Quiverfull
Quiverfull is a theological position held by some conservative Christian couples who belong to Christian denominations that see children as blessings from God.[1][2][3] It thus encourages procreation, abstaining from all forms of birth control (including natural family planning) and sterilization.[4]
Some sources have referred to the Quiverfull position as Providentialism,[5] while other sources have simply referred to it as a manifestation of natalism.[6][7]
It is most widespread in the United States but it also has adherents in Canada,[8] Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.[1] One 2006 estimate put the number of families which subscribe to this philosophy as ranging from "the thousands to the low tens of thousands".[4]
Historical background
As birth-control methods advanced during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many conservative Christian movements issued official statements against their use, citing their incompatibility with biblical beliefs and ideals.
In addition, there are those who contend that Quiverfull's "internal growth" model is a manifestation of a broader trend which is reflected in the lifestyles of such groups as ultra-Orthodox Jews, Orthodox Calvinists of the Netherlands, traditional Methodists of the conservative holiness movement, and Laestadian Lutherans of Finland.[9] The former may also be a case of a manifestation of a movement of opinion within some ethnic, linguistic, religious, regional, or other identifiable groups whose members have expressed concern about their continued existence for historical or other reasons. Such philosophies and groups are diverse amongst themselves—being found in all segments and sectors of the political spectrum—and they usually represent, to varying extents, the diversity within their group. The manifestations of such movements and opinions include everything from comparatively high rates of in-group marriage being applauded and gently suggested, to more explicit calls for endogamy such as is the case with the Druze, to concerns which were expressed by Protestants in Northern Ireland about a higher birth rate amongst Catholics, to Decree 770 which was issued by Nicolae Ceaușescu's government in Romania with regard to contraception, and other population topics as part of its local variant of the North Korean ideology of Juche.
Anglican allowance of birth control
In 1930 the Lambeth Conference issued a statement permitting birth control: "Where there is a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, complete abstinence is the primary and obvious method", but if there was morally sound reasoning for avoiding abstinence, "the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of Christian principles". Primary materials on the contemporary debate indicate a wide variety of opinion on the matter.[10] In the decades that followed, birth control became gradually accepted among Protestants, even among the most conservative evangelicals.[11][12][13][14]
Early Quiverfull authors
Mr Quiverfull, a junior but notably fecund clergyman, appears as a minor fictional character in Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire chronicles (published between 1855 and 1867).
In the 20th century, Quiverfull as a modern Christian movement began to emerge.[15] Nancy Campbell began publishing her magazine Above Rubies, which promotes and glorifies stay-at-home mothers who have as many children as possible, in 1977.[16] While Campbell is in measure responsible for formulating Quiverfull ideas, the movement sparked most fully after the 1985 publication of Mary Pride's book The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality.
In her book, Pride chronicled her metaphorical journey away from what she labeled feminist and anti-natal ideas of happiness (within which she had lived as an activist before her conversion to conservative evangelical Christianity in 1977) toward her discovery of happiness surrounding what she portrayed as the biblically mandated role of wives and mothers as bearers of children and workers in the home under the authority of a husband. Pride wrote that such a lifestyle was generally biblically required of all married Christian women, but feminism had duped most Christian women without their awareness, especially in their acceptance of birth control.[14][17]
As the basis for her arguments, Pride selected numerous Bible verses in order to lay out what she saw as the biblical role of women. These included verses which she interpreted as perpetuating her advocacy of compulsory childbearing and her opposition to the use of birth control which (in her view) was promoted by "the feminist agenda" by which she had formerly lived. Pride's explanations then became a spearheading basis of Quiverfull.
The name of the Quiverfull movement comes from the Old Testament Bible verses in Psalm 127:3–5 which Pride cited in The Way Home:[17]
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.— KJV
Pride stated in her book: "The church's sin which has caused us to become unsavory salt incapable of uplifting the society around us is selfishness, lack of love, refusing to consider children an unmitigated blessing. In a word, family planning."[17]
Consolidation and growth of the movement
After the publication of Pride's The Way Home, various church women and others took up her book and ideas and spread them through informal social networks. Around this time, numerous church pastors issued sermons which were in accord with Pride's ideas and various small publications and a few Quiverfull-oriented books appeared.
As the Internet expanded several years later, the informal networks gradually took on more organized forms as Quiverfull adherents developed numerous Quiverfull-oriented organizations, books, electronic mailing lists, websites, and digests, most notably The Quiverfull Digest. The largely decentralized "Quiverfull" movement resulted.[4][18]
From their onset, Quiverfull ideas have sometimes had a polarizing effect among Christians who hold to them and Christians who are skeptical of or disagree with them.[14][19]
Motivations
Obedience to God
Quiverfull authors and adherents express their core motivation as a desire to obey God's commandments as stated in the Bible. Among these commandments, "be fruitful and multiply",[Gen 1:22;8:17;9:1] "behold, children are a gift of the Lord",[Psalm 127:3] and passages showing God acting to open and close the womb[Gen 20:18;29:31;30:22][1Sam 1:5-6][Isaiah 66:9] are interpreted as giving a basis for their views. Quiverfull adherents typically maintain that their philosophy is first about an open, accepting and obedient attitude toward the possibility of bearing children. Within the view, this attitude may result in many, few or even no children, because God Himself maintains sole provenance over conception and birth. The duty of the Quiverfull adherent is only to maintain an "open willingness" to joyfully receive and not thwart however many children God chooses to bestow. Contraception in all its forms is seen as inconsistent with this attitude and is thus entirely avoided, as is abortion.
Missionary effort
Quiverfull's principal authors and its adherents also describe their motivation as a missionary effort to raise up many children as Christians to advance the cause of the Christian religion.[1] Its distinguishing viewpoint is to eagerly receive children as blessings from God,[1][3] eschewing all forms of contraception, including natural family planning and sterilization.[4][17]
Population and demography
According to journalist Kathryn Joyce, writing in the magazine The Nation: "[T]he Quiverfull mission is rooted in faith, the unseen," even if "its mandate to be fruitful and multiply has tangible results as well."[4] Joyce writes that "Population is a preoccupation for many Quiverfull believers, who trade statistics on the falling white birthrate in European countries like Germany and France. Every ethnic conflict becomes evidence for their worldview: Muslim riots in France, Latino immigration in California, Sharia law in Canada. The motivations aren’t always racist, but the subtext of 'race suicide' is often there."[4] Others remark that Quiverfull resembles other world-denying fundamentalist movements that grow through internal reproduction and membership retention such as ultra-Orthodox Jews, Amish, and Laestadian Lutherans in Finland. Many are thriving as seculars and moderates have transitioned to below-replacement fertility.[20][21]
Beliefs
The principal Quiverfull belief is that Christians should maintain a strongly welcoming attitude toward the possibility of bearing children. With minor exceptions, adherents reject birth control use as completely incompatible with this belief.
Majority doctrine
Most Quiverfull adherents regard children as unqualified blessings, gifts that should be received happily from God. Quiverfull authors Rick and Jan Hess argued for this belief in their 1990 book:
"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord." (Psa. 127:3) Do we really believe that? If children are a gift from God, let's for the sake of argument ask ourselves what other gift or blessing from God we would reject. Money? Would we reject great wealth if God gave it? Not likely! How about good health? Many would say that a man's health is his most treasured possession. But children? Even children given by God? "That's different!" some will plead! All right, is it different? God states right here in no-nonsense language that children are gifts. Do we believe His Word to be true?[1]
Quiverfull authors such as Pride, Provan, and Hess extend this idea to mean that if one child is a blessing, then each additional child is likewise a blessing and not something to be viewed as economically burdensome or unaffordable. When a couple seeks to control family size via birth control they are thus "rejecting God's blessings" he might otherwise give and possibly breaking his commandment to "be fruitful and multiply."[1][17][22][23]
