Lost Women of the Bible: Finding Strength & Significance Through Their Stories

This is a great book for your Christian book reading group. It discusses women you don’t really know about- Tamar and Hagar among the more widely known women of Ruth, Mary , Mary Magdalene and Hannah. I learned a lot about them that I didn’t know and how they fit into God’s plans. It was a good book for discussion! It would be a good book for a women’s retreat to discuss. Pat

Very well researched book and can be a good topic for Bible Study or a sermon.

Carolyn Custis James' book offers hope to women who don't fit the traditional Christian woman mould (wife and mother and support to husband's ministry). She herself found that marriage and motherhood came very late and consequently she wrestled with her position and value within the church as a single woman; but these are not modern problems, she found many examples in the Bible of women who couldn't fit into those roles and yet had great value. The author features women from both Old and New Testaments - Eve, Mrs Noah, Sarah, Hagar, Tamar, Hannah, Esther, Mary of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene and the women of Philippi - who have different stories of their contribution to God's plans. These stories also show the failures of the women as well as their successes and some, such as Tamar, are partially rehabilitated through a fresh look at the story. Many of these women struggled against cultural situations that are no longer relevant to our Western society and yet the underlying themes were all valid. The book is well-written in a light and readable style with good scholarship underlying the historical settings. Each chapter has a study guide at the end so I imagine this book might work well for a women's group. The overall conclusion of so many of these stories is that women don't have to just be meek, mild, pure homemakers but can be strong warriors for God alongside their husbands, if they have them, or on their own. Definitely an encouraging read for any women who want to make a difference for God.

This little gem of a book has such clarity and liveliness that I would not hesitate to put it into the hands of a teen; at the same time, it contains such significant theological insights that it also belongs in the hands of clergy and those in professional ministry. And women of all ages who are thirsting for strong biblical role models will indeed find the "strength and significance" James promises in her sub-title. The framework James uses to illuminate the stories of biblical women is set out in the book's first chapter on Eve. Because the full story of Eve has gotten so lost in the glare of her fall, tragically, it has been the partial story of the post-fall Eve that has set the church's agenda for women. James sets out to correct this, showing the exceedingly high expectations that constitute God's original "blueprint." What are these expectations? First, the woman is God's image bearer, God's vice regent. Second, the woman is the warrior/helper (ezer). Third, the woman is a full member of what James calls the "Blessed Alliance," the partnership of the man and woman as they together implement the cultural mandate. The rest of the book shows the surprising truths that emerge from the stories of biblical women when viewed in light of these three big claims from creation. How did they live up to their identity as image bearers? What vital task did God entrust into the hands of these ezers? And, finally, did their relationships with the men in their lives (not just husbands and sons, but any key men in their stories) reflect the kind of partnership envisioned in Genesis 1:28 when "God blessed them"? The final chapter of the book-a study of the small church at Philippi, established because of the faith of a small group of God-fearing Gentile women-shows how God called his ezers into a Blessed Alliance with the Apostle Paul for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Even the unmarried Paul discovered that it was "not good for the man to be alone." One of the strengths of this book is James' conviction that God truly meant what he said in Genesis 2 when He declared that, indeed, "it is not good for the man to be alone." By focusing not only on key women's individual stories, but also on how they are embedded in relationships with husbands, fathers, sons, cousins and co-laborers, James helps us to glimpse the fruitfulness that results when the "Blessed Alliance" between men and women is functioning as it was designed. Lost Women of the Bible gives rich food for reflection on how that Blessed Alliance might be restored in home, church and society today.

New and fresh insights into the lives of these lost women of the Bible encourage me to follow Christ with great confidence and trust in the Lord. Carolyn Custis James so clearly shows me my high calling as a woman to be an image bearer, an ezer and a partner in the Blessed Alliance to further God's kingdom. The answer to her question, "why Satan's temptation was so overpowering" to Eve, was an "aha!" moment for me and that one insight alone is well worth the price of the book. However, I couldn't tell you which woman's story had the most impact on me--they all touched my heart. The stories put together fan into flame a passion to fulfill my high calling so that God will be glorified in all the earth. What a great book! I highly recommend it to both men and women. If we followed the truths of this book, I believe we would be answering Jesus' prayer in John 17 that we might all be one as the Father and Son are one so that the world would believe the Father sent Jesus into the world. I pray that this book will be used to greatly impact men and women so that together we can more clearly bear His image and strongly help one another as we together advance the kingdom of God.

(by Carolyn Custis James; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005; 240 pages) To what extent are the ideas of women's roles steeped in the humanly conceived traditions of the Christian subculture? This is the essential question being considered in Carolyn Custis James' (CCJ) latest work, Lost Women of the Bible. In ten chapters, CCJ examines the life roles of women in the Bible, beginning with Eve and concluding with the Women of Philippi. CCJ encourages the reader to reflect on how women's roles today may be defined by the traditions of the current Christian subculture and not by scriptural mandate as she shows was often the case for the women of Scripture. I especially admire CCJ's treatment of the biblical narratives of Sarah and Hagar. This accounting is helpful in establishing that, not only was the culture of that time partly responsible for Sarah's sense of urgency to give Abraham a son, but that succumbing to the pressure to fulfill that role was to the detriment of the human dignity of other persons - namely, Hagar and her son. Instead of drawing her identity and purpose from God, Sarah fell into the same trap that catches the rest of us. She listened to the voices of her culture, her circumstances, and the people around her who were telling her who she was, what would make her life fulfilling, and how she could contribute (p.80). The story of Hannah is yet another biblical story that does anything but resonate with contemporary concepts of womanhood. Imagine spending years going through infertility treatment, wanting to desperately to have a child to love and adore, finally conceiving only to give that child to another couple to adopt as a pure act of service. This isn't exactly what happened to Hannah, but its close. CCJ notes that what was on Hannah's heart and mind was not merely the need to fulfill her own desire to be a mother, but rather to serve God by giving back to God what was given to her-her son, Samuel. Of course, it's true that all things belong to God, including our children, and that there is a distinct principle that we can draw from Hannah's life about how what we believe about God correlates directly with how we live our lives. From the time she conceives through the period in which she gives up her son, we see a woman who seeks God and unremittingly worships him. Lost Women of the Bible clearly articulates the nature of the cultural mandate - that from the beginning both men and women were both created in the image of God to "rule and subdue together" (p. 159). For women who are lost in the Church, perhaps not fulfilling the expected role of wife and mother because they are single and career-oriented or even pursuing education, this is a breath of fresh air. The examples of Tamar and Esther make perfectly clear that the call to action from God is sometimes without a male counterpart taking the lead, but ultimately dependent upon her obedience to step out in faith. This is a must-read for all of us who hear the call, f