Book Review: Nurturing the Nations

Nurturing the Nations: Reclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures

The role of women has been debated through the ages. In this book Darrow Miller with Stan Guthrie offers insight and suggestions for reclaiming the dignity of women in societies around the world.

Part 1 addresses the abuse of women along with alarming statistics. Did you know domestic violence is the number one health risk for American women between the ages of 15 and 45? Did you know in Bangladesh, acid attacks deliberately disfigure women to make them unattractive? Then there’s the degradation spawned by pornography, sex trafficking, forced sterilization and other travesties.

            In Part 2, the authors discuss the problem as rooted in sexism, which views women as inferior to men, and radical feminism, which views men and women as identical. Instead, Miller and Guthrie suggest men and women be viewed as equal in being and different in function.

            They discuss the differences among waves of feminism. First wave feminists worked to gain basic rights, such as the right to vote, while today’s radical feminists deny masculine and feminine distinctions and strive to establish interchangeable gender roles of choice.

            Part 3 of the book looks at biblical foundations for a worldview with the Trinity as a model of diversity within unity. Part 4 offers a look at what’s ahead with the marriage of Christ and the church.

            A wrap-up chapter stresses the role of women as nurturers first in the family, then in society and the nations.

            This book opened my eyes as to how changes in definition of gender, etc., have developed and become acceptable in our society. The authors do a thorough job of researching attitudes and actions in the family, the church and society at large to make their case of developing a healthy view of men and women that would allow people of all cultures to exist with dignity.

            The book includes a valuable glossary along with subject and biblical references indexes.

            No matter your view of the roles of men and women, no matter your age or stage, this book will open your eyes to look at all sides of the gender issue. It’s a sobering, thought-provoking read. Of ten reviews on Amazon, all give the book a 5-star rating.