Eve in Exile: and the Restoration of Femininity
by Rebekah Merkle
Stated Goal of the Book:
Christians can focus on real women. What did God make real women for?
Summery of Issues
- Uses abusive tactics of coercive control as part of a discipleship strategy.
- Designs a theology of womanhood compatible with dominionistic theology.
- Fails to offer an in-depth discussion of social issues or Biblical texts about womanhood, but rather insists that this books description of “what God made real women for” is accurate because it’s “obvious.”
Uses Poor Argumentation in Writing
When writing theologically, and especially when writing about controversial issues like gender roles or “Biblical” womanhood, you need to use careful, clear, reasoned arguments backed up with ample sources. However, Eve in Exile features few of the hallmarks of good argumentation.
Specific Issues:
- Continually uses strawman arguments (7-9, 22-23, 30, 109, 112, 135-136, 192-193).
- Fails to cite sources or relevant scripture passages (43, 50, 53, 109, 119, 123, 135-136).
- Reductionistic or patronizing examples (10, 67-69, 99, 109, 117, 147-148).
- Poor or deceiving use of statistics (65, 67-69).
- Makes points with the claim of “obviousness” or “straightforwardness” without a clear argument (111-112, 133, 171, 198).
- Doesn’t fully understand the “why” behind social issues such as abortion (31-32, 197-198), women’s suffrage (49-50), use of antidepressants / anxiety medications (67), and obesity (140).
For example:
Merkle expresses concern that “women in our society may choose Option A (fulfilling career) or Option B (wife and mother)” (30), but she fails to realize or admit that many women find themselves searching for a combination of both. Or women seek out a “career” not out of a desire for “fulfillment” but out of financial necessity. When she does consider the life of a woman with a career and family, her description does not match the experience of most women employed outside the home.
“Occasionally a few superwomen manage to carve out for themselves a culturally acceptable third option. Such a superwoman has managed to become a wife and mother, but has organized it in such a way that the husband and the kids don’t interfere with her life plans. She continues to pursue her career, and her husband and children simply fend for themselves in her wake as best they may. The kids are outsourced to daycare or a nanny, the husband obviously shouldn’t be allowed to stand in the way of her dreams, so he can just step aside.” (Eve in Exile, 31)
What Merkle paints as the normal situation for a woman with a career matches the attitudes and actions of only a few real life women. The majority of women (Christian or secular) who have jobs or careers are still incredibly invested in their homes, marriages, and children. Her accusations against women with career’s here is hardly accurate, but is however a strawman that is easy to dismantle for rhetorical impact.
Contains Problematic Theological Viewpoints
At the core, Eve in Exile is a Dominionist expression of womanhood. Though mentioned only briefly as an aside, Dominionism is the theological philosophy of government and home held by Doug Wilson, his daughters (Rebekah Merkle & Rachel Jankovic), Christ Church of Moscow, ID, and Canon Press. Thereby, this book shows women what their role would look like under this political and religious philosophy.
Dominionism Defined:
“1. Dominionism is the theocratic idea that Christians are called by God to exercise dominion over every aspect of society by taking control of political and cultural institutions.
“2. Dominionism promotes religious supremacy, insofar as it does not respect the equality of other religions or even other versions of Christianity. Dominionism promotes theocratic visions of governance, whereby the Ten Commandments as the foundation of a broad vision of biblical law, should be the foundation of American law, and the U.S. Constitution is seen as a vehicle for implementing biblical principles.
“3. Dominionism is the underlying ideology that gives an agenda to Christian nationalism. ” (Political Research Associates)
Specific Issues:
- Dominionistic theology (24-26, 162, 203).
- Restrictive role of women:
- About doing/duties, never imaging/being. No discussion of rest (28, 34, 98, 101, 147).
- There is no godly way for a woman to have a career and a family (31, 135, 169).
- Womanhood and mothering are inseparable (124, 167-168).