Accordingly, Quiverfull theology opposes the general acceptance among Protestant Christians of deliberately limiting family size or spacing children through birth control. For example, Mary Pride argued, "God commanded that sex be at least potentially fruitful (that is, not deliberately unfruitful). ... All forms of sex that shy away from marital fruitfulness are perverted."[17] Adherents believe that God himself controls via Providence how many and how often children are conceived and born, pointing to Bible verses that describe God acting to "open and close the womb" (see Genesis 20:18, 29:31, 30:22; 1 Samuel 1:5-6; Isaiah 66:9).[1][24] Hess and Hess state that couples "just need to trust God to provide them with the perfect number of children for their situation."[1]
Some Quiverfull adherents base their rejection of birth control upon the belief that the Genesis creation and post–Noahic flood Bible passages to "be fruitful and multiply" (see Genesis 1:22; 9:7) are un-rescinded biblical commandments. For example, Charles D. Provan argues:
"Be fruitful and multiply"... is a command of God, indeed the first command to a married couple. Birth control obviously involves disobedience to this command, for birth control attempts to prevent being fruitful and multiplying. Therefore birth control is wrong, because it involves disobedience to the Word of God. Nowhere is this command done away with in the entire Bible; therefore it still remains valid for us today.[22]
Quiverfull advocates such as Rick and Jan Hess and Rachel Giove Scott believe that the Devil deceives Christian couples into using birth control so that children God otherwise willed to create are prevented from being born.[1][24] In addition, a Quiverfull adherent was quoted in the 1991 Calgary Herald as making this statement: "Children are made in God's image, and the enemy hates that image, so the more of them he can prevent from being born, the more he likes it."[8]
Infertility
Adherents view barrenness, referred to as an "empty quiver", as something to be accepted from God as His choice, which then becomes a matter of prayer in the hope that God may decide to miraculously intervene. Quiverfull adherents also see infertility treatments as a usurpation of God's providence and accordingly reject them.[25] Adoption is viewed as a positive option through which couples can also rely on God's providence to send children. Biblical references to God's love for the orphan and the belief that people are saved through adoption into God's family are often noted.
Some circles do accept medical interventions, since improving opportunities for pregnancy is not seen to guarantee it any more than with any healthy couple. Also, some reproductive health problems may be seen as symptomatic of other health problems which need to be addressed generally.
Minority doctrine
Not all Quiverfull families and authors agree with each statement which was made by the movement's principal authors.
Samuel Owens considers the possibility that some aspects of a fallen universe may sometimes justify the option to use a non–potentially abortive birth control method. These aspects of a fallen universe include serious illnesses, inevitable Caesarean sections, and other problematic situations, such as disabling mental instability and serious marital disharmony. Owens additionally argues that birth control may be permissible for married couples who are called to a "higher moral purpose" than having children, such as caring long-term for many orphans or serving as career missionaries in a dangerous location.[26]
Despite some variances, all Quiverfull families and authors agree that God's normative ideal for happy, healthy and prosperous married couples is to take no voluntary actions that will prevent them from having children.[1][3]
Practices
Non-use of contraception
- Also see: Fertility and Infertility, and Protestant views on contraception
Quiverfull adherents maintain that God "opens and closes the womb" of a woman on a case-by-case basis, and that any attempts to regulate fertility are usurpation of divine power. Thus, the defining practice of a Quiverfull married couple is not to use any form of birth control and to maintain continual "openness to children," that is to say, engaging in routine sexual intercourse with no attempt to limit the possibility of conception. This practice is irrespective of the time of the month during the menstrual cycle, and is considered by Quiverfull adherents to be the principal—if not the primary—aspect of their Christian calling in submission to the Lordship of Christ.[27]
Proponents of the Quiverfull movement also regard the pill and other similar contraceptives as unacceptable abortifacients.[28]
Some Quiverfull adherents advocate for child spacing through breastfeeding, so that the return of fertility after childbirth could be delayed by lactational amenorrhea, however this is far from certain.
