Written with poetic rhythm, a prophetic voice, and a deeply biblical foundation, this loving yet fearless book urges today’s church to move beyond man-made restrictions and fully welcome women’s diverse voices and experiences. A freedom song for the church. Sarah Bessey didn’t ask for Jesus to come in and mess up all her ideas about a woman’s place in the world and in the church. But patriarchy, she came to learn, was not God’s dream for humanity. Bessey engages critically with Scripture in this gentle and provocative love letter to the Church. Written with poetic rhythm, a prophetic voice, and a deeply biblical foundation, this loving yet fearless book urges today’s church to move beyond man-made restrictions and fully welcome women’s diverse voices and experiences. It’s at once a call to find freedom in the fullness, hope, glory, and work of Christ, and a very personal and moving story of how Jesus made a feminist out of her.

Join biblical culturalist Krisi McLelland as she takes you back to Jesus' first-century world, explaining the historical and cultural climate of His day. This 7-session Bible study is a look at several of Jesus' interactions with women.

Kathleen Corley challenges the assumption that Jesus himself fought patriarchal limitations on women. Rather the analysis of his authentic teaching suggests that while Jesus critiques class and slave/free distinctions in his culture, his critique did not extend to unequal gender distinctions.

“The Negroes must have Jesus, Jobs, and Justice,” declared Nannie Helen Burroughs, a nationally known figure among black and white leaders and an architect of the Woman’s Convention of the National Baptist Convention. Burroughs made this statement about the black women’s agenda in 1958, as she anticipated the collapse of Jim Crow segregation and pondered the fate of African Americans. Following more than half a century of organizing and struggling against racism in American society, sexism in the National Baptist Convention, and the racism and paternalism of white women and the Southern Baptist Convention, Burroughs knew that black Americans would need more than religion to survive and to advance socially, economically, and politically. Jesus, jobs, and justice are the threads that weave through two hundred years of black women’s experiences in America. Bettye Collier-Thomas’s groundbreaking book gives us a remarkable account of the religious faith, social and political activism, and extraordinary resilience of black women during the centuries of American growth and change. It shows the beginnings of organized religion in slave communities and how the Bible was a source of inspiration; the enslaved saw in their condition a parallel to the suffering and persecution that Jesus had endured. The author makes clear that while religion has been a guiding force in the lives of most African Americans, for black women it has been essential. As co-creators of churches, women were a central factor in their development. Jesus, Jobs, and Justice explores the ways in which women had to cope with sexism in black churches, as well as racism in mostly white denominations, in their efforts to create missionary societies and form women’s conventions. It also reveals the hidden story of how issues of sex and sexuality have sometimes created tension and divisions within institutions. Black church women created national organizations such as the National Association of Colored Women, the National League of Colored Republican Women, and the National Council of Negro Women. They worked in the interracial movement, in white-led Christian groups such as the YWCA and Church Women United, and in male-dominated organizations such as the NAACP and National Urban League to demand civil rights, equal employment, and educational opportunities, and to protest lynching, segregation, and discrimination. And black women missionaries sacrificed their lives in service to their African sisters whose destiny they believed was tied to theirs. Jesus, Jobs, and Justice restores black women to their rightful place in American and black history and demonstrates their faith in themselves, their race, and their God.

Christology is especially problematic for feminists. Because Jesus was undeniably male and because the Christian church claims him as the unique God-bearer, feminist christology confronts the dual tasks of explaining the significance of a male God-bearer for women and creating a christological model adequate to feminist experience. Jacquelyn Grant rehearses the development and challenges of feminist christology and argues that, because it has reflected the experience of White women predominantly, it fails to speak to the concerns of non-white and non-western women. In response to this failure, Grant proposes a womanist theology and christology that emerge from and are adequate to the reality of contemporary Black women.

