Rejoice with Us in This Work!

The Magdalene: Mary from Magdala or Mary Tower?

Who was Mary Magdalene? Because early New Testament manuscripts were more difficult to search than today’s books, Mary M. has at times been confused or combined with other Marys. “Mary” is a form of Miriam, the name of Moses’s sister, whom the Bible describes as a prophet and leader. 

Some have conflated Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who anointed Jesus (Luke 7). Thus, Mary M. has been described in prose and depicted in art as a reformed prostitute. 

Others have suggested she had a romantic relationship with Jesus—or even married him!  

But the Scriptures suggest none of these things about her past. The actual details (given in Luke’s Gospel) are that Jesus cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene, and she was among the healed women who traveled with Jesus and supported him from their own means (Luke 8:2–3). She went on to be an eyewitness to the sufferings of Jesus, the first witness to see the risen Christ, and the first evangelist—announcing the Lord’s resurrection to the apostles with “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18). The latter is why Thomas Aquinas, the great thirteenth-century philosopher and theologian, described Mary Magdalene as “the apostle to the apostles.” The word apostle means “sent one,” and she was sent to relay the best news ever to the “sent ones”—the twelve.

Some say this Mary was from a Galilean fishing village called Migdal, meaning “tower,” thus “Mary from Midgal.” But she could also be “Mary nicknamed ‘Tower.’” 

In the New Testament, people often appear with two names: sometimes they have a Hebrew and a Latin name; sometimes they have a Latin and Greek one. There’s John “also called Mark” (Acts 12:12); Dorcas, also Tabitha (9:36); Nathanael, who is probably Bartholomew; Silas, who is also Silvanus; and perhaps Junia is the Latin name for the Jewish Joanna. 

Then there were the nicknames. Jesus named James and John the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Our Lord also emphasized the “Peter” in Simon “Peter” (Matt. 16:18), calling him “this rock”—since that’s what “Peter” means. Thomas was “also called Didymus,” or “twin” (John 11:16). The “Iscariot” in “Judas Iscariot” probably means “man of Kerioth” (a place in Palestine), distinguishing this Judas from other men by the same name. And the “Barsabbas” in “Judas Barsabbas” means “Son of the Sabbath” (Acts 15:22). The custom of having more than one name combined with our Lord’s habit of nicknaming people in his inner circle have led some to suppose that “Mary Tower” is a description not of geography but of Mary Magdalene’s personality.

Here we have a word on the subject from the Church Father Jerome (AD 340s–420s): “The unbelieving reader may perhaps laugh at me for dwelling so long on the praises of mere women; yet if he will but remember how holy women followed our Lord and Savior and ministered to Him of their substance, and how the three Marys stood before the cross and especially how Mary Magdalene—called 'The Tower' from the earnestness and glow of her faith— was privileged to see the rising Christ first of all before the very apostles, he will convict himself of pride sooner than me of folly” (Letter 127, To Principia).

We don’t know for sure. But here’s what we do know: through the life of Mary Magdalene, we see that Christ has the power to release someone—man or woman—from spiritual bondage. Interestingly, we also learn something about the validity of the New Testament. Anyone trying to fabricate a convincing history surely would have made men the key witnesses at a time when a woman’s testimony counted as little to nothing in a court of law. Yet other than the husband of the Virgin Mary or John the apostle, women were the primary witnesses of Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection. God chose women as witnesses when their word in the legal culture carried as much weight as a dust bunny.

Yet, the best part about Mary is what we learn of Jesus through her. The great British author, Dorothy L. Sayers, summed it up beautifully in a timeless observation piece she penned more than eighty years ago:  

“Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man—there has never been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as ‘The women, God help us!’ or ‘The ladies, God bless them!’; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything ‘funny’ about woman’s nature.”

Mary Magdalene speaks across the years, testifying that Jesus the Christ changes lives, setting prisoners free from all kinds of bondage. And after he has taken us from bondage to flourishing, he urges us to go and tell. 

For more about Mary M, check out Karla Zazueta’s chapter on her in Vindicating the Vixens. Also, see the work being done on her by Duke scholar Libbie Schrader. The image is of Donatello’s rendering of Mary Magdalene in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy.

9-11 Twenty Years Later

 Today I have a guest columnist—my friend Ryan Ho, who was there….

Is there a parade today? I looked out the window with a bit of confusion as paper fluttered down from the sky. Working on the twentieth floor of an office building in downtown New York City, I didn’t often see objects fall from above. I stood up from my desk, moved into another room to get a better view. . . and gasped in horror at the gaping, burning hole that I saw in the side of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

So began one of the most consequential days of my life. When the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2021, the world changed, and so did I. Up to that point, I was in no rush to do anything significant or meaningful. I had intended to go into ministry since I was a boy, but after graduating college and acquiring a well-paying job in Manhattan, I became comfortable. I was succeeding tremendously at work, and I clearly had a future in the company. Overall, I felt secure.

When the second plane flew into the South Tower before my eyes, that sense of security shattered. I distinctly remember wondering what would happen next. How could we recover from this? As the Towers toppled, I knew that New York would never be the same, and it wasn’t. But I would never be the same, either.

The Monday after the Towers fell, I returned to work, but a part of me never went back—the part that felt comfortable, the part that felt secure. I looked around the office and saw things with new eyes. The job paid well, and it had a future—but it wasn’t my future. I knew the Lord had called me to more.

Ryan went on to graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary and to work as an associate pastor and church planter in Oklahoma and Oregon. Today he is an Instructional Designer at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas.  

What about you? In what do you place your security? Were you made for more? 

Photo by Jason McCann on Unsplash

We Have a Winner!

Mitzi A won the free copy in the book drawing. Congrats, Mitzi!

Women: Time for an Update

Women in Church History

Last week a friend told me that in one of her seminary summer school classes a fellow student insisted the existence of Christian women in public ministry started with radical feminism. And the professor did not seem to realize what the student said was untrue.  

I hear such statements often. Here’s one from a Christian blogger: “It was the feminist teachings of the past few decades that first spurred Christians to try to argue for [women in public ministry]. Like it or not, the two schools of thought are intertwined.” 

Maybe we get the idea that radical feminism started it all because we don’t realize how active women have been in past centuries and how much of evidence is being rediscovered. Time for an update. 

Women Researching Bible Backgrounds

Also, our understanding about a lot of Bible backgrounds relating to passages about women is outdated. Now, sometimes when I say historians have great new info, people get suspicious. They worry that evangelical women are now rewriting history about ourselves. But history has already been rewritten about us, and our historians are helping us recover what actually happened. 

Developments in archaeology have been providing better background information for a couple of centuries. For example, in Pompeii—rediscovered in 1748—the excavation of brothels with paintings and price lists has revealed that, contrary to what has been taught, prostitutes did not actually shave their heads. That information is taking a long time to make it into commentaries, but it certainly alters how we read 1 Corinthians 11:4–6. Add to that, nobody seems to be finding any evidence that Corinthian wives/women wore veils at any time other than on their wedding days. Veils were not apparently worn as signs of others’ authority. This too affects how we interpret the text. 

Developments in technology are also expanding what we know. We’ve seen the accessibility of electric dishwashers (1920s), dryers (1937), clothes washers (1908), and even harvesting machines (1892), which have given many, especially women, more time to pursue learning. More recently, in the 1990s tremendous growth has taken place in the number and availability of sources as well as the explosion of new discoveries in epigraphy and papyrology. (We still have about one million pieces of epigraphic evidence, inscriptions that can influence our understanding of word usage, that our Koine/English dictionaries have not even taken into account. One million!) And as a result of such developments, the academy has seen the proliferation of new academic specializations and collaborative publications. So, if someone says “we now know this word means [XYZ] instead of [ABC],” such a statement is probably coming from the incorporation of new data, and not because liberal linguists set out to rewrite history.   

New specialties, collaborations, and updates have become more accessible through the internet (since 1983) and Google Translate (since 2006). A few decades ago, when one of my siblings was working on his PhD, he showed me a letter he’d given to a scholar to have translated into French. Once this family member had the translation in hand, he sent it overseas and waited six weeks for a reply. He then got the reply translated into English before he could process the data and craft a response. 

Fast forward to the last decade when I was writing my own dissertation. I could locate an obscure piece of research published in another language, run it through Google Translate, write a message to its author, get the message translated, research that scholar’s contact info on his university’s web site, and send him or her a message via email when I went to bed. I’d often have a reply by breakfast. So, access to more research coupled with the ability to collaborate with scholars across the world has exponentially increased the amount of data available and the ability to build on others’ research. And whereas my sibling often had to camp out in a library, I could sit at home in yoga pants and a t-shirt and search archives for Anatolian digests and scholars who specialized in Roman head coverings. And while he had to leave when the library closed, I could work long after my daughter fell asleep if I wanted to. 

There’s just so much more information, new information about the contexts into which the earliest believers received sacred texts. And the influx of women into history departments has expanded the subject matter. The men before us tended to focus on political history and empires and troop movements, but women have steered some discussions more toward social-history questions like the average life expectancy, diet, apparel, and how long it took to walk from Galatia to Rome. And, as it turns out, the most amazing collection of first-century documents from everyday people, a veritable gold mine of social history info, is the New Testament. And understanding what was going on with apparel has helped us better interpret some texts. 

Added to more women researching more social history is the reality that women are living longer. So, even if we stay home with kids, many of us can raise them, launch them, and still have decades-long careers. One of my male colleagues taught till he was 95. Consider that a woman with a similar constitution starting as late as age 45 might still have a 50-year career. If she worked while raising a family or if she never had a husband or kids—true of a growing number of women—she might have six or seven decades on which to build her knowledge. Add it all together and you have a lot more research available that’s focused on women and data about women in the Bible and biblical backgrounds. Don’t you want to know what they’ve found? Time for an update. 

Take a Fresh Look

All of these factors point to the need to revisit the data. The primary documents reveal that the phenomenon of women standing side-by-side with our brothers, partnering to train and care for the church, has been happening for 2,000 years. And our understanding of backgrounds has exploded, affecting how we interpret texts, including some texts about women. 

Wondering where to begin? If you don’t have $195 to start with the two-volume 2021 publicationWomen and the Polis, the first complete corpus of Greek inscriptions issued by city institutions in honor of their female citizens and foreigners (1131 women fulfill this criteria), you can check out Dr. Lynn Cohick’s more accessible book: Women in the World of the Earliest Christians. For women in early church history, her book Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries is great. Interested in epigraphic studies? Check out Clint Burnett’s Studying the New Testament through Inscriptions. 

The texts of Scripture are timeless. But our data for interpreting them has expanded exponentially. Time for an update!

In the spirit of championing my readers' education, I'm giving away a free copy of the 2021 release, Women in the Mission of the Church: Their Opportunities and Obstacles through Christian History (Baker Academic) by Dzubinski and Station. Both men and women are eligible. Who is a woman you admire in church history? Tell me in the comments. I'll choose randomly from the entires. Drawing next Friday. US only, please.

Six Words That Changed My Life

I am Sandra—daughter of Ann, of Velma, of Ella…all the way back to Eve. But the genetic line stops with me. 

Although I went to college, I had no intention of pursuing a career. I dated my high-school sweetheart, and I knew even in my freshman year that I would marry this guy. My main vocational goal was to be a mommy. It was my only aspiration.  

When we married at ages 21 and 20, Gary and I wanted at least three children. It never dawned on me that we might face the prospect of no kids at all. If anything, I figured we’d have nineteen like Susannah Wesley and wonder how to handle them all.  

After five years of marriage, during which Gary was earning a master’s degree in theology, we decided it was time to expand our little family of two. But a year went by with no success. And then another. Finally, I went to the doctor. But a third year passed.

And then it happened—the positive pregnancy test. 

We partied, we celebrated, we cheered. We ate steak. We called our families. But elation turned to agony when I miscarried. And then it happened again. And again. We had seven early pregnancy losses. 

After that, we pursued adoption, but in three years’ time, three adoptions fell through.

Spiritually, I wondered if God was punishing me. Emotionally, I felt unstable, with hormones fluctuating wildly. But the greatest trauma of all was my crisis of womanhood. What was I supposed to do and be? 

I had always heard that a Christian woman’s highest calling is motherhood. Where did that leave me? When I went to college, I didn’t go to prepare myself for a career. To be honest, I didn’t really believe in women having vocations. 

As I write that now, it still astonishes me, as I consider how narrow my perspective was. I left no room for the apostle Paul’s statement that the unmarried state, if chosen for eternal purposes, can be a higher calling than marriage. Where would my view have left tent-making Priscilla? Or the woman in Proverbs 31 who, though a wife and mom, sold belts and real estate? Or Lydia, the seller of purple from Thyatira? Or Philip’s four virgin daughters who prophesied? I didn’t see then what I do now—that godly womanhood cuts its fabric from a varied pattern book, and its garments are not “one size fits all.”  

At that point, both my spiritual mentor and my husband encouraged me to attend seminary. They recognized in me a gift for teaching that I myself couldn’t see.  

And to my amazement, the money for tuition was miraculously provided. So reluctantly I enrolled in classes. But I still had serious doubts. Was I entering a man’s world? Was I really supposed to go? Did doing so suggest that I devalued motherhood? 

I awoke the first day of class feeling nervous. When it came time to leave, I still had nagging doubts. 

