes of TLC’s show about the Duggar family, with their 19 kids so far, and reading this piece at Salon, I decided to learn more. I wanted to see if the movement is being portrayed accurately and fairly.

For those that don’t know, the Quiverfull movement is based on Psalm 127, “Like...more Rarely does a book evoke a visceral reaction in me as I’m reading it. But I found myself incredulous, angry and frustrated as I read.

First, some background. How did I even come across this book? After seeing a few episodes of TLC’s show about the Duggar family, with their 19 kids so far, and reading this piece at Salon, I decided to learn more. I wanted to see if the movement is being portrayed accurately and fairly.

For those that don’t know, the Quiverfull movement is based on Psalm 127, “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They shall not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.”

Followers of the Quiverfull movement are also patently anti-feminist, believing in wifely submission to the husband; practicing no birth control, taking any and all children as a blessing and a gift from God; reliance on the church and family community; homeschooling; and no real need, for men and women, in post secondary education. They believe that the bible is the literal and infallible word of God, and this interpretation of the bible forms the platform on which the movement is built. It has been hard to separate my feelings about the patriarchal philosophy from critical thinking about the book.

I found the book fascinating. Families embracing the Quiverfull movement exist at least in the tens of thousands, if not more. Joyce profiles the leaders and teachings of the patriarch philosophy. She presents excerpts of meetings and presentations and blog posts from the movement. I went to several of the sites and blogs mentioned in the book to see them in the context that they present to the public, to see if Joyce had chosen soundbites or taken any of the teachings out of context. Joyce portrayed the edicts of the Vision Forum and the Proverbs 31 ministry quite accurately and fairly. She recounts the stories of some Quiverfull women, some who have left that world and others who are perfectly happy in it.

Joyce’s language is not evocative or inciting, but I still found myself reacting viscerally to the book because what I believe is almost completely opposite to the tenets of the patriarchal platform. It was hard to read that nearly everything about the way I live my life is seen as sinful and damnable and anti-feminine and wrong by people in this movement. And that’s why it was hard for me to write this post. I wanted to be fair to the book and not make this a criticism of the movement.

Based on the additional research I’ve done, I think Joyce presents fairly the beliefs, motivations, and goals of the Patriarchy movement. I think she presents fairly the stories of the women who feel victimized by the movement, as well as the women who are fulfilled by it. After reading the book, I feel like I have a better understanding of why some people find such comfort in this way of life(less)

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Jun 20, 2010 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: amer-culture

I'm mostly a live-and-let-live person, interested in debate and finding ways for all people to live as they believe right. Then I read this book, and found myself back as a Fightin' Feminist. Joyce details not just the Quiverfull movement (welcoming as many children as God sends, regardless of the health of the mother, the economics of the family, etc) but also the growth of the idea that the Man is the Head of the Family and women's responsibility is to follow his lead, regardless of where he l...more

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Mar 13, 2010 Kendra rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a feminist, so I read this book to better understand why so many women willingly put themselves in a second class status in their own families. I was shocked to see how radical some sects of fundamentalist Christians really are. I see the families described by Joyce in my day to day life, but I've never understand the extent of oppression felt by the women. I just see the women with extremely long hair, ankle length prairie dresses, and at least six children. I never thought about what thei...more

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Aug 22, 2009 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

There was a lot that I was really fascinated by in this book, it gives one a window into attitudes that I really didn't know existed anymore. I mean, I was aware that there are Christian Fundamentalists out there in America, but this idea of Patriarchy and what it means was pretty new to me. I never realized how literally they take all this, to the point that even when home schooling their kids, when boys reach puberty their mothers can no longer teach them because that puts a woman in a positio...more

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Jul 12, 2009 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Where to start?

This book is an eye-opener! The book concentrates on the "quiverfull" movement among fundamentalist Christians, but places it in the context of a larger movement that includes systematic mysogyny within the family, an anti-tax/anti-government philosophy, disdain for individual rights, especially for women, the anti-contraception movement, eugenic and racist thinking and teachings, revisionist history (i.e., the Native Americans were the oppressors), and anti-intellectualism.

This...more

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Jun 22, 2009 Ciara rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who want to understand what this christian patriarchy thing is all about

Shelves: feminist-y-books, read-in-2009

having been raised atheist, i am finally starting to get curious about other people's religions now that i am just about to turn 30. not because i am interested in finding religion myself, but because i am finally starting to open my eyes to the fact that religion is behind a lot of the fucked up shit in the world, & i want to know what people believe & how it actually influences their beliefs. especially because i am about to move to kansas, loving cradle of operation rescue. these peop...more having been raised atheist, i am finally starting to get curious about other people's religions now that i am just about to turn 30. not because i am interested in finding religion myself, but because i am finally starting to open my eyes to the fact that religion is behind a lot of the fucked up shit in the world, & i want to know what people believe & how it actually influences their beliefs. especially because i am about to move to kansas, loving cradle of operation rescue. these people say that the power of god moves them to stand around outside abortion clinics, harass women, & terrorize clinic workers. what kind of god works in those people? what's going on here?

