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The Christianity Today women’s blog provides news and analysis from the perspective of evangelical women. We cover news stories and books related to international justice and evangelism, pregnancy and sexual ethics, marriage, parenting, and celibacy, pop culture, health and body image, raising girls, and women in the church and parachurch.
Her.meneutics was co-founded by Katelyn Beaty and Sarah Pulliam Bailey.
July 23, 2012 8:40 AM
Bachelorette Emily Maynard chose her man in last night’s finale of the popular reality television show. Millions of viewers wanting a beautiful love story watched the season in which 25 eligible men wined, dined, and romanced Maynard who, interestingly,...
June 25, 2012 9:39 AM
It’s no secret that marriage is on the decline in the United States. The most recent Census revealed that 32 million Americans are now in single households, and that married people are no longer the majority. Some are single by...
June 14, 2012 8:58 AM
Every spring marks the launch of the wedding season, which means that every spring our refrigerator door fills with Save-the-Dates, and my husband prepares to officiate some of them. I always look forward to each of these happy occasions, but...
June 13, 2012 8:34 AM
January Jones ate hers, so why shouldn’t you? In the crunchy-mama circles I happily move in, for years I’ve heard of women who eat their own placenta--the blood-rich organ that connects an unborn baby to its mother’s blood supply--after giving...
May 21, 2012 8:34 AM
They met in college and fell in love. They talked about getting married, and he started looking for a ring. They dreamed about life together, a life of beauty and joy, raising babies and laughing with friends and growing old....
May 15, 2012 8:46 AM
When I saw the cover of the May 21 issue of Time, my instant reaction was “Eeew. That's just not right.” An odd reaction, for someone who has gone on the record in support of so-called “extended” nursing. To parse...
May 14, 2012 8:26 AM
If you follow political news at all, by now you’ve probably heard of Julia, the character who made her debut recently on President Obama’s campaign website. The "Life of Julia" page documents this fictional woman’s life, from her entrance into...
May 11, 2012 8:58 AM
Like a lot of doting children, I loved Mother’s Day growing up. The holiday usually involved eating out at a fancy restaurant (not the norm for our family), where we gave my mom carefully composed cards and handpicked gifts. Even...
April 24, 2012 10:46 AM
Last week Her.meneutics writer Sharon Hodde Miller critiqued aspects of evangelical author Dan Brennan’s take on friendship between men and women, noting that his approach failed to grapple with the reality of sin. Below is Brennan’s response. —The Editors A...
April 18, 2012 8:39 AM
Before I got married I was single for 28 years, and I learned a lot during that time. One lesson? That it can be horribly lonely as a single person in the church, especially given the popular teachings about marital...
April 10, 2012 9:01 AM
Nancy Sleeth wants all of us to think about becoming a little more Amish. And then she wants us to act. Sleeth, who cofounded the creation-care organization Blessed Earth with her husband, Matthew, isn’t advocating that we sell the family...
March 16, 2012 11:16 AM
Words are my life. As an avid reader and an English professor, I can easily get carried away by their magical power to evoke emotion and crystallize conceptions. But sometimes my enthusiasm for language leads me to idealize a word...
February 28, 2012 8:45 AM
I stormed into the house, stopping only to shake the snow off my boots before hissing at my husband as he poured his coffee: “I cannot believe you didn’t fill up the Yukon yesterday.” “You always take the Corolla when...
February 24, 2012 8:43 AM
A world away, a men’s rights movement is afoot. Welcome to the matriarchal society of Meghalaya, India, where, in a vast reversal of traditions the world over, property names and wealth are passed along from mother to daughter instead of...
February 17, 2012 8:41 AM
ABC’s big surprise hit this year doesn’t feature lawyers, police officers, doctors, or any other primetime staples. It features princesses, imps, talking crickets, magic mirrors, and an evil queen. Once Upon a Time has consistently scored high in the ratings...
February 13, 2012 8:50 AM
Have you seen Into the Woods? The musical, written by Stephen Sondheim, opened on Broadway in 1987 and has been produced uncountable times since then. The play weaves together the stories of Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (of Beanstalk fame),...
January 30, 2012 8:40 AM
Monica Holmes had the prettiest hair of any girl in the fifth grade. Her chestnut locks flowed effortlessly down her back, while my delicate, thin hair broke off around my shoulders. Even so, I didn’t envy her hair; I begrudged...
January 27, 2012 11:21 AM
To all the single ladies: Last week Groupon offered a ticket to lasting love (at a 76% discount!) by way of your own personal “boudoir photo shoot.” The ad proclaims: The great Romantic painters had the same goal—to craft an...