So, as I was walking through the living room on my way out the front door, I stopped. I simply couldn’t go without peace. I had to know I was making the right choice. So, I slipped to my knees in front of the couch. And I prayed (more like begged): “Lord, if this violates what you want me to do, please stop me. I just want to do what you want.”  

Has God ever spoken simple words to you? He certainly answered me that day. I didn’t hear an audible voice, but words memorized years earlier that came to my mind might as well have been: “Mary has chosen what is better.”

I thought of the story behind the words. Martha was in the kitchen doing the traditional “woman” thing. She was being domestic. Meanwhile, Mary sat at Jesus’s feet learning theology. When kitchen-woman complained that student-woman had messed up priorities, Jesus set her straight: “Mary has chosen what is better.” 

I stood up knowing exactly what I was supposed to do. I knew seminary was where God wanted me. I had no idea what I would do with my education, but I knew the step I needed to take for that day. I confess that such direct leading from God has been rare throughout my life. But that day God used Jesus’s own words to a female disciple to propel me forward. 

Today, Gary and I are the adoptive parents of a grown daughter. And I teach at the same seminary where I took classes. If you had told me thirty years ago that we’d have an “only child” and I’d teach at a graduate school helping to train pastors and ministry workers, I would have laughed. Out loud. And shaken my head at you. Maybe even my finger. 

Motherhood is a high and noble calling. But it is not the only calling. Or even the ultimate calling. Following Jesus Christ wherever He leads is the ultimate calling. 

“Mary has chosen what is better.” 

Women of the Bible: "Remember Lot's Wife"

Jesus’s “Exhibit A” to illustrate “Whoever tries to keep one’s life will lose it, but whoever loses one’s life will preserve it” (Luke 17:30–32) is Lot’s wife. We find the tragic end of this woman, married to Abraham’s nephew, in Genesis 19. 

As the story goes, two angels arrive at evening in Sodom, where Lot is sitting at the city gate—doubtless because he holds judicial office there. In Proverbs 31 we see a similar reference, as the “husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land” (Prov 31:23). This detail about Lot suggests he is deeply embedded in Sodom and fully aware of what goes on there.

When Lot sees the two figures approaching, he gets up to greet them, bows his face to the ground, and urges them to lodge with him. Hospitality was a core value in the ancient Near East. 

The visitors decline, saying they’ll stay in the town square. But Lot insists. So they enter his house. And Lot cooks them a feast. But before they can rest, the unthinkable happens. Old and young men from Sodom surround Lot’s house demanding access to these visitors. “Where are the men who came to you tonight?” they ask. “Bring them out to us so we can ‘know’ them!” “Know” here is a Semitic idiom for sex. So, the men of all ages in Sodom want to have forced sex with Lot’s visitors.

Imagine Lot’s horror! Gang rape? Attack guests? But Lot shows he’s no Boy Scout, either. He steps outside his house beyond the angels’ earshot, calls the men of Sodom “brothers,” and offers an alternative: “I have two daughters who have never ‘known’ a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please” (v. 8). Great dad, huh?   

But Lot’s proposal fails. The men of Sodom don’t want women. They want men. So they attack Lot, insulting him by calling him a “foreigner” and threatening to hurt him even more than they planned to hurt his guests (v. 9). And they press in on Lot so much that they almost break down his door. 

Fortunately for him, the ones inside quickly rescue Lot by pulling him in, shutting the door, and striking the attackers with blindness. At this, the visitors urge Lot to grab his family and get them to safety, because God has sent them to do what the city elders have apparently failed to do—bring justice. The angels say “The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord” that they have come to destroy it (v. 13). 

But Lot sees a complication. His daughters are betrothed, so he delays long enough to go urge his future sons-in-law to escape with the family. But they accuse Lot of mocking them.  

At dawn, the angels tell Lot to hurry up and get his family out, or they’ll be destroyed along with the cities in the area. But Lot hesitates. So his visitors grab the hands of Lot and his family, “because the Lord had compassion on them” (v. 16). And the angels lead the group outside the city. 

Once outside Sodom’s gates, the angels urge, “Runfor your lives! Don’t lookbehind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

But Lot digs in his heels and negotiates to go to a nearby town rather than all the way to the mountains. So God agrees to spare this one town for Lot. 

Finally, when the sun has risen, the Lord rains down sulfur and firefrom the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 24). In fact, God overthrows the entire region except the town where Lot and his family have taken refuge. 

God has shown mercy on mercy to this family. And they have one job—run without looking back! But what does Lot’s wife do? She flagrantly disobeys by looking back. And what’s more, she does so with longing. 

That’s why she is destroyed along with that which she desires. She dies with her old life rather than experience the rescue and new life mercifully offered.     

Jesus said that “in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building” but suddenly one day when they least expected it, they were destroyed (v. 29). Jesus added, “It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back (vv. 30–32). No delaying to talk to the future sons-in-law. Because he will appear suddenly: “There will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.” And “There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” Jesus exhorted his listeners, “Remember Lot’s wife!”

God had spared Noah’s family. Similarly, God plucked Lot’s family out of destruction. But Lot’s wife chose, with longing, to look back rather than forward. She preferred a community that accepted gang rape over a chance to start over with her family. And Jesus told his followers to remember her—to let her serve as a warning. She tried to keep her life, but she lost it. She longed for what destroyed, and ultimately it destroyed her.

What are your longings? Do they bring life or death? Do they contribute to your ultimate flourishing or to your ruin? Will you keep looking back? Or will you fall on the mercy of God?

Photo by Christian Garcia on Unsplash

Swimsuit Season: A guest post

 Last week I did something that many women do around this time of year. A spring ritual full with strong inhales to imagine an ideal and deep sighs once the discouragement of reality sets in.

You see, I was going on a weekend trip to the lake. So the time had come. The time had come to dig my swimsuits out from the infamous bottom dresser drawer. The time had come to discover what still fit. I dreaded this day. I procrastinated until the night before our trip, and I only had the garments purchased for my pre-pandemic, pre-multiple quarantines, pre-getting-laid-off then-hired-then-quitting-that-job body. They were bought for a summer of freedom that now feels foreign, and I worried they could no longer hold the version of me that exists today. 

I remember every year of this ritual going back to sixth grade, and I can count on exactly two fingers how many times I walked away feeling good about myself. One was in college, after months of unhealthy dieting. The other? Last Thursday. So what changed? 

Hint: not my BMI.

Something different happened. My mindset changed. I didn’t realize that it had until I stood there, in front of my mirror, smiling. My stomach and my cellulite and my pale skin didn’t worry me anymore. They encouraged me. 

My stomach: evidence of my newfound love for cooking, and the beginnings of a relationship with a man who buys the chocolate bar at the register, then gives me half once we get in the car. That makes me smile. 

My cellulite: a reminder that 80–90 percent of women have the same dimples I do. My cellulite stands as evidence to that heritage, the history of women before me who lived strong, brave, adventurous lives, even with textured fat on their thighs. That makes me smile.

My pale skin: evidence of a year keeping myself and others safe. A year staying home and building deeper relationships with the people under my roof. Those friendships make me smile.

I discovered that my body no longer serves as a tool to be whittled down to perfection, but rather as a treasure chest—ornate and beautiful in its own right but inside containing something of far greater value. 

Avery Ochs lives in Denton, Texas, and is a student at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Why Don't We See More Women in the Biblical Text?

Recently, someone asked me why we don’t find more women in the Bible. Last time, I pointed to translation concerns that hide the presence of women. Today, I want us to consider that sometimes we miss the women who are actually named and featured.

Here’s a sampling from some of the earliest stories: 

* * *

Go back in time with me to the thirteenth century BC in Egypt. The king has issued an order to kill all boys born into bondage, because members of the slave class—your own people, descendants of Israel—have proliferated, and the ruling class fears an uprising. Born under the ban, you lie in a pitch-lined basket that your mother, Jochebed, crafted before floating you in the Nile. Soon, the king’s daughter finds you and raises you as her own. So, you get an education in the royal court of Egypt—some of the best academic training in the world. As you grow, you learn the geography of Egypt and of the Sinai, and eventually you record the oral history of your people. 

 As you write, you include the heroic midwives Shiphrah and Puah—making sure everyone remembers their names—who refused to drown Hebrew boys like you (Exo. 1:15–21).  

Writing the books of the Law, you include stories about your older sister, Miriam, who helped save your life and who, decades later, partnered with you and your brother, Aaron, to lead Israel (Cp. Micah 6:4).

And you write of Sarah and Keturah. And of Hagar, who named God. Of Rebecca. And of Rachel the shepherd. And Leah. Of Bilhah and Zilpah. And of Dinah. And how Tamar, a Canaanite, was more righteous than her father-in-law, Judah, through whom Jacob said the Promised One would come (Gen. 49:10). Judah had conspired to sell his stepbrother, Joseph, into slavery. And Judah later had evil sons. But loyal love from an outsider, his daughter-in-law Tamar, had a radical effect on him. Before his encounter with her, he would sell a brother; afterward, he offered his life in exchange for one (see Genesis 38.) 

You record how God calls parents to consecrate both first-born sons and first-born daughters (Ex. 13:1).

