Written with poetic rhythm, a prophetic voice, and a deeply biblical foundation, this loving yet fearless book urges today’s church to move beyond man-made restrictions and fully welcome women’s diverse voices and experiences. A freedom song for the church. Sarah Bessey didn’t ask for Jesus to come in and mess up all her ideas about a woman’s place in the world and in the church. But patriarchy, she came to learn, was not God’s dream for humanity. Bessey engages critically with Scripture in this gentle and provocative love letter to the Church. Written with poetic rhythm, a prophetic voice, and a deeply biblical foundation, this loving yet fearless book urges today’s church to move beyond man-made restrictions and fully welcome women’s diverse voices and experiences. It’s at once a call to find freedom in the fullness, hope, glory, and work of Christ, and a very personal and moving story of how Jesus made a feminist out of her.

In the hundred years since The Women's Bible, giant strides have been made in feminist interpretation of the Bible. Now comes the first comprehensive overview of the whole field. The authors systematically recount those efforts to describe the story of women in both testaments, to uncover tendencies not supportive of women, and to describe biblical traditions that empower women. The book unfolds in three parts: -- Historical, Hermeneutical, and Methodological Foundations-- Toward a Feminist Reconstruction of the History of Israel-- Toward a Feminist Reconstruction of Early Christianity

In a Culture of Distortions, Discover God-Defined Womanhood and Beauty In a culture where airbrushed models and career-driven women define beauty and success, it's no wonder we have a distorted view of femininity. Our impossible standards place an incredible burden of stress on the backs of women and girls of all ages, resulting in anxiety, eating disorders, and depression. One question we often forget to ask is this: What is God's design for womanhood? In Girl Defined, sisters and popular bloggers Kristen Clark and Bethany Beal offer women a countercultural view of beauty, femininity, and self-worth. Based firmly in God's design for their lives, this book helps women rethink what true success and beauty look like. It invites them on a liberating journey toward a radically better vision for femininity that ends with the discovery of the kind of hope, purpose, and fulfillment they've been yearning for. Girl Defined helps readers · discover God's design for femininity and his definition of a successful woman · uncover the secrets of lasting worth, purpose, and fulfillment · be equipped and empowered to live out a radically better vision for womanhood · gain personal insight through the chapter-by-chapter study guide

Each of the 30 essays here delves into a topic that gives us much food for thought: the Bible as interpreted through ancient Near-Eastern creation myths, flood myths, and goddess myths; gender in the Bible; the feminist approach to Jewish law; comparative Jewish and Christian perspectives on the Hebrew Bible; biblical perspectives on ecology; creating a theology of healing; feminine God-talk. The volume concludes with the author's own original prayers in the form of poetic meditations on pregnancy and birthing. This book is unique, not only because it is the only volume in the JPS Scholar of Distinction series written by a woman, but also because Frymer-Kensky's personal and forthright voice resonates so clearly throughout each piece. Scholars and students of Bible, Jewish studies, and women's studies will surely find this to be a one-of-a kind collection.

Some have raised the question: Is it possible, at the same time, to be a Christian and a feminist? Japinga asks the question a bit differently: Is it possible not to be? Like the other titles in the Essential Guides series, the purpose of this book is simple: to introduce college and seminary students to the basic questions and issues that arise from a feminist interpretation of Christianity. The author explores the central ideas of Christian feminism, including its critique of patriarchy in Christianity and its recovery of the presence, actions, and ideas of women. What has been troublesome in Christianity for feminists and why? How have Christian feminists dealt with these issues? What resources are there in Christianity for the empowering and encouragement of women? Beginning with an examination of women and the Bible, the book explores biblical texts which define women negatively as well as those which emphasize women's strengths and ability, and then outlines the various feminist approaches to the interpretation of Scripture. It then moves to an overview of women in the history of Christianity and, specifically, of religion in America, presenting both prevailing attitudes about women and the (usually unheard) stories of women. After surveying the main questions a feminist method brings to the study of theology, Japinga then explores certain theological questions--How do we speak of God? Who is Christ? What does it mean to be human? Written from a moderate feminist perspective, this book provides a broad overview of feminist approaches to theological disciplines. It emphasizes consensual scholarship rather than points of controversy. It acquaints students with feminist analysis by way of the central themes common to feminist approaches to several disciplines and introduces readers to this material in ways that lessen the possibility that they will be threatened, intimidated, or angered by it. While the book offers professors an affordable and accessible textbook choice, it is also accessible for lay study groups in congregations.

In highly accessible essays, the book covers the history, achievements, and cutting-edge questions in the area of gender and biblical scholarship, including violence and the Bible, female biblical God imagery, and sexuality."--Jacket.

This response to biblical feminism thoroughly examines the roles of women in marriage, the church, and society as taught by Scripture. Many biblical feminists see irreconcilable contradictions in the Bible's teaching on women. Foh investigates equality of image, functional subordination, the concept of "one flesh" and all believers being "one body."