Vindicating the Vixens

A group of evangelical scholars challenge teachings regarding 14 historically vilified women in the Bible in this revealing academic work from Kregel. Hoping to harness the power of “fresh eyes on the text,” Glahn pursued diversity among her contributors, gathering men and women of multiple ethnicities, nationalities, denominations, and fields of study, and the collection encompasses wide ranges of styles, some more technical than others. Karla Zazueta, a community organizer from Frisco, Tex., asks whether Mary Magdalene truly was a reformed prostitute in “Mary Magdalene: Repainting Her Portraits of Misconceptions.” In “Hagar: God Names Adam, Hagar Names God,” Tony Maalouf, professor of world Christianity and Middle Eastern studies at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, examines the concept of God’s grace toward the outcast. Ronald Pierce, professor of Biblical studies at Biola University, considers Deborah, the lone female Old Testament judge, and her relationship to men. Using cultural and contextual scholarship, the contributors dismantle pervasive negative assumptions about biblical women and assert that reexamination of long-held assumptions is healthy, not threatening, for the church. The sections on Rahab by Eva Bleeker and Tamar by Carolyn Custis James are particularly powerful. This groundbreaking work will reform readers’ assumptions about the women of the Bible. (Nov.)