You write down one of the stories that you witnessed firsthand, which involved five sisters, the daughters of Zelophehad:  Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Their father had five daughters, but no male heirs. These females raised a question about women’s rights, even obligations, to inherit property in the absence of a male heir. You yourself told them you would ask God directly about their case. And the Lord had strong words: “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.”

You and the people you write about inhabit a patriarchal culture. The words from God are inspired, of course, but the culture isn’t. And because those who will read and teach your words in centuries to come will live in worlds also steeped in patriarchy, they will focus more on the men. As they preach or teach or write commentaries, they (men and women alike) will skip Tamar’s contribution to Judah’s character arc; or gloss over the courage of  Shiphrah and Puah; or miss the significance of the chieftain Timna (Gen. 36:12, 22, 40). Or as they wrap up their look at the Book of Job, they might not even notice how, as an evidence of God’s blessing, that Job will grant his daughters—Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-Happuch—an inheritance among their unnamed brothers (Job 42:14–15). Or note how the story of Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah receives mention in five places in Scripture (Num. 26:33; 27:1–11; 36:1–12; Josh. 17:3–6; 1 Chron 7:15—only Moses and Miriam are mentioned in more OT books).  

***

The Bible does indeed shine a spotlight on more men than women. But even many of the women we do find in its pages get minimized if not altogether left on the cutting-room floor as people preach, teach, and write about Scripture. We need these women. Why don’t we see more women in the biblical text? Why, indeed! Maybe you can have a part in telling the full story?

To be continued…

The Bible: Women Are More Present Than We Might Think

Recently, I heard from a woman who said that since about the age of 12 years, she has attended church weekly, sometimes multiple times a week. Yet in all those years, she heard little teaching that features, highlights, or affirms women. She said, “From a very early point in my journey I would consider whether words like ‘he,’ ‘men’ or ‘disciple’ were intended for everyone or just males. In many instances during my studies, I would replace those words with ‘she’ or ‘women’ in my notes, because it made it feel more personal and applicable to me as a woman. Still, I have pretty much always felt like an outsider or like there was something wrong with me…. I have often felt like the church was the most repressive institution for me as a woman, and I do not think that could possibly be Jesus’s intent, given the way he interacted with women.”  

 Indeed, exclusion of females is not reflective of Jesus. Paul gets a bad rap, too. But he held a much higher view of women than we often hear. Is it any wonder that women are leaving churches in unprecedented numbers?  

 In the weeks ahead, I plan to address some of this woman’s concerns. And today I’ll begin with this assertion: Bible translations sometimes hide the presence of women. But we’re there.

 Case in point: a familiar verse I heard quoted this week—words the apostle Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy: “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). When I heard the word “men” in that saying, I knew the underlying Greek said anthropoi. That is, people. As in, “Teach people who will teach other people.” But I wondered if others in the room heard it that way? Did the males in the room do the mental gymnastics to include their sisters, daughters, wives, nieces, female co-workers? Did the females hear themselves represented? Or did they assume the apostle’s exhortation applied only to somebody else? Increasingly, when people hear the word “men,” they don’t think “humans”; they envision only “males.” Some good data on language use backs up this assertion. In fact, saying “men” when we mean “people” now qualifies as Christianese. 

Anthropoi can mean humans or males. So, we ask: were the many witnesses to whom Paul spoke males only? No, Paul publicly taught women and men. Did he expect women also to pass on what they heard? He did (see Titus 2:3). So why render the word as the exclusive “men,” and thereby exclude females?

The translation I’m citing here was published not in 1611, but in 2001, by a team of more than 100 all-male evangelical scholars and pastors. Some think Bible translations have become more female-inclusive since the dawn of radical feminism in the US; but since World War II, some translators have actually given us less inclusive translations. If we believe it is not good for a man to be alone (Gen. 2:18)—indeed, if we believe Genesis teaches the complementary relationship of men and women—we know we need each other. Including in translation work. One would think that would be a no-brainer, especially in an area in which God seems to have given one sex unique gifting.

Last week, I heard another example—the famous quote from Jesus: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Now, again, we know Jesus expected the twelve to seek both male and female disciples. But sure enough, translators have rendered anthropoi as “men.” In fact, they included this tiny footnote: “The Greek word anthropoi refers here to both men and women.” So, these translators acknowledge the author has both men and women in view, but they still render the language in a way that excludes females. Why would they do that?

