NO WILL OF MY OWN

Our friend, Jon Zens, has just published a book entitled, No Will of My Own: How Patriarchy Smothers Female Dignity & Personhood. When Jon shared with me that he was working on this book, my heart leaped with excitement! As I read through the manuscript, my enthusiasm elevated. The Lord has done it again! He has used Jon to communicate truths which the Church needs to hear and I can’t pass up an opportunity to encourage everyone to read it!

Product Description
In 1912 Jesse Penn-Lewis noted from Genesis 3 that it was the serpent, not the woman, who was cursed: "The serpent is cursed, but, in effect, the beguiled victim [Eve] is blest, for through her will come the 'Seed' which will triumph over the devil and his seed; and through her will arise a new race through the promised Seed (Gen.3:15) . . . . Henceforth it is also war by Satan upon the womanhood of the world, in malignant revenge for the verdict of the garden" (War On the Saints).

Church history reveals that Roman Catholicism and Protestantism taught and practiced forms of patriarchy that essentially sided with the evil one's disdain for females. Women were not allowed to function or speak in the church, were viewed as existing to serve males, and were seen as conduits of sin and error. John Calvin, for example, rashly affirmed "Therefore all women are born to submit to the pre-eminence of the male sex . . . . Let the woman be content in her position of subjection, and not feel indignant because she has to play second fiddle to the superior sex."

In No Will of My Own, author Jon Zens compares the patriarchy taught to families by the Roman Catholic and Dutch Reformed churches in Holland with an aggressive patriarchal wing of the home-schooling movement in America. He shows that the earmarks of patriarchy doctrine result in varying levels of abuse of young girls and wives. This book serves as a vital warning concerning the misuse of Scripture and church tradition to smother female worth and dignity.

REVIEWS:
In almost every religion around the world, the hearts, souls, and bodies of women are sacrificed on the altar of fundamentalism. In No Will of My Own, Jon Zens takes a sobering look at abuse within patriarchal Christianity. An important book. -- Hillary McFarland, author of Quivering Daughters: Hope and Healing for the Daughters of Patriarchy

In No Will of My Own, Jon Zens, author and apologist for genuine godly relationships within the body of Christ, has bravely taken on patriarchy, one of the most damaging and aberrant trends within the Church today. Comparing the research by Annie Imbens and Ineke Jonker in their 1992 book, Christianity & Incest, with the underlying teachings and attitudes of patriarchy, Jon makes a solid case for further examination and rejection of this movement. From the notion that the father is the center of the home, thus the intermediary between God and his family, to the belief that daughters should not attend college or even be allowed to leave home until "given in marriage," Jon demonstrates that the attitudes that produce these ideas are what leads to physical, mental, verbal, spiritual and sexual abuse of both women and daughters. Having spoken myself with many women whose homes have been destroyed by these very teachings, many who have experienced horrendous abuse, I am so grateful that No Will of My Own has been written. I hope it convinces those who are just wading in the waters of these teachings to go back to shore and critically examine them in the light of Scripture! And I hope that validating its reality will also be the beginning of healing for the precious sisters who have tasted of its bitter waters. – Karen Campbell

Jon Zens writes with a compassionate, loving heart and he dares to reveal a horrid actuality with the candor and boldness of Truth. In NO WILL OF MY OWN Jon Zens brings a hidden, secretive reality into plain sight. I especially encourage the sisters in Christ to read this invaluable little book! – Kat Huff

Jon Zens' comprehensive work documents the aberrant fruit of fundamentalist patriarchy. I pray that the Holy Spirit will set tens of thousands of daughters free through this book. -- Dr. Stephen R. Crosby

You may obtain NO WILL OF MY OWN through www.amazon.com or contact Jon at jzens@searchingtogether.org, 715-338-2796 or Searching Together, P O Box 548, St Croix Falls WI 54024-0548.


Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie