Book Review: Womanly Dominion

When I first heard that Pastor Mark Chanski had written a companion book to his Manly Dominion called Womanly Dominion, I thought he had gone too far.  Wasn't dominion all about manliness?  Wasn't womanhood all about a gentle and quiet spirit?  Admittedly, I had little interest in reading it.  But then, I had the privilege of hearing Pastor Chanski preach on the topics of his two recent books at a conference.  All the conferees were given copies of his books, so I did read Womanly Dominion and found that I had things to learn!

Yes, womanhood is all about a gentle and quiet spirit, but the creation mandate to subdue and rule over the earth (Genesis 1:28) was given to both the man and the woman.  Using the imagery of a soccer team, Pastor Chanski emphasizes that as long as we are careful to "play our position" as outlined in the Scripture, we, too, are to subdue and rule the part of the world to which we are called. 

I liked how, early in his discussion of dominion in general, Pastor Chanski emphasized that God saw it as good when man did such things as lasso and train a horse to carry him around, or cut down trees and make planks and build houses.  We are stewards of this earth, yes, but we are also called to rule the earth, and we are certainly not trespassers here.  Later, he recalls examples of dominion-minded women in particular from the past and present, recounting the fitting boldness of John Bunyan's wife Elizabeth, Thomas Edison's mother, and his own wife, Dianne. 

As the book continues, it gets more and more practical.  Pastor Chanski speaks to women in all stations--single and married, with and without children--and exhorts us as to how we might take dominion in our own lives.  For example, he exhorts mothers to rule over the media their children absorb, from what they can access on the internet, to the music in their ipods, to the library books they bring home.   

Should a woman be an athlete?  Toward the end, he speaks to some controversial questions with great skill, presenting a balanced spectrum of relevant Scripture to the reader before drawing final conclusions.  And he uses these questions to further exhort us practically (e.g.  Running track may be consistent with your daughter's femininity, but the immodest track uniforms may not be).

Pastor Chanski's writing style is very lively and engaging, making his book an enjoyable read.  I wasn't terribly fond of the cover and noticed some errors the copy editor must have missed, but these will undoubtedly be caught if there is a second printing.  He does deal tastefully with the "eros" type of love between a wife and her husband and deliberately does not sugar-coat some of the dangers mothers are to shield their little ones from in today's world.  Because of these aspects, I would highly recommend it to women and mature older teens. 

For most of us, our calling may not be so public and exciting (at first glance) as our husbands' callings, but we can leave this book inspired, and with his lifting theme echoing in our minds:  The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.