I’ve already written about other examples of translation gender bias here (a man who walks in the counsel of the wicked vs. a person who…) and here (a man should provide for his own family vs. someone providing for that person’s own family). As is evidenced by the correspondence I referred to above , many people have not even been told that the very word “disciple” in the New Testament refers to male and female followers of Jesus. But Dorcas is explicitly called a disciple (Acts 9:36). 

Bottom line: Women are more represented in the scriptures than many translations indicate. Far more.

And I haven’t even mentioned passages that actually outright address women in ministry. Romans 16 is filled with them. Theologian Marg Mowczko observes, “Most English Bibles, including the ESV [which is the source of my examples above], are reliable and trustworthy in how they translate verses and passages that pertain to the doctrine of salvation. The same cannot be said about how they translate verses that pertain to women in ministry. Some Bible readers aren’t even aware that many women are mentioned in the New Testament as being ministers and church leaders. This is because English translations have typically obscured or downplayed the passages that mention these women. The English Standard Version (ESV) and the New Living Translation (NLT), in particular, are notorious for downplaying the ministries and roles of New Testament women in their translations.” 

Andrew Bartlett, author of Men and Women in Christ: Fresh Light from the Biblical Texts (IVP, 2019), wrote a piece for CT in the past year in which he highlighted some of the most egregious renderings of New Testament verses relating to women.    

The best source for clarity on the topic of women’s inclusion is the Greek New Testament. But the ability to learn Koine Greek—or Hebrew, languages in which the Bible’s human authors wrote—is a privilege most people don’t have. So, we need to use and recommend the best translations we can find. Check the front pages of your Bible(s) and see who served on the translation committee(s). Look for male and female teamwork and geographic and denominational diversity. For English, I like the NET, the CEB, and the 2011 version of the NIV.  I especially like the NET in the YouVersion app, which makes it easy to check out translation notes that are accessible to most English readers. 

 Yesterday, I received a text from a female Bible teacher with whom I’d been discussing this topic. She wrote, “I’m going to look up every verse that says ‘man’ in Logos [Bible software] to see if I’m included. Mind blow. I just looked up James 5:16. ‘The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.’ So, my prayers are powerful and effective too!” 

Yes. Yes. Yes! They are. 

Next time: Why don't we see more women in the Bible?

Happy 75th, Dolly Parton!

I asked my student, Misty, to share with my readers some of her vast knowledge about her shero, Dolly Parton, who turns 75 today. Misty's mom went to high school with Dolly, and when Misty asked her parents to host us in their home this past fall, they pulled out the yearbooks. That's Misty's index finger on Dolly's senior picture. In the group shot below, we show off the "What Would Dolly Do?" t-shirts Misty (second from left) gave us.

So now from Misty Hedrick I give you...

Five Reasons to Love Dolly Parton

1. Billboard estimates Dolly's current catalog at nearly 5,000 songs. That makes Dolly Partonthe most prolific living songwriter. She writes poetry, screenplays, and Broadway musicals, and she starred in hit movies like 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias. And Dolly now churns out Netflix specials based on her songs, like Jolene and Two Doors Down.  

2. From farm-raised to superstardom, Dolly probably never worked 9 to 5 a day in her life. Actually, she recently stated her day begins at 3 AM. Dolly’s business acumen speaks for itself. She owns a publishing company and the rights to her songs. Her award-winning theme park, Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, attracts 4 million visitors a year while providing four thousand jobs and invigorating job growth in surrounding communities. Although she visits the park often, she never rides the roller coasters. 

3. Dolly Parton gives back. She raised $9M for victims of wildfires that swept through the Smokies in 2016; and she donated $1M to Covid-19 vaccine research. But the real jewel in her generous crown? Dolly’s Imagination Library sends books to children ages birth to 5 years (130 million books at last count). She credits her father, who could not read or write, as the inspiration behind Imagination Library and her title “the Book Lady.”

4. Dolly loves her husband. She met Carl Dean, her husband of 54 years, at the Wishy-Washy Laundromat one day after she moved to Nashville. They eloped two years later, though her new record label wanted her to stay single. At 50 years, they renewed their vows, prompting Dean to dub Dolly his second wife. He stays out of the limelight, but Dolly says they enjoy road-tripping in their camper, and he loves her fried chicken.

5. Dolly Parton loves Jesus. Her faith shines through in her grateful, humble attitude, hard-working spirit, and ever-inclusive soul. Her songs speak of prayer and the power of the gospel to help her through hard times. Dolly’s latest hits include God Only Knows with For King & Country, and There Was Jesus with Zach Williams. Although she calls herself a “Backwoods Barbie,” Dolly always says, “where it counts, I’m real.”