- A woman’s role is homeward and any community/ministry involvement must always be secondary to her home. She cannot have strong, passionate focuses outside of homemaking (136-137, 150).
- A woman is supposed to be passionate and excited about domestic arts because God designed her that way. If she isn’t excited and passionate about homemaking, she’s sinning (153-165).
- A woman is just an extension of her husband (187-189).
- Misuses of scripture by saying scripture doesn’t mean what it directly says (101-102).
- Assumes the Bible’s figurative language means one specific thing while offering no explanation, and belittling those who disagree (116).
- Believes there is currently a place for “servants” (slaves) in an “ideal Christian society” (130).
For Example:
Merkle describes a Dominionist view of the great commission:
“We’re not supposed to baptize a few people from every nation, we’re supposed to baptize the nations. That involves winning entire cultures over to Christ, not just a few individual hearts” (24, emphasis hers)
Later on, Eve in Exile contains a complete misrepresentation of scripture.
“When God first created Adam, he gave him a task. . . . the first man was given a wild and empty planet, and he was told to subdue it (Gen. 1:28)” (101, emphasis this author’s)
The problem with this quote is that Genesis 1:28 clearly says that God gave the task, planet, and command to subdue to both the man and woman. Both the Hebrew and the English express this clearly, yet Merkle forgets or ignores what the verse she references actually says in order to make her argument.
Genesis 1:27-28, “So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them,
‘Be fruitful and increase in number;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky
and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”
(NIV, emphasis this authors)
Discusses Neutral or Life Saving Things as “Bad”
Merkle writes about morally neutral as though they are bad. Though she often (but not always) stops short of condemning them outright, her attitude towards the following items is disparaging and has the effect of discouraging her readers from accessing these potentially life saving items:
- Antidepressants/anxiety medication (67-69).
- Women having a income earning job (see pages numbers below about women with careers; 104)
- Women using their voices to advocate against injustice (84-5, 192).
- Implies negative things about birth control and women having a say-so over whether they get pregnant, but never comes out and says either way (108-110).
Those who internalize the teachings of Eve in Exile will be more likely to hesitate before taking antidepressants, anxiety medication, birth control. Guilt may keep them from getting an income providing job which would benefit their family or give them an avenue of escape from an abusive marriage.
For Example:
Perhaps a woman finds herself in need of a career that can pay her bills, provide education for her children and decent medical insurance, but then she reads Eve in Exile where Merkle says,
“Women can throw themselves at the corporate world, and they can do it for the long haul. But the setting is wrong.” (104)
Now, there is a dump truck of guilt laid on this woman in legitimate financial crises. If she gets a job, she’s going against God’s order (according to Merkle and Eve in Exile). If she doesn’t, how will her family get their needs met? These kinds of teachings assume a level of privilege that many women don’t have. Rather than showing compassion on people who’s families don’t match her ideal, Merkle heaps guilt and shame instead.
Merkle also discourages these same women from using their voices by describing those who used their voices to call for justice and equality in a disparaging and patronizing way:
“A loud and demanding fussiness has actually been one of the defining features of the feminist movement form the very beginning, and (although I’m sure they would prefer the word angry to fussy) the feminists themselves would not only recognize themselves in that description, they would be proud to own it. The first-wave feminists were known for their militant protests, and in fact the word suffragette was apparently first coined because of some of their political tactics such as hunger strikes . . . which resulted women being force-fed in prison. . . . The second-wave feminists self-consciously embraced the angry thing, and ‘demanding’ their rights is one of their trademark moves, the louder the better. ‘I am woman, hear me roar’ and all that. In itself, this should be enough to cause thinking Christian women concern” (84).
The message is clear a woman who uses her voice to clearly argue for boundaries, rights, and legal equality cannot be a “thinking Christian woman” but instead should be characterized like a whiny baby. This sort of rhetoric silences its readership from speaking up against injustice and abuse in their communities, lest their Christianity, intelligence or maturity be questioned because they used their voices.
