The premise of the book is to recover "lost" women who appear in the Bible but have been categorized and stereotyped and labeled one way or another (by us, as we interpret the Bible), thereby diminishing the lessons that can be learned from their stories. From the Introduction:
Today, when we pick up our Bibles, we want to know how to be better wives and mothers. But we have other questions too. We want to know what the Bible says to those of us whose lives don't follow the traditional formula. Is there only one biblical track for women, or does God intend and take delight in our great diversity? Are women second-class citizens in God's family, or does he value us as much as he does our husbands and brothers? ...
Looking closer [at these stories], I began to see many women who, like me, didn't fit neatly into the traditional paradigm. Strong women like Tamar, Rahab, Deborah, Jael, Priscilla, and Junia have always posed problems for interpreters because biblical writers clearly admired these women and held them up as outstanding examples of godliness even though their conduct broke with accepted convention. They were daring, took the initiative, and courageously exercised leadership, even in their interactions with men. To resolve the conflict this poses, biblical interpreters often downsize their contributions to leave a more "suitable" impression or else reclassify them as "exceptions," thereby removing their portraits from the gallery of acceptable role models for Christian women. ...
Upon closer inspection, I discovered many women in the Bible had trouble fitting into the wife-and-mother definition of what it means to be a woman. They clearly embraced traditional expectations and tried desperately to live within those parameters, but ultimately found it impossible. ...
[Through the stories of these women], I learned God has a larger vision for women than I realized, a vision that encompasses the vast diversity of all our lives and that calls us to be more. It was clear, as I believed all along, that the Bible strongly affirms our significance as wives and mothers, but I was stunned to learn God values us just as much when our lives follow other paths. ...
[As I studied their stories, some] of these women tumbled off their pedestals - a painful process to watch, but also necessary if we want a realistic portrayal and not some airbrushed version of a woman to whom we can't relate. The Bible exposes their blemishes so we can see ourselves and gain a deeper sense of God's unrelenting love for his lost daughters. Some women were rehabilitated when my study uncovered stunning levels of godliness and the powerful influence of their lives on others.
After reading the Introduction a few weeks ago at the start of the Bible study, I was suspicious - is this a feminist interpretation hiding in conservative clothing? While I looked forward to learning new things about "old" stories that I've heard all my life, I was also skeptical about how much of the "insight" would really be mere speculation (especially the chapter on "Mrs. Noah").
But it has proven to be an interesting study so far, and I have thought more deeply about the lives of these biblical women than just reading the Bible chapter and moving on, as I've done in the past. There are still times when I feel there might be a little too much speculation, but I can't deny that it makes me examine the Scripture more closely - a sign of a successful study.
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