“The Essence of Femininity”

As long-time readers of this blog well know, Elisabeth Elliot is one of my favorite authors and a hero of mine. Her faith in God marked my life from an early age and her writings have significantly shaped my biblical understanding of femininity.

Recently I discovered that her essay “The Essence of Femininity” (originally published in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood) is available, in its entirety, online. This is a thoughtful, beautiful defense of biblical femininity and I’d encourage all our readers to take the time to read and ponder it, and share it with others. Here’s a brief excerpt:

It is unavoidable and undeniable, yet in the past couple of decades earnest and high-sounding efforts have been made in the name of decency, equality, and fairness, at least to avoid it and, whenever possible, to deny it. I refer, of course, to femininity—a reality of God’s design and God’s making, His gift to me and to every woman—and, in a very different way, His gift to men as well. If we really understood what femininity is all about, perhaps the question of roles would take care of itself.

 
Thanks to our friends at Crossway Books and CBMW for making this essay available.