Family organization, homeschooling, homesteading
- Also see: Dominionism, and Patriarchy
Quiverfull authors and adherents advocate for and seek to model a return to biblical patriarchy. Mary Pride has more recently attempted to distance herself from the patriarchy movement and from a focus on the father's role in training daughters. In a column published in her magazine Practical Homeschooling in 2009, as well as in the afterword to the 25th-anniversary edition of The Way Home, Pride clarified her position that it is primarily mothers, not fathers, who should teach girls about women's roles and duties.[29][30] As Emily McGowin notes in her 2018 book Quivering Families, however, "[Pride] differentiates herself from these approaches without denying the underlying gender hierarchy and pronatalism."[31]
Quiverfull authors typically organize family governance with the mother as a homemaker under the authority of her husband and the children under the authority of both. Parents seek to largely shelter their children from aspects of culture deemed adversarial to their religious beliefs. Additionally, Quiverfull families strongly incline toward homeschooling and toward homesteading in a rural area. However, exceptions exist in substantial enough proportions that these latter two items are general and are often idealized correlations to Quiverfull practices and not integral parts of them.[32]
Sterilization reversals
Quiverfull adherents Brad and Dawn Irons run Blessed Arrows Sterilization Reversal Ministry. The couple advocates for Quiverfull ideas while providing funding, physician referrals, and support to Protestants wishing to undergo sterilization reversal surgery.[33] Protestants such as Bill Gothard also advocate for reversals, saying that sterilized couples have "cut off children" and should devote themselves instead to "raising up godly seed".
Criticism
Criticism from other Christians
James B. Jordan maintains that, while children are indeed blessings, they are only one among a wide range of blessings God offers, and prayerfully choosing foci among them is part of prudent Christian stewardship.[34]
John Piper's Desiring God Ministries has published some comments that relate to Quiverfull:
Just because something is a gift from the Lord does not mean that it is wrong to be a steward of when or whether you will come into possession of it. It is wrong to reason that since A is good and a gift from the Lord, then we must pursue as much of A as possible. God has made this a world in which tradeoffs have to be made and we cannot do everything to the fullest extent. For kingdom purposes, it might be wise not to get married. And for kingdom purposes, it might be wise to regulate the size of one's family and to regulate when the new additions to the family will likely arrive. As Wayne Grudem has said, "it is okay to place less emphasis on some good activities in order to focus on other good activities."[35]
Criticism from former Quiverfull adherents
Some women who have left the Quiverfull movement are now vocally critical of it.[36] Vyckie Garrison spent 16 years living the Quiverfull lifestyle and had seven children before leaving her husband and ultimately becoming an atheist. She told Vice that her health was negatively affected by so many births and that over time, her husband became "a tyrant."[37] Garrison founded the blog No Longer Quivering to share her own story and the stories of other women who had been harmed by the Quiverfull lifestyle.[38] The blog is now maintained by Suzanne Titkemeyer, another former Quiverfull adherent who describes her years in the movement as "disastrous."[39]
Likewise, some children who were raised in Quiverfull homes have grown up to speak out against the movement. In 2018, Eve [Hännah] Ettinger and Kieryn Darkwater started a podcast called Kitchen Table Cult in which they discuss their experiences of being raised Quiverfull and connect the ideology to current events such as the election of Donald Trump.[40] In a 2015 interview about her upbringing, Ettinger said that in Quiverfull families, "the parents are just as confused as the kids, and often are struggling with deep-set psychological issues and need as much therapy and compassion as the kids do to recover from the dehumanizing reality of trying to have a perfect Quiverfull family to please a demanding and holy God."[41]
Quiverfull in the U.S. national press
While Quiverfull had previously garnered some attention in the Christian press,[6][42] the Canadian press in March 2001,[8] and in various scholarly pieces, it began to receive focused attention in the U.S. national press in 2004.
The New York Times
In an article on December 7, 2004, New York Times journalist David Brooks described a rising movement he called simply "natalism" and sought to show how in the future it could shift the U.S. political landscape from a philosophy of liberalism to conservatism. Brooks concluded, "Natalists are associated with red America, but they're not launching a jihad".[4][7]
Good Morning America
On July 25, 2005, Good Morning America aired a segment, "Is eight really enough?" about the Quiverfull movement. Deborah Roberts interviews Rachel Scott, author of "Birthing God's Mighty Warriors." Rachel Scott discusses the trend toward larger families, managing finances with more mouths to feed and she states, "when good people stop having kids, society fails."
Nightline
On January 3, 2006, Nightline aired a special segment, "The More the Holier?", on the Quiverfull movement.[43] The coverage was re-aired on ABC's World News Now about four hours later. On September 15, 2007, Nightline revisited the issue as part of their "Faith Matters" series, again featuring the Carpenter family.
