April Cassidy runs a blog called “Peaceful Wife” where she writes encouragement to women on biblical womanhood. She’s also practices headcovering and shared her testimony with us here. I got an e-mail from April in August 2014 telling me that she had been picked up by a Christian literary agent . Shortly after I heard the great news that her book was going to be published through Kregel Publications. It’s almost a year later now, and her book “The Peaceful Wife” is about to release on January 27th.
Here’s the book description and cover:
What happens when a woman becomes the wife God desires her to be?
In today’s world, women are often rewarded for having type A personalities. Driven, demanding women achieve higher positions, better salaries, and praise for their ambition. They learn to be confident, take-charge leaders who can handle anything on their own. Yet when it comes to their marriages, those same traits can backfire. After all, no one goes into marriage hoping for a promotion. What is a wife to do?
April Cassidy knows this struggle firsthand. She thought she was a great Christian wife and begged God to make her passive husband into a more loving, involved, godly leader. Instead, God opened her eyes to changes that she needed to make, such as laying down her desire for control and offering genuine, unconditional respect–not just love–to her husband. The Peaceful Wife focuses on Cassidy’s experience and its life-changing properties, providing a template for others to follow.
Cassidy’s conclusions may be as shocking to readers as they were to her, but she backs up her own tale with stories from her blog readers, and also includes recommendations for further study. She walks through baby steps on how to change, addressing questions such as:
What is respect?
How can you show respect?
How is being respectful different from being loving?
In the end, The Peaceful Wife is a powerful path to God’s design for women to live in full submission to Christ as Lord.
One of the things we’re really excited about is that on page 171 she gives positive attestation to head covering. Here’s what she says: Read more
Objection : À l’époque de Paul, les prostituées avaient les cheveux courts et ne se couvraient pas la tête. Parce que la coutume voulait que les femmes se couvrent la tête, celles qui ne le faisaient pas étaient associées aux prostituées. Comme cette situation était propre à Corinthe, le voile n’est pas nécessaire pour nous.
Si l’étude du contexte culturel s’avère souvent utile, lorsqu’on s’en sert pour contredire un auteur biblique en prétendant que ce qu’il commande pour certaines raisons a en fait une autre explication, différente de celle qu’il nous donne, cela peut devenir dangereux.
R.C. Sprouls dit, “Si Paul avait simplement demandé aux femmes de se couvrir la tête sans aucune explications pour justifier une telle requête, nous aurions pu combler le manque d’informations par notre connaissance du contexte culturel. Cependant, dans ce cas précis, Paul fournit une ample démonstration, et celle-ci se base sur la création, non pas sur les coutumes des prostituées de Corinthe.” 1) R.C Sproul – Knowing Scripture, 1977, ch 5, pg 110.
Il poursuit en disant, “Nous devrions veiller à ce que notre zèle pour la connaissance culturelle, ne nous serve pas à obscurcir ce que les textes disent.” 2) R.C Sproul – Knowing Scripture, 1977, ch 5, pg 110.
Modesty according to one biblical lexicon is “the state of being appropriate for display”. 1) εὐσχημοσύνη, Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This is propriety in clothing where our “unpresentable parts are [covered], which our more presentable parts do not require” (1 Cor 12:23-24). It is a command of Scripture to dress modestly (1 TIm 2:9-10). Sexual temptation is a real concern and while Jesus acknowledges that “it is necessary that temptations come” he warns “woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!” (Matt 18:7 ESV). So if by your dress you’re tempting people to lust, Jesus has strong words for you. Since we are all committed to dressing modestly we must ask is our hair an “unpresentable part” (1 Cor 12:23) and is that why women are to wear a covering over it (1 Cor 11:4-6)? I’d like to argue that Christian head covering is not commanded for modesty’s sake. Here are my reasons why: Read more
References
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↑ εὐσχημοσύνη, Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