i had heard of the quiverfull movement before--families who believe that they have a duty to allow god to control their family size & give them as many babies as he sees fit. everyone knows about the duggars, with their reality TV show & 18 children. they are a well-known quiverfull family. but i hadn't realized (perhaps in my religion-free naivete) that there was a whole christian patriarchy movement that helped give sustenance to the quiverfull movement. not all christian patriarchy families are quiverfull, but pretty much all quiverfull families are christian patriarchy families, & i am pleased that this book covers the christian patriarchy movement in general & doesn't just focus on quiverfull families & their dozens of kids.

again, this is probably my naivete speaking, but i'd always kind of thought on some level that even the most conservative of christians knew enough to try to make their beliefs seem appealing to more moderate americans. & i thought it was pretty obvious that deciding men are god's disciples on earth & woman is made from man & therefore exists as a helpmeet who cannot question male authority lest she be smoted or something was really not that appealing to the average middle of the road american. the book talks about how christian patriarchy may be an attempt to make the church more appealing to men, which seems like sound reasoning. but it's shocking to me that any woman would go along with it. there are all these rules about being sexually available to your husband at all times, going along with any & all of his decisions, even if you think he's wrong, so long as he isn't asking you to sin, etc etc.

i guess my big take-away from the book is that, yeah, this belief system is really intense & requires huge amounts of self-discipline, soul-searching, self-denial, etc. it's a lifestyle commitment. these families have tons of kids at young ages, they homeschool, many of them run home businesses (because the ultimate goal is for families to be self-sustaining), they budget meticulously to try to feed every mouth & meet basic needs, they are expected not to speak about their relationship troubles outside the home, etc etc. in some respects, it reminds me a lot of my experiences with super-intense anarchist ideology. & that freaked me out.

kathryn joyce is a self-described "secular feminist," but i think she did a really good job staying unbiased. she reported on these people's beliefs in a way that seemed representative of the truth, & she kept judgments to a minimum, only engaging slipping from her objective voice in order to encourage the reader to understand that christian patriarchy beliefs have political consequences, like support for pharamcists who are "morally opposed" to filling birth control prescriptions. i think it's helpful to understand where these beliefs come from, rather than just writing off christian patriarchy defenders are "crazy" or "evil". they still scare the shit out of me, but it's better to try to understand, i think. anyway, a very compelling read. (less)

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Jul 04, 2012 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sociology, spiritual

This book ties together a lot of small threads I've been concerned about for the last decade or so. I've seen friends and family members dip in and out of various forms of fundamentalism, patriarchy, and Quiverfull ideology, and as someone on a different axis of spirituality and religion entirely, I've tried to read up and understand where these ideas come from and what the ultimate vision is for this lifestyle.

Quiverfull is chilling. The accounts from the women she interviews seem hollow and i...more

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May 05, 2009 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those interested in church/religious matters, social issues

Recommended to Donna by: saw it at the library

Shelves: non-fiction, scary, sociology, religion, 2009

I am a Christian who knows many families that live Patriarchy lifestyles to varying degrees, so I immediately grabbed Quiverfull when I spotted it on the library shelf (I haven't followed the movement in years, so I didn't even know this book was in the works.)

My first impression of Quiverfull was surprise at how unbiased Kathryn Joyce was in her writing of it. She carefully constructed a very well researched, thorough, objective report on a very disturbing off-shoot of Christianity that amount...more

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May 21, 2013 Mike_hinterberg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting look into modern Christian movements of what is already a curious unabashed competition of parity in the name of God and religion, but beneath the surface (in many but not all cases) is an even more frightening attack on feminism, democratic thought, secularism, and environmentalism. At it's best, the ideas are quaint, ignorant solipsism, with pregnancy and religious fundamentalist one-upsmanship; at it's ugliest, they're thinly-veiled racism and social antagonism mixed with abusive...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Marta rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, sociology

This book is a really excellent summary of a little known niche in highly conservative Christian circles. I'm unfortunately familiar with this movement, but I found it interesting to read an outside, secular perspective. Joyce is strongest when she's conducting interviews with people inside quiverfull circles. She quotes the movement's leaders and its followers extensively. The direct quotes are helpful, becuase some of what is said is so outlandish that it would be suspect if it was presented i...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Lacey rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting, if not terrifying, read. A look deep into the black-and-white belief system of a handful of fundamentalists who are leading a revival of biblically-based patriarchy among modern conservative Christians. The scary thing to me was that I agreed with some things, but only before they were re-read and re-translated through the lens of gender domination and strong antifeminist sentiment. Especially terrifying to me was to learn that many of these people believe that domes...more

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Jun 30, 2009 Natalie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, but it was fairly scary honestly. At times, I got lost in the series of names in the Christian patriarchy movement but after a while it became clear how connected the people are despite some slight differences in how controlling they are.