The Nation
Journalist Kathryn Joyce connected Brooks' "natalism" with Quiverfull and disagreed with him in her November 9, 2006, five-page article on Quiverfull in The Nation. Joyce emphasized that the movement uses what she described as "military-industrial terminology" to articulate the belief that "[o]nly a determination among Christian women to take up their submissive, motherly roles with a 'military air' and become 'maternal missionaries'" will lead to what Joyce described as Quiverfull's "Christian army" achieving cultural "victory."[4]
Newsweek
On November 13, 2006, Newsweek published a two-page piece on Quiverfull, characterizing the movement as conservatives who are "reacting to revolutionary changes in women's social roles and seeking to re-impose a more traditional order." The piece ended by quoting a Quiverfull family describing themselves as "exponentially happier" after the wife relinquished control of her womb to God.[44] On March 17, 2009, Newsweek published a second piece on Quiverfull, written by Kathryn Joyce, on their website.[45]
Fox News Channel
On January 16, 2007, Fox News Channel's Live Desk with Martha MacCallum aired a segment, "When birthing children is a religious experience." Martha MacCallum talked with Rachel Scott, author of the book Birthing God's Mighty Warriors. Scott answered common questions asked to large families and disputed myths that "Quiverfull" women are made to stay home and tend to babies. She described the "Proverbs 31 woman" as a business owner, educated and very capable. Scott also spoke of "the dream with a warrior angel" that started her "Quiverfull" experience and led to writing her book, Birthing God's Mighty Warriors.
Quiverfull responses
In the proximate aftermath of the U.S. national print articles, responses from Quiverfull adherents in The Quiverfull Digest ranged from "feeling betrayed" to assertions that the articles were "fair."[46] Additionally, a few disagreeing Quiverfull adherents undertook apologetic responses on the Internet discussion forums provided by the latter national publishers in immediate on-site connection with their articles.[4][44]
Notable adherents
- Doug Phillips, a Calvinist Christian and the son of U.S. Constitution Party leader Howard Phillips. From 1998 to 2013, Doug Phillips was the president of Vision Forum Ministries, a now-defunct organization which advocated biblical patriarchy, creationism, homeschooling , and Quiverfull. Phillips and his wife, Beall, have seven children.[3][47]
- Charles D. Provan, whose book The Bible and Birth Control is routinely cited by Quiverfull adherents as providing an important theological justification for their movement. Provan was mentioned in a November 27, 2006, article about Quiverfull in The Nation.[4] He also authored books and articles on other Christian topics. Before Provan's death in 2007, he and his wife had 10 children.
- R. C. Sproul, Jr., a Calvinist Christian theologian and the son of the noted Reformed theologian and founder of Ligonier Ministries, Robert Charles Sproul. Sproul Jr. and his wife, Denise, had eight children before Denise died.[48][49]
See also
References
- Hess, Rick and Jan (1990). A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ. Brentwood, TN: Hyatt Publishers. ISBN 0-943497-83-3.
- Dennis Rainey (2002). "The Value of Children (11 July 2002 FamilyLife Today Radio Broadcast)". FamilyLife Today. Archived from the original (Transcript of radio broadcast) on October 1, 2005. Retrieved 2006-09-30.
- Campbell, Nancy (2003). Be Fruitful and Multiply: What the Bible Says about Having Children. San Antonio: Vision Forum. ISBN 0-9724173-5-4.
- Kathryn Joyce (9 November 2006). "Arrows for the War". The Nation. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
- Torode, Sam and Bethany; et al. (2002). Open Embrace: A Protestant Couple Rethinks Contraception. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0-8028-3973-8.
- Strand, Paul (2006). "Back to the Future: The Growing Movement of Natalism". Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved 2006-10-07. (originally published by CBN News, archived September 24, 2008)
- Brooks, David (2004-12-07). "The New Red-Diaper Babies". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
- Joe Woodward (Mar 31, 2001). "The godliness of fertility: A growing Protestant movement is rediscovering the sanctification available in large families". Calgary Herald: OS.10. ProQuest 244455568.
- Kaufmann, Eric. 2011. Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. London: Profile Books.