On the pod with Liz Rod and Rebecca Carrell talking about gender (plus an unscheduled appearance from my cat)

Heartstrong Faith's Honest Conversations podcast: Gender

Kat Armstrong: The In-Between Place

Today one of my favorite authors, Kat Armstrong, launches her latest book, The In-Between Place. Kat is a powerful voice in our generation. She's an innovative ministry leader and sought-after communicator who holds a master’s degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and is the author of No More Holding Back and The In-Between Place. She and her husband, Aaron, have been married for eighteen years and live in Dallas, Texas, with their son, Caleb. They attend Dallas Bible Church, where Aaron serves as the lead pastor.

I read her most recent book, The In-Between Place, and wrote this endorsement: Sometimes a place in the Bible’s narrative becomes like a character with a voice of its own. Shechem/Sychar is such a place. Dinah was raped in Shechem, and Jesus met “the woman at the well” there. In Kat's new book she takes readers to this city in Samaria and guides them through a literary, religious, and geographical look at how God has used this locale and its people to reveal his sovereignty and grace. Armstrong’s book is full of amusing anecdotes, astute observations, and life-changing applications.

Here's an interview with Kat, who was born in Houston, Texas, where she says the humidity ruins her curls.

Kat, welcome back! Let’s talk about your newest book, The In-Between Place. What inspired you to write it?

The In-Between Place was born when Ronnie (my Holy Land tour guide) said, “We are standing in modern-day Samaria. You’ll remember, it’s the setting for the story of the woman at the well. And now we’ll hear from Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese about Dinah’s story from Genesis 34.” One casual transition statement from our Israel tour guide, Ronnie, about the Holy Land site visit for the day to our Bible teacher, Rev. Dr. Jackie Roese, reoriented the way I read the Samaritan woman’s conversation with Jesus in John 4. How did I not see it sooner? Both women’s stories have Samaria as their setting, and I think there is divine purpose in the places and spaces God revisits in the Scriptures. I believe God redeems broken places into sacred spaces. I have this wild, audacious dream that people will read The In-Between Place and be filled with hope that Jesus is in our messy middle places.

In the book you compare and contrast Dinah’s story (Genesis 34) with the woman at the Well’s story (John 4). Can you share some observations you make in the book about these two women’s stories? 

I take the whole book to answer this question, but here are just a few of my observations. 

1. While Dinah is the first named daughter in the Bible, and her experience represents evil’s accessibility to even the most prestigious of women, the nameless woman at the well in John 4 represents all women, all Gentiles, and ultimately, all people. 

2. In Dinah’s story we meet her father’s landlord, Hamor the Hivite, who was the “region’s chieftain” (Gen. 34:2); and second we meet Hamor’s son, Shechem. The saying “like father, like son” rings true for these two. Hamor and Shechem, both princes of terror, stand in sharp contrast with the main man in John 4, Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Whereas Hamor and Shechem gave their town a bad name with their intimidation, Jesus, the one who knows all our names, ushers in harmony and safety with his presence. 

3. When Dinah casually ventured out to connect with her friends, the mood was easy and laid back. Just another day in the neighborhood. But while Dinah was minding her own business, Shechem was hunting his prey. We get the sense from the story that we need to hide from his wandering eye and protect ourselves from his looming presence. Compare that to the nameless Samaritan woman at the well who encountered the Prince of Peace. The Samaritan woman was also minding her own business, but when Jesus sat down near the well, his posture spoke to his vulnerability. Our Savior was a safe stranger to approach. Unlike Shechem, Jesus just wanted to talk. 

4. Dinah’s voice was never heard in all of the Scriptures. Never. Her perspective was never acknowledged. On the other hand, Jesus not only gave the Samaritan woman a voice, he also then gave her an audience to proclaim her truth—and the eternal truth that Jesus is the Savior of the world. 

5. Dinah’s story ends with genocide, and we can’t help but close the chapter disappointed that there was no redemption in the ending. In sharp contrast, the Samaritan woman’s story ends with joy and many in the town being saved. 

What would you say to someone struggling to find hope in their in-between place?

If you don’t have the energy, hope, or faith to follow Jesus, take heart: he comes to you. Maybe you are working your very first job, restarting school to finish your degree, becoming a first-time mom, or beginning a new life after a major loss. Although you might not be able to see your way out, and your determination might have been knocked out of you in your fall, Jesus can climb into that pit with you and lift you up with his mighty power. You don’t even have to make the first move; he will. I know this because of Jesus’s conversation recorded in John 4 with the Samaritan woman at the well.  

Anything else you want to tell my readers?

Friends, it's excellent. Order from Amazon.