Dear reader, you may or may not have appreciation for feminists or the feminism movement, but you can admit these women are image-bearers of God. Image-bearers whom Merkle chooses repeatedly to insult and disparage.
Actively Utilizes Abusive Methods
I am incredibly concerned because Eve in Exile and the teaching of Rebekah Merkle are inherently abusive towards her audience and also groom that same audience to participate in the same abusive behaviors towards others. This book is full of coercive control tactics used to create fear and shame in the heart of the reader.
Understanding Coercive Control
“Coercive control is when someone uses patterns of abusive behaviour against another person. Over time, this creates fear and takes away the person’s freedom and independence. This dynamic almost always underpins family and domestic violence.
“Coercive control can involve physical and non-physical abuse. Non-physical abuse is sometimes thought of as less serious, but this is not the case. All abuse can cause lasting damage that builds up and gets worse over time.
“The negative impacts of coercive control can be physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, cultural, social and financial, or a combination of these.” (Understanding Coercive Control Fact Sheets)
Some of the signs of coercive control include:
(from Understanding Coercive Control Fact Sheets)
- Controlling who a person sees, what they wear and where they go.
- Monitoring or tracking everything a person does.
- Controlling everyday needs, such as finances, medication, food or exercise.
- Regularly criticising a person, or manipulating or blaming them so they doubt themselves and their experiences.
- Forcing someone to have sex or do sexual things.
- Stopping a person from following their religion or cultural practices.
- Threatening a person, their children, family or friends.
- Manipulating co-parenting arrangements or child support payments after relationship separation.
Specific Abusive Tactics in Eve in Exile:
- Utilizes and models belittling language towards those who can’t live up to the standard set by the author, or with whom the author disagrees (22, 90, 100, 111, 114, 116-117, 147, 172, 192) such as transgender people (8), lesbians (123), the Supreme Court of the United States (9), feminists (32, 84, 108, 123, 201), women with careers (31, 40, 42, 59, 135), egalitarians (112, 116-117, 172, 176), and Bible scholars (112, 116-117, 171, 176).
- Views sex as male oriented: women are “sexually attractive to the man in the first place” (109).
- Does not acknowledge how the decent teachings of the book can easily be turned abusive. No caveats for abuse or harm throughout (33, 120-122, 147, 193).
- Practices corrosive control tactics (Learn more about coercive control here)
- Labels emotions as bad causing the reader to distrust herself and her thoughts (113, 117, 192).
- Controlling group dynamics with combative “us vs. them” language (12, 24, 28-29)
- Creates a culture of fear and ostracization to keep those of the “in” group in line by using demeaning language against those in the “out” group: atheists (53), leftists (53), feminists (32, 44-45, 108), etc.
- Blames those who struggle with the ideals of this book as being too emotional, not having the right mindset, or not trying hard enough (130, 134, 137, 140, 151, 192).
- Utilizes fear, shame, and guilt as motivators (148-149).
- Isolates women and silences their voices (see above tactics, also: 172-173 ), by:
- belittling women who use their voices (see disparaging comments on feminists and scholars).
- teaching women to focus on creating “living examples” rather than using their voices (173-175).
- eroding trust in other women, and especially women who work together in community for a common goal, by blaming them for all societal ills (148, 195, 197-199, 201).
- calling women to be work alone in their own “battle stations” at home rather than participating in community life (34, 136).
For Example:
Simultaneously belittling other women, while villainizing emotions, and discouraging questions or independent research, Eve in Exile wants the readers to believe and accept only the authors point of a view. Merkle communicates in such a way as to instill fear and suspicion of all other perspectives in the hearts of her audience. This is a method of controlling the thoughts and actions of her group by making them afraid to consider alternatives.
