In 2010, Rachel Held Evans decided that for a whole year, she would attempt to obey all the commands given to women in the Bible. Her long-suffering husband, Dan, played along. As a result, amongst the other crazy things she did, Rachel didn’t cut her hair for a year, learned to cook, made her own (purple) dress, camped outside “at the worst time of the month,” cared for a computerized baby and sat at her city gates with a sign saying “Dan is awesome!” Her book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master”
- Laugh-out-loud funny: Maybe it’s my warped British sense of humor, but there are few books that cause me to chuckle aloud. I mostly read the book in bed in the evenings and I’d periodically have to nudge Tony, (waking him in the process) to say, “You’ve got to hear this!” and we’d both laugh together at her wit and humor and the ridiculousness of what she did .
- Serious: Rachel examines at the good, the bad and the ugly of what the Bible says about women in a thought-provoking way, sharing the wisdom and insights she gained. It might have been tempting for her to dismiss a number of topics as being culturally applicable only to Biblical times, but each subject is researched for the principles involved, and how they can be applied today.
- Vulnerable: The subject matter is tackled in a disarming and compelling fashion. As Rachel shares her candid reaction to what is going on, she draws you in on her emotional journey too.
- Challenging: The book challenges us to rethink our what the passages about women in the Bible really mean.
Not just highly entertaining, this book is a thought-provoking look at a topic that’s gaining traction across the church spectrum–the role of women in the Kingdom of God.
5 replies on “A Year of Biblical Womanhood”
I completely agree, I recommend this book to anyone in or out of the church.
I think not-yet-believers would enjoy this book too.
Yea I don’t even believe Jesus himself would even try that.
This book had me in fits of laughter. Rachel is a great writer, so easy to relate to, and with a solid underlying message.
Agreed! I loved this book. Funny, but with a serious message. One of my next books to read is Sarah Bessey’s book, “Jesus Feminist.” The tag line is “Exploring God’s Radical Notion That Women Are People Too.”