Thank you for writing this. I noticed on X the hubbub about Elliot but hadn’t taken the time to find the initial string that someone pulled to start it all. Excellent writing and thinking here. Progressive anti-Christianity is harming so many of our women as they chase their feelings instead of truth. May God continue to use you to bring Light in this very dark world.
Brilliant from start to finish! But this may have been my favorite section:
"'Mankind' for ages and ages in English was so linguistically rich that women knew they were included therein. But as “inclusive” language filtered through the academy down to the dinner table, those truly inclusive terms lost much of their resonance. That, combined with mediocre and shallow biblical literacy, does leave women feeling left out. What should Christians do? Just go all in for the TNIV? Keep propagating weird conspiracy theories about the ESV like Beth Allison Barr? I know those are the most obvious options, but I think it is better to keep trying to use archaic language for as long as possible ..."
Thank you, Anne. I'd been looking forward to your take on this, and it was even more edifying than I'd hoped.
I haven't read Elisabeth Elliot's books specifically on womanhood and marriage, so I can't speak directly to that. But it has been disheartening for me to see women around my age deconstruct after becoming disillusioned with certain teachers. I understand the experience. I put my trust in *far* less worthy interpreters of Scripture than Elliot in my early 20s, and crashed and burned as a result. But I've come to see that, at the end of the day, the responsibility for misapplying God's word and letting myself be led astray lies with me.
The thing is, in the many years since God graciously picked up the pieces of my rebellion (which He did not have to do), plenty of commentators like this would likely write that my poor efforts to walk in obedience to God have still not "worked out for me." There has been heartache and disappointment aplenty. It hasn't been a remotely tidy equation of "do godly thing X and get obvious external result Y." But there has also been infinitely more blessing than I deserve. Elliot's writings on suffering have helped me understand that (begin to understand it, at least).
When I was at Gordon-Conwell in the mid-70s, I took a course under Elisabeth Elliott and had a chance to get to know her a bit. She was a complementarian and those days, but she also knew that she was a strong and powerful woman who influenced others - and that's what she set out to do. She offered my wife, among several other women, a chance to be mentored, because she was trying to raise up a new generation of women to carry on what she knew to be the biblical vision for womanhood. My wife regrets that she didn't take Elisabeth Elliott up on the offer, but others did and I've had great influence in their writing and mentoring themselves.
Over the past couple of years, a two-volume biography of Elliot has been published; it is entitled b
"Becoming Elisabeth Eliot." The second volume deals with her marriage to Lars Gren, who was indeed a domineering husband. After Elizabeth Elliott died, something very strange happened - Lars became a Christian in fact and not in just profession. I don't know the details on that, but it is interesting.
Those of us who took the class offered by Elizabeth Elliott profited greatly from it. She was an amazing woman and one of the godliest people I have met.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. There is an interview of Ellen Vaughn, the author of the authorized biography of Elizabeth Elliott, on Alisa Childers YouTube channel. Mrs. Vaughn mentions how difficult Elizabeth Elliott's third marriage was and that she (Mrs. Vaughn) was involved in a concerted effort to witness to Gren, leading to his conversion.
I've only read Passion and Purity, so I can't speak to anything but Elisabeth's courtship with Jim Elliott. I read the book years ago when I was single, so maybe my reaction would be different now, but I found their relationship dynamic very irritating. It was as if she had no agency in the relationship and was in perpetual stasis, waiting for Jim to decide whether he was allowed by God to marry. She did rather allow herself to be strung along, especially after Jim's "kissing incidents" with someone else. I was very sensitive to anything reeking of codependency, and the whole on/off nature of their relationship seemed like a red flag.
I want to think about what you've written here. I, too, have often felt that Jim Elliot was not being completely aboveboard with EE. He made some unambiguous gestures of romantic love and then drew back. His lingering so long in indecision looks to me like the result of the perfectionistic upbringing he had. EE, after Jim's death, found herself quite theologically at odds with his father. (I've read book one of the authorized biography.) There is no question EE was brilliant; her skill as a linguist was far beyond ordinary.
“Nailed it” again, Anne. Thank you for helping us navigate these times of shaking. Ultimately they are for our good as they are forcing us all to decide if God is truly Holy & Just; if we are truly deserving of His Wrath; and if Jesus, because of God’s Love for us, truly bore that Wrath on our behalf. The measure of what we believe He did for us will be the measure of our love (and of our faithfulness and obedience) for Him. Whether we refer to it as “penal substitutionary atonement,” or whether we just believe and treasure the truth in our hearts of what it means and entails—without even knowing its fancy name. It is the undermining of This Truth that is always what we find if, as you put it, we scratch below the surface of the current presenting controversies. It is, of course, the continuation of what happened in The Garden, where we foolishly and rebelliously and prompted by evil, attempted to bring God down and to raise Our Selves in His place. 2 Thess 1:5-12 & https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/substitutionary-atonement/
From a book she wrote for her daughter…..“ Let Me Be A Woman”
“ remember you married a sinner….and he did too. There is nothing else out there to choose from”.
