Making of Biblical Womanhood

Allison Barr Beth

Description

USA Today BestsellerChristianity Today 2022 Book Award Finalist (History & Biography)"A powerful work of skillful research and personal insight."--Publishers WeeklyBiblical womanhood--the belief that God designed women to be submissive wives, virtuous mothers, and joyful homemakers--pervades North American Christianity. From choices about careers to roles in local churches to relationship dynamics, this belief shapes the everyday lives of evangelical women. Yet biblical womanhood isn't biblical, says Baylor University historian Beth Allison Barr. It arose from a series of clearly definable historical moments.This book moves the conversation about biblical womanhood beyond Greek grammar and into the realm of church history--ancient, medieval, and modern--to show that this belief is not divinely ordained but a product of human civilization that continues to creep into the church. Barr's historical insights provide context for contemporary teachings about women's roles in the church and help move the conversation forward.Interweaving her story as a Baptist pastor's wife, Barr sheds light on the #ChurchToo movement and abuse scandals in Southern Baptist circles and the broader evangelical world, helping readers understand why biblical womanhood is more about human power structures than the message of Christ.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• History of religions
• Gender studies

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 20 avril 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493429639
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Endorsements
“To control the future, you must control the past, George Orwell observed. The church’s failure to understand its own history through the experiences of women cripples our very comprehension of Christianity. The Making of Biblical Womanhood is a profound historical examination of patriarchy’s impact from the perspective of Christian women. Without this book, we cannot fully know ourselves or our faith.”
— Mimi Haddad , president of CBE International
“ The Making of Biblical Womanhood will send shock waves through conservative evangelical Christianity. Powerful personal testimony, a solid handle on the theology and biblical issues at stake in the debate over the role of women in the church, and a historian’s understanding of how the past can speak to the present inform Barr’s convincing challenge to patriarchy and complementarianism. This book is a game changer.”
— John Fea , professor, Messiah University
“In this timely, valuable volume—written with pluck and aplomb—Barr shows that ‘biblical womanhood’ is more a socio-historical construct than a scriptural prescription. I trust this deeply personal and purposely provocative book will be widely and carefully read, especially by those in patriarchal, Protestant evangelical circles who will be tempted to dismiss it out of hand.”
— Todd D. Still , professor, Baylor University, Truett Seminary
“ The Making of Biblical Womanhood is an exceptionally thoughtful and valuable contribution to debates in contemporary American religion. Barr combines an autobiographical approach to her topic with exemplary textual and historical scholarship, all presented in admirably lucid writing. The resulting book is at once convincing and moving.”
— Philip Jenkins , author of Fertility and Faith: The Demographic Revolution and the Transformation of World Religions
“I have never lived in the world of complementarianism, but I have seen its damage up close in many students and their churches. Barr’s searing report of her own journey makes her account of the bankruptcy of complementarian interpretations of the Bible and church history urgent and compelling. To borrow her conclusion: it’s time for this travesty to stop!”
— Beverly Roberts Gaventa , professor, Baylor University
“Barr shakes our shallow historical foundations by revealing how much of so-called ‘biblical’ womanhood reflects the culture rather than Christ. By taking us through her own heartbreaking journey of exclusion from her faith community, she demonstrates the temerity that we need to live the simple, yet disruptive truth that all women and men are created in the image of God.”
— Jemar Tisby , CEO of The Witness Inc.; New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise
“This is a book unlike anything I’ve read before. Drawing on her extensive research into the history of Christianity, Barr upends everything you thought you knew about Christianity and gender.”
— Kristin Kobes Du Mez , professor, Calvin University; author of Jesus and John Wayne
“ The Making of Biblical Womanhood has done in one volume what many other books in recent years have done in part: it demonstrates that so-called biblical womanhood is not actually biblical. Though Barr explores and analyzes church history and theology in this well-researched book, it is no boring academic tome. She weaves together personal narrative to remind readers of the humanity of this issue too. I have waited my entire adult life for a book like this, and I am excited that it has finally arrived.”