- http://anglicanhistory.org/misc/contraception
- Campbell, Flann (Nov 1960). "Birth Control and the Christian Churches". Population Studies. 14 (2): 131–147. doi:10.2307/2172010. JSTOR 2172010.
- Allen, James E. (1976). "Family Planning Attitudes of Seminary Students". Review of Religious Research. 9 (1): 52–55. doi:10.2307/3509598. JSTOR 3509598.
- Goldschneider, Calvin & William D. Mosher (1988). "Religious Affiliation and Contraceptive Usage". Studies in Family Planning. 19 (1): 48–57. doi:10.2307/1966739. JSTOR 1966739. PMID 3363605.
- Ellison, Christopher G. & Patricia Goodson (1997). "Conservative Protestantism and Attitudes toward Family Planning in a Sample of Seminarians". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 36 (4): 512–529. doi:10.2307/1387687. JSTOR 1387687.
- Marcum, John P. (1981). "Explaining Fertility Differences among U.S. Protestants". Social Forces. 60 (2): 532–43. doi:10.2307/2578449. JSTOR 2578449.
- Joyce, Kathryn (2009). Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 47. ISBN 9780807096222.
- Pride, Mary (1985). The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality. Wheaton, IL: Good News Publishers. ISBN 0-89107-345-0.
- The More the Holier?. ABC News Nightline. January 3, 2006.
- Goodman, Patricia (1997). "Protestants and Family Planning". Journal of Religion and Health. 36 (4): 353–366. doi:10.1023/A:1027437310363.
- Kaufmann, Eric. 2011. Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. London: Profile Books. Also see www.sneps.net
- Toft, Monica Duffy. 2011. "Wombfare: The Religious and Political Dimensions of Fertility and Demographic Change." in Political Demography: identity, conflict and institutions ed. J. A. Goldstone, E. Kaufmann and M. Toft. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Press Archived 2017-02-26 at the Wayback Machine
- Provan, Charles D. (1989). The Bible and Birth Control. Monongahela, PA: Zimmer Printing. ISBN 99917-998-3-4.. Quote and its chapter available at http://www.jesus-passion.com/contraception.htm
- Robben, Donetta (2006). "Blessings by the Dozen" (PDF). American Life League Magazine. Sept.-Oct. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2006-10-07.
- Scott, Rachel (2004). Birthing God's Mighty Warriors. Longwood, FL: Xulon Press. ISBN 1-59467-465-5.
- "Enjoying YOUR Quiverfull". 2008-05-09.
- Owen, Jr., Samuel A. (1990). Letting God Plan Your Family. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. ISBN 0-89107-585-2.
- Kathryn Joyce. "Quiverfull: More Children For God's Army". RH Reality Check. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
- Patrick McCrystal. "QuiverFull Pill Fact Sheet". Pharmacists For Life International. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
- "Homeschool World: Practical Homeschooling Articles: Patriarchy, Meet Matriarchy". Home-school.com. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- Pride, Mary (2010) [1985]. The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality (25th anniversary ed.). Fenton, Missouri: Home Life Books. ISBN 9781453699300.
- McGowin, Emily Hunter (2018). Quivering Families: The Quiverfull Movement and Evangelical Theology of the Family. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 9781506446608.
- Biggar, R.J. & M. Melbye (1997). "Debating the Merits of Patriarchy: Discursive Disputes over Spousal Authority among Evangelicial Family Commentators". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 36 (3): 393–410. doi:10.2307/1387857. JSTOR 1387857.
- Brad and Dawn Irons. "Blessed Arrows: A Sterilization Reversal Ministry". Brad and Dawn Irons. Retrieved 2006-10-14.
- James B. Jordan (1993). "The Bible and Family Planning: An Answer to Charles Provan's "The Bible and Birth Control"" (PDF). Contra Mundum: 2–14. ISSN 1070-9495. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-31.
- Desiring God Staff (2006). "Does the Bible permit birth control?". Questions and Answers. Desiring God. Archived from the original on 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2006-10-27.
