In Jesus and Women, Niamh Middleton combines insights from evolutionary biology, feminism and the #MeToo movement to highlight the revolutionary attitude of Jesus towards women. Her careful exegesis, comparing the treatment and depiction of women in the Old and New Testaments, illuminates the way forward for the treatment of women by Church and society. More importantly, however, it holds the potential to greatly enrich our understanding of Jesus' divinity. Middleton's bold approach encourages Christian women to reclaim their religion as a tool for empowerment, correcting the regressive course that Christianity has taken in this regard since Roman times. She also cites the remarkable life and untimely death of Western heroine Diana, Princess of Wales as an archetypal example of why Christianity must be reclaimed by its female members. Above all, she powerfully argues that while political feminism can tackle the symptoms of the perennial 'battle of the sexes', only a revolution of grace can bring about a full restoration of the harmony between the sexes described in Genesis.
I have to say this book wasn't what I truly expected it to be. I struggled to get through this book as I wasn't comprehending what the message was that the Author was trying to get out.
I will say that there were some things that I did get out of this book and the main thing being the Comparing of the Old and New Testaments in the way Women were treated in the Bible. The Old Testament Patrichial Ways and the New Testament of Jesus Interacting with the Women were completely different. Also, the way the Author discusses the Church's History of Treatment of Women was an extremely interesting viewpoint. The BIG thing that was a disappointment in this book was that the Author included Evolution as a reason for the Patrichial ways in the Old Testament. She highly discusses Darwin in this book and discusses it as FACTUAL. I don't believe this discussion was necessary for this book and many Christians don't believe in Evolution.
I, unfortunately, cannot recommend this book to Christians for the reason of how highly the Author discussed Evolution and discussed it as FACTS. I do believe there is an audience who would agree with the way this book was written, but that would not be me.
Dr. Niamh M. Middleton is a former primary school teacher turned theology and philosophy lecturer. Her research interests are the religion/science controversies and the creation/evolution debate. She is the author of Jesus and Women: Beyond Feminism (Lutterworth Press). For more information visit niamhmiddletonauthor.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment