Woman in the Bible: An Overview of All the Crucial Passages on Women's Roles

"Woman in the Bible" provides further evidence of the inherent equality between the sexes portrayed within Scripture. Written by a lecturer in biblical studies at London Bible College (at the time of its publication), this is a careful, somewhat technical exegesis of relevant Old and New Testament passages. Evans discusses the cultural background out of which the Old Testament was written, as well as examines the doctrinal teaching of the New Testament and the practice of Jesus and the early church. Among other things, Evans concludes that women were not excluded from any involvement in the early church, and when they did have leadership, it was of the same kind as male leadership. The book presumes some prior familiarity with biblical feminism. Evans' interpretation affirms the authority of Scripture in all aspects and reveals the truly revolutionary changes the Gospel brought for women and men. Due to the close type, this book is hard to read. Still, the outline format is clear and the reader gets a wealth of information from an evangelical perspective. (This review was previously published in "Daughters of Sarah" May/June 1986.)