Thank you for writing this. I noticed on X the hubbub about Elliot but hadn’t taken the time to find the initial string that someone pulled to start it all. Excellent writing and thinking here. Progressive anti-Christianity is harming so many of our women as they chase their feelings instead of truth. May God continue to use you to bring Light in this very dark world.
Brilliant from start to finish! But this may have been my favorite section:
"'Mankind' for ages and ages in English was so linguistically rich that women knew they were included therein. But as “inclusive” language filtered through the academy down to the dinner table, those truly inclusive terms lost much of their resonance. That, combined with mediocre and shallow biblical literacy, does leave women feeling left out. What should Christians do? Just go all in for the TNIV? Keep propagating weird conspiracy theories about the ESV like Beth Allison Barr? I know those are the most obvious options, but I think it is better to keep trying to use archaic language for as long as possible ..."
Thank you, Anne. I'd been looking forward to your take on this, and it was even more edifying than I'd hoped.
I haven't read Elisabeth Elliot's books specifically on womanhood and marriage, so I can't speak directly to that. But it has been disheartening for me to see women around my age deconstruct after becoming disillusioned with certain teachers. I understand the experience. I put my trust in *far* less worthy interpreters of Scripture than Elliot in my early 20s, and crashed and burned as a result. But I've come to see that, at the end of the day, the responsibility for misapplying God's word and letting myself be led astray lies with me.
The thing is, in the many years since God graciously picked up the pieces of my rebellion (which He did not have to do), plenty of commentators like this would likely write that my poor efforts to walk in obedience to God have still not "worked out for me." There has been heartache and disappointment aplenty. It hasn't been a remotely tidy equation of "do godly thing X and get obvious external result Y." But there has also been infinitely more blessing than I deserve. Elliot's writings on suffering have helped me understand that (begin to understand it, at least).
When I was at Gordon-Conwell in the mid-70s, I took a course under Elisabeth Elliott and had a chance to get to know her a bit. She was a complementarian and those days, but she also knew that she was a strong and powerful woman who influenced others - and that's what she set out to do. She offered my wife, among several other women, a chance to be mentored, because she was trying to raise up a new generation of women to carry on what she knew to be the biblical vision for womanhood. My wife regrets that she didn't take Elisabeth Elliott up on the offer, but others did and I've had great influence in their writing and mentoring themselves.
Over the past couple of years, a two-volume biography of Elliot has been published; it is entitled b
"Becoming Elisabeth Eliot." The second volume deals with her marriage to Lars Gren, who was indeed a domineering husband. After Elizabeth Elliott died, something very strange happened - Lars became a Christian in fact and not in just profession. I don't know the details on that, but it is interesting.
Those of us who took the class offered by Elizabeth Elliott profited greatly from it. She was an amazing woman and one of the godliest people I have met.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. There is an interview of Ellen Vaughn, the author of the authorized biography of Elizabeth Elliott, on Alisa Childers YouTube channel. Mrs. Vaughn mentions how difficult Elizabeth Elliott's third marriage was and that she (Mrs. Vaughn) was involved in a concerted effort to witness to Gren, leading to his conversion.
I’m still quoting Elizabeth Elliot. Finding her was a big plus in my life…. especially my marriage 💕
I've only read Passion and Purity, so I can't speak to anything but Elisabeth's courtship with Jim Elliott. I read the book years ago when I was single, so maybe my reaction would be different now, but I found their relationship dynamic very irritating. It was as if she had no agency in the relationship and was in perpetual stasis, waiting for Jim to decide whether he was allowed by God to marry. She did rather allow herself to be strung along, especially after Jim's "kissing incidents" with someone else. I was very sensitive to anything reeking of codependency, and the whole on/off nature of their relationship seemed like a red flag.
I want to think about what you've written here. I, too, have often felt that Jim Elliot was not being completely aboveboard with EE. He made some unambiguous gestures of romantic love and then drew back. His lingering so long in indecision looks to me like the result of the perfectionistic upbringing he had. EE, after Jim's death, found herself quite theologically at odds with his father. (I've read book one of the authorized biography.) There is no question EE was brilliant; her skill as a linguist was far beyond ordinary.
“Nailed it” again, Anne. Thank you for helping us navigate these times of shaking. Ultimately they are for our good as they are forcing us all to decide if God is truly Holy & Just; if we are truly deserving of His Wrath; and if Jesus, because of God’s Love for us, truly bore that Wrath on our behalf. The measure of what we believe He did for us will be the measure of our love (and of our faithfulness and obedience) for Him. Whether we refer to it as “penal substitutionary atonement,” or whether we just believe and treasure the truth in our hearts of what it means and entails—without even knowing its fancy name. It is the undermining of This Truth that is always what we find if, as you put it, we scratch below the surface of the current presenting controversies. It is, of course, the continuation of what happened in The Garden, where we foolishly and rebelliously and prompted by evil, attempted to bring God down and to raise Our Selves in His place. 2 Thess 1:5-12 & https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/substitutionary-atonement/
Thank you again.
Thank you for this post. It was good to read a balanced piece on Elisabeth Elliot