- Brethour, Dylan (2016-10-21). "The Women Fighting Back Against the Christian Cult that Forbids Birth Control". Vice. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- Thompson, Tiffy (2016-07-16). "What It's Like to Escape the Christian Fundamentalist 'Quiverfull' Movement". Vice. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- "Raising an army for Christ | Andrew Purcell". Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- "About NLQ". No Longer Quivering. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- "About the Podcast". Kitchen Table Cult. 2018-07-11. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- Mathieu, Jennifer (2015-05-27). "What It Was Like to Grow Up Quiverfull". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
- Leslie Leyland Fields (1 August 2006). "The Case for Kids". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
- Ted Gerstein & John Berman (January 3, 2007). "When Having Kids is a Religious Experience - A Full Quiver: A Growing Movement for Growing Families for God". Nightline. ABC News. Archived from the original on 2009-10-16. Retrieved 2007-01-04.
- Eileen Finan (13 November 2006). "Making Babies the Quiverfull Way". Newsweek Magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
- Kathryn Joyce (17 March 2009). "Extreme Motherhood:Inside the Duggar Family's Conservative Ideology". Newsweek Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
- "The Quiverfull Digest". The Quiverfull Digest. 2006.
- "About the President". Vision Forum Ministries. 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
- Sproul, R. C., Jr. (2003). Bound for Glory: God's Promise for Your Family. Crossway Books. ISBN 1-58134-495-3.
- "Highlands Study Center". Highlands Study Center. 2007. Archived from the original on 2005-05-06. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
Further reading
Books advocating a Quiverfull position
- Adams, Shelly and Morgan. Arrows in His Hand (children's book). Monument Pub., Monument, CO: 2007.
- Andrews, Robert. The Family: God's Weapon for Victory. Winepress Publishing 1996. ISBN 1-883893-24-0 ; Sentinel Press 2002. ISBN 0-9715694-0-1
- Campbell, Nancy. Be Fruitful and Multiply. Vision Forum, San Antonio, TX: 2003. ISBN 0-9724173-5-4
- Flanders, Jennifer. Love Your Husband/Love Yourself: Embracing God's Purpose for Passion in Marriage. Prescott Publishing, Tyler, TX: 2010. ISBN 978-0982626900
- Hess, Rick and Jan. A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ. Wolgemuth & Hyatt Publishers, Brentwood, TN: 1990. ISBN 0-943497-83-3
- Houghton, Craig. Family UNplanning. Xulon Press, Longwood, FL: 2006. ISBN 978-1-60034-851-8
- Owen, Jr., Samuel A. Letting God Plan Your Family. Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL: 1990. ISBN 0-89107-585-2
- Pride, Mary. The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality. Good News Pub, Wheaton, IL: 1985. ISBN 0-89107-345-0
- Provan, Charles D. The Bible and Birth Control. Zimmer Printing, Monongahela, PA: 1989. ISBN 99917-998-3-4
- Chapter of Provan's book available here. Audio files of Provan's complete book available by searching with his name at sermonaudio.com
- Scott, Rachel. Birthing God's Mighty Warriors. Xulon Press, Longwood, FL: 2004. ISBN 1-59467-465-5
Books which advocate Quiverfull as a secondary focus
- Farris, Vickie. A Mom Just Like You. B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN: 2002. ISBN 0-8054-2586-1
Sources which are critical of Quiverfull
- Ettinger, Eve, and Kieryn Darkwater. Kitchen Table Cult podcast.
- Joyce, Kathryn. Women’s Liberation Through Submission: An Evangelical Anti-Feminism Is Born.
- Joyce, Kathryn. Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement. Beacon Press, Boston, MA: 2009. ISBN 0-8070-1070-7.
- McFarland, Hillary. "Quivering Daughters: Hope and Healing for the Daughters of Patriarchy". Darklight Press, 2010.
- McGowin, Emily. Quivering Families: The Quiverfull Movement and Evangelical Theology of the Family. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018.
- McKeown, John. "US Protestant natalist reception of Old Testament "fruitful verses": a critique." Liverpool University PhD thesis, 2011. Revised as book God's Babies: Natalism and Bible Interpretation in Modern America, OpenBook, 2014.
- Mesaros-Winckles, Christy (2010). "TLC and the Fundamentalist Family: A Televised Quiverfull of Babies". Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. 22 (3): 7. doi:10.3138/jrpc.22.3.007.
- No Longer Quivering blog (originally created by Vyckie Garrison).