Woman: Her Mission and Her Life - Revised Edition

by Adolphe Monod, Constance K. Walker

We all live in a particular time in history, and our views are almost inevitably colored by the prevalent opinions of our age.  This is particularly true today with regard to the role God intended for women, so it is helpful to read a solid Christian work from a different era.  In 1848, Adolphe Monod, the greatest evangelical preacher in French-speaking Europe, gave two sermons on the nature and role of Her Mission and Her Life .  Firmly anchored in the Bible, this pair of messages has remained a classic work and will ring true to many a Christian woman today.  There are a few points that reflect the thinking of mid-nineteenth century France, but the vast majority of the text is simple, biblical wisdom.
    
A unique feature of this edition is a new section added to the end of the book.  It shows how Monod's teaching was exemplified in the lives of four special women in his his wife Hannah, his mother Louise, his older sister Adele, and his daughter Sarah.  This section includes long and touching quotes from primary sources and serves to give the volume a more personal touch.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2010

Reviews

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his book Woman Her Mission and Her Life, Adolphe Monod (1802-1856), a Protestant preacher in France, defines the general and distinctive missions of a woman. The general mission for a woman (as well as a man) is to "glorify God who made us all in his image and who, on seeing that image effaced by sin, has renewed it in his Son"; but the distinctive mission for a woman is found in Genesis 2:18 which says, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." According to Pastor Monod, "This [verse] applies to every woman, not just to the married woman, for Eve is not only the wife of the first man, she is also the first woman."

Even though this book was written in the 19th century, it is still very applicable today, as seen in Pastor Monod's warning to all women:

"Do not count on the world to clarify this [distinctive] mission for you. It has never known it and cannot understand it, because it has always reduced the question that concerns you to the petty proportions of its own egotism or your vanity. It remains for us to rely on God's Word, on that Word which, though fully preoccupied with setting forth "the one thing...necessary" (Luke 10:42), still resolves in passing all of humanity's great questions. Joining examples with precept, it judges all things rightly because it judges them spiritually."

I found this book to be a very encouraging and comforting reminder of God's role for me as a Christian wife and mom. The truth of God's sovereignty expressed by Pastor Monod helps me as I live contra mundum (against the world):

"So if you bear the heart of a Christian woman in your marriage today, you can believe yourself to have been just as truly chosen by God for your husband and he for you as Eve was for Adam and Adam for Eve."

I highly recommend this book for all Christian women.

[Alyssa Bohon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings. First of all, this is from 200 years ago and translated from French, so that's that. Now, on the one hand, I appreciated the biblical foundation and application of God's calling for women. Profoundly counter-cultural. Deeply refreshing. On the other hand, some of his side statements - like about women not being mentally endowed for things like great poetry and politics, which were probably pretty acceptable in his time, struck even my non-feminist sensibilities as a bit much. Would never give this book to a modern secular, they'd probably throw it out the window as completely irrelevant. But many things in the book stirred my heart, especially regarding the beauty of a woman's humble, unseen service. We as Christian women might do well to think less about all the things we want to be allowed to do (these days there isn't much left to wish), and focus on the jobs that we are actually given to do in Scripture. Maybe if we invested ourselves in actually doing those things well, we would find the most enriching life possible for us. I'm often overwhelmed (exhausted?) by all the things I now have to do because women fought for the right to be allowed to do them. We aren't enriched by getting to be a little bit of everything. The world is broken. Cultures will have one piece or another missing of a system that supports Biblical family flourishing, whether its flipped toward repression or liberation. But the Scriptures do not change, and it's good to be reminded of God's calling for every generation, maybe even especially from someone whose cultural blindspots are the complete opposite of our own.