Women play an immensely important role in the Bible: from Eve to the Virgin Mary, Sarah to Mary Magdalene, Naomi to the anonymous woman suffering severe menstrual bleeding who was healed by Jesus. They are a sisterhood of faith.
As such, they challenge many of our assumptions about the role of women in the development of the biblical story; about the impact of faith on lives lived in the ‘heat and dust’ of the real world. Here we will meet the prostitute who ended up in the genealogy of Jesus, a national resistance fighter, a determined victim of male sexual behaviour who challenged patriarchal power, a far from meek and mild mother of Jesus, a woman whose life has been so misrepresented that she is now the subject of the most bizarre conspiracy theories, and more.
Renowned historians and Biblical scholars, Martyn and Esther Whittock, take the reader on a fascinating journey, one unafraid to ask difficult questions, such as, ‘Was Eve set up to fall?’
Jadual kandungan
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .06
Chapter 1 Eve: “Fall-girl”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .08
Chapter 2 Sarah: Mother of Nations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 3 Rebekah: Controversial Mother. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Chapter 4 Tamar: Table-turner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 5 Rahab: A Conspiracy of Prostitutes and Spies. . . . . . . . .66
Chapter 6 Deborah: Prophet, Judge, and a Sisterhood of Liberation. . 79
Chapter 7 Naomi and Ruth: Sisterhood in Adversity . . . . . . . . . . .91
Chapter 8 Hannah: The Woman Who Gave Away Her Son. . . . . .103
Chapter 9 Esther: The Right Woman, in the Right Place, at the Right Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Chapter 10 Mary: Revolutionary Mother of Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Chapter 11 The Woman at the Well: Breaking Conventions. . . . . .148
Chapter 12 The Woman with the Issue of Blood: From “Woman’s . . . .
Problem” to Public Miracle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Chapter 13 Martha and Mary: Conflicting Models of Service? . . . .173
Chapter 14 Mary Magdalene: A Much Misrepresented Woman. . . .186
Chapter 15 “Nympha and the Church in Her House…”. . . . . . . . .208
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
About the Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224
Mengenai Pengarang
Esther Whittock is a religious studies teacher and author living in England. She is a University of Cambridge graduate in Theology and Religious studies. Martyn Whittock is her father.