Annie Besant (1847-1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women’s rights activist, educationist, a writer and a powerful orator. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was also a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit.
In 1890, meeting in Paris Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, she was converted to Theosophy, becoming a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Besant was left as one of the leading figures in Theosophy and in 1893 she represented it at the Chicago World Fair.
Besides being a prolific writer, Besant was a “practised stump orator” who gave sixty-six public lectures in one year. In her long life she wrote numerous books and pamphlets.
The pamphlet
Woman’s Position According to the Bible, which today we propose to our readers, was published in London in 1885. It is one of Annie Besant’s most incisive and polemical early writings on a philosophical-religious theme. But it also intends to be a courageous social denunciation and a reflection on the patriarchal oppression of monotheistic religions.