Growing up fundamentalist and female-and maturing into a feminist By the age of twelve, Susan Campbell had been flirting with Jesus for some time, and in her mind, Jesus had been flirting back. Why wouldn't he? She went to his house three times a week, sat in his living room, listened to his stories, loudly and lustily sang songs to him. So, one Sunday morning, she walked to the front of her fundamentalist Christian church to profess her love for Jesus and to be baptized. But from the moment her robe floated to the surface of the baptistery water, she began to question her fundamentalist Christian faith. If baptism requires complete immersion underwater, what does it mean, she wondered, if a piece of fabric attached to a would-be Christian floats to the top? Does the baptism still count? In this lovingly told tale, Susan Campbell takes us into the world of fundamentalism-a world where the details really, really matter. And she shows us what happened when she finally came to admit that in her faith, women would never be allowed a seat at the throne.

This stirring book explores Jesus's heart and compassion for every woman—giving them undeniable value and significance. Based on Jesus's encounters with women during the time of his ministry, this tender book uncovers how time and again Jesus went against the traditional conventions of his era by treating women with respect and love, showing the world what a vital role they play. Jesus lived in an era where women were considered property and of little value as significant individuals. But by following Jesus's example, readers will see how women should be cherished and uplifted. Each chapter touches on Jesus's interactions with a specific woman, their conversations, and the gifts he bestows upon her. One tells of the widow who was burying her son, only to have Jesus resurrect him. Another is of the woman who was crippled for eighteen years and how Jesus not only freed her from her physical malady, but freed her spirit as well. But more than a mere retelling of these encounters, this book is a love story—a romance between the Creator of the universe come to earth and the women he came to know. Through these women, we see his love and compassion for every woman, and we watch as he lifts us all out of our ordinariness into the sublime intentions he planned for us since the beginning of time.

In this original digital short, author and co-founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Kathy Keller recounts her experience growing up in “gender-neutral” home. “My first encounter with the ideas of [male] headship and [female] submission,” she writes, “was both intellectually and morally traumatic.” Yet Keller came to adopt the view that men and women have different roles in marriage and ministry, and that fulfilling such roles pleases God and leads to greater personal fulfillment. In this unapologetic but nuanced piece, Keller presents a caring and careful case for biblical gender differences and the complementarian view of women in ministry. At the same time, she encourages women to teach and lead in the church in ways that may startle some complementarians. Readers on both sides of this hot-button topic will be challenged by her ministry-tested and thoroughly Scriptural perspective.

In a Culture of Distortions, Discover God-Defined Womanhood and Beauty In a culture where airbrushed models and career-driven women define beauty and success, it's no wonder we have a distorted view of femininity. Our impossible standards place an incredible burden of stress on the backs of women and girls of all ages, resulting in anxiety, eating disorders, and depression. One question we often forget to ask is this: What is God's design for womanhood? In Girl Defined, sisters and popular bloggers Kristen Clark and Bethany Beal offer women a countercultural view of beauty, femininity, and self-worth. Based firmly in God's design for their lives, this book helps women rethink what true success and beauty look like. It invites them on a liberating journey toward a radically better vision for femininity that ends with the discovery of the kind of hope, purpose, and fulfillment they've been yearning for. Girl Defined helps readers · discover God's design for femininity and his definition of a successful woman · uncover the secrets of lasting worth, purpose, and fulfillment · be equipped and empowered to live out a radically better vision for womanhood · gain personal insight through the chapter-by-chapter study guide

This resource provides a detailed survey and critique of various feminist interpretations of Jesus and offers a biblical view of men and women in the church and home. The feminist movement has affected every aspect of political and social America, and Christians are becoming increasingly aware of how this movement has impacted the church. The feminist movement has changed the way evangelicals view not only themselves, but also the very Word of God. Jesus and the Feminists begins by offering a brief survey of the feminist movement, revealing the radical misunderstanding of Jesus that has resulted from this movement. Köstenberger then critiques the relevant works of well-known feminist scholars and the ways they interpret certain passages of Scripture related to Jesus and his approach to women. This practical resource points the way to a better understanding of the biblical message regarding Jesus' stance toward women and offers both men and women a biblical view of their roles in the church and the home.