A Woman's Place

Summary

The managing editor of Christianity Today and founder of the popular Her.meneutics blog encourages women to find joy in vocation in this game-changing look at the importance of women and work.

The conversation about women and work is heated and head-line grabbing. While women today inhabit every professional sphere, many women still feel that work is something to justify, to others and to themselves. Something that is good—up to a point. In Christian circles, where the traditional family model is highly regarded, women who sense a calling to professional sectors struggle to pursue that calling without much church or peer support.

Katelyn Beaty presents a new way for women—and the church—to think about work. She encourages women in all seasons and spheres to find ways to express the biblical call to rule over creation, no less in the office than in the home or ministry setting.

Beaty looks at the scriptural basis for work—from the Garden of Eden to the Proverbs 31 woman and beyond—and traces the evolution of our concepts of public and domestic spheres and the rise of the single-earner family ideal. Arguing that the historical exclusion of women from spheres of influence does not reflect God’s intention for humanity, she traces how drastically women’s roles in Western society have changed in recent decades; how the work-home divide came to exist in the first place; and the biblical and theological arguments for cultural influence outside the home. She shares several stories of Christian women who are leading powerful institutions, making decisions that affect dynamic cultural change, and finding a vocation that extends beyond what was long thought to be theirs.

She does not insist that all women must work outside the home; instead, she gives both men and women a better framework for discussing the role of career, desire, and calling in a Christian life.

Sure to spark debate and discussion, A Woman's Place will be a game-changing look at the importance of women and work in Christian circles.