— Jonathan Merritt , contributing writer for The Atlantic ; author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch
“I love how Barr’s expertise in medieval church history contributes to the discussion of women in the church. While I may not align completely with Barr’s argument, I affirm with her the need to acknowledge the different ways women have led in church history and should now. I affirm with her that Christ calls women in his church to teach. And I affirm with her that so-called complementarianism isn’t the only option, or even a good one, for those who uphold the authority of Scripture. I’m glad she wrote it.”
— Aimee Byrd , author of Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and No Little Women
“ The Making of Biblical Womanhood is a journey into the sometimes pained, sometimes joyous heart of Barr’s own story but also into the secret rooms of a conservative Christian doctrine of ‘biblical womanhood’ that is no more biblical than choir robes or three-point sermons, or Christian nationalism. The number of mistaken theological interpretations present in evangelical complementarianism Barr exposes are too many to count. I could not put this book down.”
— Scot McKnight , professor, Northern Seminary
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2021 by Beth Allison Barr
Published by Brazos Press
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.brazospress.com
Ebook edition created 2021
Ebook corrections 02.01.2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-2963-9
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Excerpts from Beth Allison Barr, “‘He Is Bothyn Modyr, Broþ yr , & Syster vn-to Me’: Women and the Bible in Late Medieval and Early Modern English Sermons,” Church History and Religious Culture 94, no. 3 (Summer 2014): 297–315, are used by permission.
Excerpts from Beth Allison Barr, “Paul, Medieval Women, and Fifty Years of the CFH: New Perspectives,” Fides et Historia 51, no. 1 (Winter/Spring 2019): 1–17, are used by permission.
Excerpts from Beth Allison Barr, “Women in Early Baptist Sermons: A Late Medieval Perspective,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 41, no. 1 (2014): 13–29, are used by permission.
Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.
Dedication
For the women I have taught For the women I have mentored For the evangelical women and men ready to listen This is for you
But, mostly, this is for my children, Elena and Stephen May you be free to be all that God has called you to be
Contents
Cover i
Endorsements ii
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Dedication v
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
1. The Beginning of Patriarchy 11
2. What If Biblical Womanhood Doesn’t Come from Paul? 39
3. Our Selective Medieval Memory 71
4. The Cost of the Reformation for Evangelical Women 101
5. Writing Women Out of the English Bible 129
6. Sanctifying Subordination 151
7. Making Biblical Womanhood Gospel Truth 173
8. Isn’t It Time to Set Women Free? 201
Notes 219
Author Bio 245
Back Cover 246
Acknowledgments
THE PEOPLE IN MY LIFE made this book possible.
I am so grateful for my editors and the eam at Brazos Press. Katelyn Beaty believed in this project, guiding me when I needed it most. Melisa Blok showed me where I should say more and helped me know when I had said enough. This book is infinitely better because of you both. Brazos Press has been a joy to work with, from beginning to end. Thank you.
I could not have completed this project without the support of my Baylor colleagues. Larry Lyon, dean of the Baylor Graduate School, gave me space to write even though I was a newly minted associate dean. Barry Hankins, chair of the Baylor history department, gave me freedom to focus on this book ahead of other projects. He understood the importance, and he stood with me. Thank you, Barry. And, of course, my writing group colleagues, Kara Poe Alexander, Leslie Hahner, and Theresa Kennedy, honed the skills I needed to write this book. For ten years you have written with me. For ten years you have made me better. Leslie, thank you for the concept of shape-shifting.
For the past twenty years, I have relied on the assistance of archivists throughout the UK. For several of the manuscripts referenced in these pages, I am especially grateful for the assistance and patience of the reading room staff at the British Library in London, the Weston Library in Oxford, and the library and archives staff at Longleat House in Warminster. I am also grateful to the Louisville Institute and their financial support for this project.
It was my friends Kim and Brandon, Karol and Mike, Jennifer and Chris, Donna and Todd, and my Baylor colleague David, who walked with me through some of the most difficult days of 2016 and 2017. You helped me heal and gain perspective without growing bitter. The Conference on Faith and History gave me a rich community when I had lost the community of my church. It has been such a privilege to serve as your president. Although I do not know her personally, Sarah Bessey’s Out o