“It does us no good at all to try and take the plain meaning of Scripture and turn it inside out and then stand it on its head, as many ‘Christian’ feminists have spend their time attempting to do. (As a side note, it’s ironic to me that so often, women try to prove that they should be allowed to be pastors and elders—and their proof for this is that they demonstrate to everyone that they are completely incapable of reading the text. Not exactly their best foot forward if they want to be taken seriously as biblical scholars.) . . .
Some people read the Bible this way and then either get mad or try to explain it away (feminists), and others do it and say ‘amen’ to what is actually their own misconceptions (chauvinists), but oddly they’re both making the same mistake. They’re assuming the meaning of the text in exactly the same way—they just react to it differently on an emotional level” (112-113).
In the above quote, Merkle does several things, she assumes her hermeneutic is the only true method of Bible study. (See my article on Hermeneutics). She claims to interpret Scripture according to the “plain meaning”, but does not backed up any argument with a Hebrew or Greek word study or Bible scholar’s insight. Instead, she heavily depends on her own bias.
She also uses her own condescension and disparaging descriptions to attack the people who hold different viewpoints, but never actually engages any of their arguments. Again, this abuses the reader by controlling exactly what they see, manipulating their trust, forcing doubt about other voices outside Merkle’s theological camp, etc. (see the above characteristics of coercive control).
Offers False Promises
Sprinkled throughout Eve in Exile are false prosperity-gospel promises that if the reader just does things the correct way, God will bless her and she’ll have the life she dreams of.
Examples of Specific Issues:
- Implies that if women honor God’s design for them, then they won’t need antidepressants (67-69).
- If women work hard enough and are obedient enough they “could have earned the respect they craved” (86)
- Women will find fulfillment when living in the sweet spot God designed for them as homemakers (99).
- If we just walk by faith and in submission as homemakers, “we will actually find that the sky really is the limit when it comes to the kinds of things we achieve” (152).
- Women who submit to their husbands and translate his calling well, will “find that their husbands suddenly start performing a whole lot better themselves” (189).
What Women Have Said about Eve in Exile:
“I was very concerned that this book makes all of societies problems women’s fault, has little to no Jesus or gospel included, and is full of a harsh, prideful attitude.” Holly
“My concerns are her demeaning language and her narrow minded view that all women have believed the lie that motherhood is of no value (most people do not believe this, they just don’t live motherhood the way she thinks they should even though she doesn’t even explicitly say how they should live). There is no encouragement, only tearing down. And if she can’t correctly explain that both men AND women are image bearers of God, something so basic and fundamental to the faith, then I couldn’t trust her judgement and teaching on any theological or Christian.” Hannah
Synopsis of Findings
Based on a surface level reading of Bible passages, Eve in Exile tells women that they have a God ordained duty to be passionate homemakers as part of their created design. Consistently equates women using their voices to fight injustice with sinfulness. This book shames women who deviate from the expected duties of womanhood taught therein, and uses coercive control tactics to keep the reader from questioning these “obvious” truths.
Instead of Eve in Exile, choose:
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For More Resources about the Dangers of the Wilsons and Cannon Press
- Follow @examiningmoscow or @dougwilsonsays on social media
- Listen to the Sons of Patriarchy podcast
Conclusion
My greatest concern about Eve in Exile is how overtly Rebekah Merkle uses abusive tactics against her own readers alongside her flagrant disregard for the dignity of image-bearers of God. Books like this deaden the conscience of the reader, because when they see their preferred viewpoint upheld and those with whom they disagree disparaged, they may have difficulty recognizing disrespectful and demeaning speech. That deadened conscience then spills over into their interactions with one another, and also trains the readership to interact with the “out” group as enemies.
Some pastors and teachers have claimed that the good in Eve in Exile outweighs the bad, that we should just “chew the meat and spit out the bones.” However, though Merkle’s ideals and some of her theology might be considered bones one can chew around, her attitudes and sinful words against her sisters in Christ especially are a poison that ruins the whole.