Early evangelical gender doctrine framed male domination and female self-denial as God’s design.

Evidence

God created male and female as complementary opposites, Elliot explained: “The woman is totally other, totally different, totally God’s gift to man.” God gave husbands their “rank” and a “virile drive for domination” necessary to fulfill their duty to rule. Self-denial, meanwhile, was at the heart of Christian womanhood; marriage and motherhood required “self-giving, sacrifice, suffering.” — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 151

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the precise content of complementarian gender theology Elliot preached—the core doctrine this book tracks forward.
• XREF: connects to: Biblical-era women were property bound to male kin and taboo-burdened; Christian doctrine institutionalized women’s subordination despite early egalitarian impulses — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 204; Western religion mirrors and reinforces the earthly father’s male authority over girls — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 701 (+2 more)