The parts that really broke my heart were of the exiled or excommunicated members talking about wanting to get back in or who were in the process of getting back into their churches. Mainly women, who were "charged" by church leaders of a va...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Tamora Pierce rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

A very clear, readable book about the rise of separatist Christianist movements which emphasize wifely submission to the husband as the wife's way to gain eternal glory, the husband's leadership as family priest, and the rearing of large families as gifts to God and a way to take the world back from gays, feminists, and liberals. Without pretending to be a believer, Kathryn Joyce has met with and attended meetings of many of these small, fundamental American Christianist sects (which are beginni...more A very clear, readable book about the rise of separatist Christianist movements which emphasize wifely submission to the husband as the wife's way to gain eternal glory, the husband's leadership as family priest, and the rearing of large families as gifts to God and a way to take the world back from gays, feminists, and liberals. Without pretending to be a believer, Kathryn Joyce has met with and attended meetings of many of these small, fundamental American Christianist sects (which are beginning to pull away even from the churches where they began, calling them as being "non-Biblical") to form multi- or even single-family church cells, practicing homeschooling, courtship (a boy must gain a father's approval before he can approach a girl with a view toward marriage dating), husband priesthood in the home, and feminine submissiveness. Joyce attended seminars and retreats in which this feminine submissiveness was taught, and she attended world conferences in which faiths with the view of increasing white, Christian populations with such families would enable all Christians, including Catholics, to take back Europe and the Americas from non-whites.

It's a very scary book by the time you reach the end, yet Joyce is never sensationalist or alarmist. She gives the history of the growth of America's Christianist right following WWII and goes on from there, only getting into the day-to-day rules and existence of the women's submission and birth aspects in the second half of the book. Most of the time she lets the leaders, particularly the women, speak for themself. This is no rabble-rousing supermarket book: this is a thoughtful, well-researched, intelligent study that I recommend to anyone who is interested in what is going on with the Christian right and what is going on with the women who are entering the marriages in groups like the Dominionists' and the most fundamental of the Assembly of God and Baptist sects, not just the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints and the Quiverfull Christianists.(less)

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May 27, 2009 Kirsten rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is really powerfully good stuff. Perhaps the best thing about it is the way the author is able to maintain a journalistic detachment and remain free from judgment - as one of the blurbs on the jacket cover points out, the people she is writing about would "be hard-pressed not to see themselves fairly portrayed," and I think that is a huge accomplishment. Much of the theology escaped me a little, but that is not my strong suit. I would have liked more first-person accounts, but perhaps that...more

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May 29, 2009 Chicgeekgirl21 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: culture-anthropology

Quiverfull is a fascinating look into the culture and personal lives of fundamentalist Christians who are part of the pro-natalist, "Quiverfull" movement. They are completely against any form of birth control--including the rhythm method--and believe in having as many children as God blesses them with...

However, it gets freakier than that. Many of these people go above and beyond, seeing their children as armies of God who will rise up and defeat the enemy (the enemy being Muslims, liberals, ath...more Quiverfull is a fascinating look into the culture and personal lives of fundamentalist Christians who are part of the pro-natalist, "Quiverfull" movement. They are completely against any form of birth control--including the rhythm method--and believe in having as many children as God blesses them with...

However, it gets freakier than that. Many of these people go above and beyond, seeing their children as armies of God who will rise up and defeat the enemy (the enemy being Muslims, liberals, atheists, feminists, etc). They look down upon women who have trouble conceiving or who have had miscarriages, believing that sin or rebellion against God causes infertility.

The believe that wives should be submissive to their husbands and women submissive to men in general. And some believers take this to the point of telling women who are in abusive relationships to stay in those relationships and "look inside themselves" to discover secret sin, anger, or disloyalty towards their violent husbands and repent.

Some of these Christians belong to churches that practice public discipline--i.e. if someone in the church is accused of sin, they will be subjected to a punishment (usually public apologies, that sort of thing). If they refuse to cooperate, they are shunned by the entire church community and, occasionally, by the larger fundamentalist community. This often leads to loss of business, destitution, and crippling depression and loneliness.

Essentially, the most hardcore of the Quiverfull Christians are not Christians at all--but members of a large-scale cult. Or, at least, that's what it looks like to an outsider such as myself. Folks like Doug Phillips--head of the Vision Forum--sacrifice basic human decency and kindness in order to gain a kind of impossible moral purity that reminds me of the infamous Pharisees of Jesus' time. Phillips, and the other leaders of the Quiverfull movement believe that "feminists", "liberals", and "secular humanists" have sacrificed their souls to worldly pleasures and, ultimately, to Satan. However, the undercurrent of extreme arrogance, fanatical control, and foamy-mouthed hatred and intolerance prevalent in the preachings and writings of people like Phillips suggest that these men and women have sacrificed their souls to a malevolent and hateful god of their own making.(less)

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Mar 17, 2009 Jessica Valenti rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved Joyce's article on the Quiverfull movement and so far the book isn't disappointing either.

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Apr 30, 2013 Terri Brimm added it

I find it truly sad that there are women willing to give up the freedoms our foremothers fought for- autonomy and control of our bodies, the choice to have or not to have children, the freedom to work outside of the home and so much more. This book exposes the Christian relight for what it truly is- a bunch of scared, misogynistic men who have nothing better to do than denigrate women and relegate them to second-class citizenship. To make women mere chattels, brood mares to propagate their hatef...more

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