January 25, 2012 11:24 AM
“Wanna grab a burrito 2nite?” The melody of the Atlanta symphony’s instruments flowed through the auditorium. I didn’t have high expectations for dating at 23, but a text containing the word burrito wasn’t exactly what I had in mind (and...
January 12, 2012 9:05 AM
In a recent opinion piece for the Washington Post, Emily Matchar, who writes regularly on the phenomenon frequently called the ‘new domesticity,’ wonders whether the resurgence of interest in canning, knitting, and generally DIY-spirited homekeeping is not, in fact, regressive--a...
January 3, 2012 8:57 AM
Okay, I get it: Facebook is not for everybody. I hear complaints all the time about privacy settings. I also frequently hear the groans from people who have never tried Facebook or get pushback from church leaders, older folks, and...
October 24, 2011 11:19 AM
I was sitting at my friend Andrew’s dining table in the mid afternoon. I had stopped by to pick up a book I needed for a writing project and decided to stay and work with him a while. It was...
August 24, 2011 8:32 AM
What do you do if you’re engaged but have serious misgivings about your decision, red flags popping up left and right? Do you a) get married, since you’ve set a date, sent out the invitations, spent a boatload of money,...
August 15, 2011 9:47 AM
It’s no secret that more and more college students are graduating with crushing student loan debt. And with a job market that is less than favorable to the 20-something job seeker, some college students and graduates are looking for innovative...
June 7, 2011 10:25 AM
I slink into bed, click on my light, and grab the book. Guilt shakes me a bit. After all I’ve read about these sorts of stories, I figure by the end I’ll hate my husband or hunger for more of...
February 18, 2011 10:14 AM
I work with Christian college students who are in the throes of dating or of wanting to be dating. Nearly every week during the school year, I am asked questions (mostly by ladies) about the ins-and-outs of the dating process....
February 15, 2011 10:23 AM
The saga of Barbie and Ken isn't exactly the Song of Solomon. For one thing, the Mattel match is made of plastic. For another, Mattel probably doesn't mean for the couple to teach us a lesson about God's prevailing love....
October 26, 2010 10:40 AM
If you’re a fan of USA’s Psych, as I am, chances are you went berserk when Shawn and Juliet finally kissed in the summer finale. Fans shrieked and squealed; message boards were overrun with ecstatic crowds; my best friend sent...
August 2, 2010 4:22 PM
If a recent New York Times piece is to be believed, the latest trend in dating is a spin on the calling card, delivered to attractive strangers, with instructions on where to find the bearer online. Religious communities have often...
June 29, 2010 11:05 AM
Mandie Shaw, Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, and Elsie Dinsmore were close companions of mine throughout the teen years. I also enjoyed as occasional playmates Sierra Jensen and Christy Miller. I now regret some of those friendships. As a...
June 15, 2010 10:32 AM
My husband runs a dormitory of 30 high-school boys. Recently two of them lounged on our living room floor, asking questions about our faith. It started with theodicy (If God is good, why do bad things happen?). We covered confession...
May 25, 2010 10:56 AM
My husband and I consciously choose to watch only one television show at a time, which we watch, well, religiously. For the past few years, our show has been Lost. Its dramatic plot and love stories and perpetual mysteries all...
March 5, 2010 9:34 AM
Nick Waters is your average Christian man who, in pursuit of becoming a better husband and person, did what some may consider extraordinary: he watched 30 chick flicks in 30 days. His blog project, which has picked up national media...
December 31, 2009 3:55 PM
It wasn’t until I read Cathy Lynn Grossman's USA Today blog post Tuesday that I knew there was a word for them: Yentas, the people (usually women) in your life who pry about your love life (or the absence thereof)...
August 3, 2009 8:40 AM
Forty-one years ago last March, when my husband, David, and I went to get our marriage license, he had to bring a letter of permission from his parents. In California in 1968, a woman could marry without permission at age...
July 30, 2009 9:53 AM
Falling in love with caricatures of girls and women, such as blow-up dolls or pillows imprinted with female characters, is still on the margins of Western culture, but it's getting noted enough to merit a recent New York Times Magazine...
July 16, 2009 8:49 AM
A new national study suggests that the trend toward cohabiting continues its forward march for young adults, many of whom still expect to marry someday. More than three-quarters of 20- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. said they believe that "love,...
June 17, 2009 8:57 AM
The U.S. State Department asks Twitter to delay maintenance plans for the weekend so Iranians voting in Friday's election can communicate instantly, and defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi uses Twitter to organize protests against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The FBI tracks Twitter...
May 11, 2009 9:23 AM
It turns out that Susan Boyle has been kissed. But her earlier claim that she hadn't was met with disbelief. So, too, are pre-20th century European mores, when premarital kissing was forbidden. Can you think of a recent historical movie...