Christian Distinctives--

Women in the Heart of God

[Aug03/2004: I printed all 368 pages into one big PDF file (1 MB)--formated for duplex printing, also--in case anyone wanted to download it to read off-line: female_all.pdf.]

1. Introduction

2. Overview--A Survey of Misconceptions, Objections, Pushbacks

3. Women in the Old Testament

   1. The Pre-Monarchy Period (Gen - 1st Samuel 7)

      1. The historical data in the narratives;

      2. The legal data from the Law of Moses;

      3. The literary data of the biblical text itself.

   2. The United Monarchy (I Sam 8-I kgs 12; "Leisure Lit")

      1. The historical data in the narratives;

      2. The literary data in the narrative literature;

      3. The "portrayal" data in the "leisure" literature.

   3. The Divided Monarchy

      1. The data in the historical narratives ;

      2. The data in the prophetic literature .

   4. The Exilic/Post-Exilic Community

4. Women in The NT and Early Church

   1. In the life and ministry of Jesus

   2. In the historical literature of the Apostolic circle.

   3. Women's roles in the early church.

   4. Paul and Women.

5. Concluding Remarks

Suggested reading

• Feminism and the Bible, Mardi Keyes, IVP: 1995. [This small booklet is the best thing I have read on this subject! Outstanding work...I recommend it to all thoughtful folk.]

• Apology to Women: Christian Images of the Female Sex, Ann Brown,IVP: 1991. (The best book I have seen on this subject.)

• Woman in the Bible by Mary J. Evans, IVP:1983.

• A Dictionary of Women in Church History, Mary L. Hammack, Moody:1984. [Incredible book--lists snapshot bios of outstanding extra-biblical women, by period: Ancient Church History (ad 33-590, 47 entries), Medieval (ad 590-1500, 50 entries), Reformation (ad 1500-1650, 70 entries), Expansion and Denominationalism (ad 1650-1800, 80 entries), Revivals, Missions, Further Expansion (ad 1800-present, 580 entries).]

• Essays on Women in Earliest Christianity, volume 1, Carroll Osburn (eds), College Press: 1993.

The Christian ThinkTank...[http://www.Christianthinktank.com] (Reference Abbreviations)