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INTRODUCTION 

  

 
 
When I was a child, it seemed to me that whenever Bible stories were discussed or retold the focus always seemed to be on the men in the stories - what they did, what they said, what they felt. Women seemed to be left out of the picture, ignored, or worse still presented as stereotypes, as if all of them had been saints, whores, or invisible. 

Now that I know a little more about the Bible, I understand why this happened. The stories were edited and studied by men, and therefore dealt with matters important to them.


         

                          
 

 

 
 


But half the world's population at any one time is female. This was so in biblical times, as it is now. So why did the biblical world feel as if it was inhabited mainly by men? 

The answer is mainly that that was the focus we brought to it. If you actually look, there are many, many stories in the Bible about women, but they are rarely read or talked about, even though they have women characters who are fascinating, strong, beautiful, courageous – at least as interesting as the men!

This website attempts to shift that focus by looking at the stories of a range of women in the Bible, and asking

     Who were these women?
     What were their stories?
     What did they think, do, and feel?

It does not ignore the male characters -they were as much a part of God’s story as the women were. But it brings the women characters, especially the lesser known ones, into the spotlight, so that there is a fuller coverage of the human experience of God in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.

Their stories are wonderful. Though they happened thousands of years ago they are still relevant today, because they deal with universal themes relevant to anybody, in any time. There are stories of passion, rage, jealousy, loyalty, happiness, and grief; describing human events such as childbirth, death, battles, and migrations. 
There are women from every social level: queens and peasant girls, slaves and princesses, saints and sinners. Taken together, the stories cover all of human experience.

Each story comes as a plot outline and we, the listeners/readers, are expected to fill in the details. Imagine an outline for some famous book or film, distilling the complex story into just a few short sentences. This is what the Bible does. Ancient storytellers would fill in the details by adding background information, characterizations, jokes, and actions - as any good entertainer does. These were stories that cried out for improvisation, and there was scope for this because there were very few straightforward heroes or villains - they were about human beings as they really are, not as they would like to see themselves.

  
  Slave girls and queens.....    
 

   
   

Because of the brevity of each story, and because they had a timeless quality, people over the centuries added layer upon layer of interpretation to the bare bones of the stories.

These layers contained the opinions and values of the society that produced them, in whatever century. In the 19th century Mary of Nazareth was interpreted as a gentle, submissive woman, mirroring 19th century ideals of what a good woman should be. 

But if you read the stories about Mary with fresh eyes, you might decide that she was decisive, forthright, even bossy - a typical Jewish mother! So as you look at the stories today, be careful that those layers produced by other generations in other centuries do not cloud the essential story. If this happens, the Bible loses its energy and relevance.

   
  Approach the stories as if you were hearing them for the first time, seeing the people in them, particularly the women, in the light of your own experience of life and of God. Draw on the wisdom of past interpretations, but do not let these interpretations cloud your present vision.

Above all, do not fall prey to deadening piety. Sometimes when I see those reverent Church arrangements of Bible, candles and draped cloth, I am reminded of stuffed birds under a glass dome - little bodies protected from damage but no longer living and vital. You can do the same to the Bible by treating it with such care and reverence that the life is drained out of it. These are lively stories about robust people searching for God, and we must be just as robust in our own search. Ask questions, argue back, and don't be content until you have nutted out an answer for yourself. This is the way to God. 		   
 

A 19th century image of Mary of Nazareth

    
 


HOW TO USE THIS WEBSITE

Always use this website in conjunction with a copy of the Bible. Work from the biblical text itself, not from your own memory or from secondary sources which may be biased or sentimentalized.  
Read the story, and then look for clues as to why the people acted as they did. Think of yourself as a detective, trying to unravel the intricacies of a past event. 

   
 

AS YOU READ THE TEXT, ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1. What is the story about? What are the most dramatic moments in the story? Why do these particular moments appeal to me?

2. Who are the characters in the story, and how do they behave? For example, who speaks and who listens? Who acts? Who is the powerful member of the group? Who gets what they want? If you were in the story, which person would you want to be friends with? Which person would you want to avoid?

3. How is God portrayed in the story? What is God's interaction with the main characters? What does this tell you about the narrator's image of God? Do you agree with this image?

4. What is the social and historical background of the story? Given their context, do the characters in the story behave in a reasonable way?

5. What is happening on either side of the story, in the chapters before and after it? Does this provide clues for understanding what is happening?

6. The narrator/editor has chosen to tell some things and leave other things out. What may have been left out of the story? Why would this be?

7. Are there elements of the story that still happen to-day? Are the characteristics and actions of the people in the story still present in the world? How might the story be relevant to modern life?

    
 

  The Women at the Tomb of Jesus - witnesses to the Resurrection