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Book Reviews

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13 minsread

The Yellow Wallpaper: Reflecting on Aimee Byrd’s Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

 by Bree Mills | November 01, 2020 This article originally appeared in Priscilla Papers, CBE International's academic journal, on November 1, 2020. It is re-printed with permission. After reading the introduction to Aimee Byrd’s Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood,1 I admit I put her book down to go and read The Yellow Wallpaper, a book that sparked Byrd’s thinking and prompted her to write. Only then did I return to reading Byrd's book. The Yellow Wallpaper is a profoundly disturbing novella by American social reformer and feminist, Charlotte Perkins Gilman,...

5 minsread

The Gospel According to Eve

The Gospel According to Eve:  A History of Women’s InterpretationIVP Academic (29 October 2019) by Amanda Benckhuysen                   Reviewed by Barbara Deutschmann We often hear that the push for women’s inclusion in all aspects of church ministry is a response to modern “feminism”. This book puts paid to that notion. Amanda Benckhuysen has researched the many women from the Middle Ages to the present day who found in the first few chapters of Genesis inspiration and resources for countering patriarchy. They had...

1 minread

How I Changed My Mind About Women in Leadership

How I Changed My Mind About Women in Leadershipby Alan F JohnsonZondervan Academic 2010 Alan F. Johnson's compilation of narratives entitled How I Changed My Mind About Women in Leadership: Compelling Stories from Prominent Evangelicals is a particularly fresh, honest, and persuasive resource in the growing collection of books on gender equality and women in leadership. The recognizable evangelicals in this book speak humbly and clearly about how their theological convictions and understanding of Scripture, with reference to women in leadership, were...

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Book Review: What the Bible Actually Teaches on Women

What the Bible Actually Teaches on WomenKevin Giles, Cascade, 2018 Kevin Giles delights in Australia and its ideal of being an egalitarian nation. This ideal is not always present and for Kevin the subordination of women, as taught in certain Christian communities in Australia, is one such exception.  A deeply offensive one. The teaching of the subordination of women upsets Kevin Giles deeply. He has advocated for equality between men and women for over 40 years. He has preached, spoken at conferences...

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Book Review: The Blue Parakeet

by Scot McKnightZondervan, 2018 Scot McKnight's wife Kris refers to his latest book, The Blue Parakeet, as “one of his readable ones.” The book is, in fact, one of his most readable, which is most fortunate given the importance of the subject matter. Although Scot McKnight is something of an avid birder, the book's title is really only a metaphor, not a literal description of the subject at hand. For that, the books subtitle, “Rethinking How You Read the Bible” sums it...

1 minread

Book Review: Half the Sky

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D Kristof & Sheryl WuDunnKnopf (2009) By Irshad Manji (The New York Times), Sept. 17, 2009 An ancient Chinese proverb goes that women hold up half the sky. Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn want that to be appreciated — on the ground. In the opening pages of this gripping call to conscience, the husband-and-wife team come out swinging: “Gendercide,” the daily slaughter of girls in the developing world, steals more...

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Book review: “Women, Leadership & the Church”

"Women, Leadership & the Church" Jim Reiher (Acorn Press 2006) The Appellate Tribunal has removed the barriers to the ordination of women as diocesan bishops – but, if we are to believe Archbishop Peter Jensen, many evangelical Christians in Sydney are disappointed. Should they be? Are Australian Anglicans departing from Scripture's teaching on authority in the church? Well, Jim Reiher has done a great job and given us a concise (121 pages), easily readable exploration of the Scriptures and what they...