Bad Girls Of The Bible: Exploring Women Of Questionable Virtue [Paperback]

Barbara Essex has written a series of studies examining Bible characters, with all their flaws and strengths. This sequel to her popular Bad Girls of the Bible: Exploring Women of Questionable Virtue (United Church Press, 1999), presents fourteen women from the Hebrew scriptures and New Testament who, often unconventionally and silently, found ways to overcome social limitations and make a difference within their communities. None is a true villain; Essex calls them bad simply to show their humanity, their courage and outrageousness, and the patriarchal constraints they had to break through. She believes these women can inspire and teach us valuable lessons. With humor and simplicity, Essex discusses each woman using a historical-critical approach with reference to feminist and womanist interpretations. Each chapter assigns a text for reading, reproduces a focal text, and provides questions for reflection. The women featured are Hagar, Shiprah and Puah, Miriam, Zipporah, Bathsheba, Rizpah, and Huldah, all from the Hebrew scriptures, and the crippled woman, the Syrophenician woman, Martha and Mary, the Samaritan woman at the well, and Mary Magdalene from the New Testament. A final chapter gives ideas on teaching and preaching to today's women; ideas include constructing a Facebook page for the woman at the well or describing a family counseling session featuring Dr. Phil, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. There are suggestions for group and individual study, and the book ends with a list of print and online resources. Appropriate for church libraries and for women's study groups. --CSLA Media Reviews