The Making of Biblical Womanhood

Ivan Williams and Michael Campbell invite you to view the recording of the August 3, 2021 Best Practices Book club featuring Beth Allison Barr’s new book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood (Brazos, 2021). As Christians, how we interpret Scripture matters. Barr takes readers on a tour through Scripture and Christian history to make a compelling case that women have consistently played a significant role within the Christian Church helping to enable the spread of the gospel. She argues that some key Scriptural passages (especially 1 Tim. 3) that are so often cited by men to explain limiting the influence of women is far more consistent with the wider patriarchal culture of the ancient near east than with how Jesus treated women. In fact, such gender biases excluding or limiting women in ministry has far more in common with ancient pagan practices than the underlying biblical principle that “all are one in Christ.”

Barr, a historian at Baylor, meticulously shows evidence from the early Church up through the Medieval period how women were far more involved, even if not well known, in church leadership. This gradual de-emphasis of women’s leadership in church history narratives in more recent centuries and the way people have translated the Bible have obscured these important contributions. The book is both carefully researched while still yet conversational as she shares about some of her own personal experiences that make this book an engaging read. Please register for this special conversation with the author and a panel of church leaders and pastors as we discuss what this book means for Christianity today.