Review of The Making of Biblical Womanhood

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In this historical survey, Beth Alison Barr offers several meaningful iterations of the following argument, “Patriarchy may be a part of Christian history, but that doesn’t make it Christian. It just shows us the historical (and very human) roots of biblical womanhood.”

The author examines unfaithful translations of several Biblical texts, showing how cultural assumptions about women have shaped certain translation choices, writing some women out of the story. “The world of early modern England treated women as dependent on men, and this cultural attitude was translated into the English Bible.”

Drawing from historical and Biblical texts and scholarship, Dr. Barr asks important questions, such as: “What if we have been reading Paul wrong?” and “What if instead of replicating an ancient gender hierarchy, Paul was showing us how the Christian gospel sets even the Roman household free?”

Barr brings us along for a look into forgotten stories and sermons from medieval Christian history and frequently overlooked impact of the Reformation on Christian women. Each chapter offers a unique angle for our consideration.

Drawing from personal experiences having herself been a faithful member of complementarian congregations for decades, Barr, an academic historian, has written this book from the heart. She looks at the modern concept of “Biblical womanhood,” and argues, “Isn’t it ironic (not to mention tiresome) that we spend so much time fighting to make Christianity look like the world around us instead of fighting to make it look like Jesus Christ? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

I was left inspired to read further. I plan to seek out the Biblical scholars and historians cited in this book, and to learn and retell more of the stories of women forgotten by many in our modern churches. “Women stand with a great cloud of witnesses. It is time, far past time, for us to remember.”






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