In "Is the Bible Good for Women?" Wendy Alsup searches through the Bible and discusses how it reveals God’s good divine design for women. Alsup argues that many feminists attack the Bible by extrapolating half-truths without considering the entire biblical canon, cultural implications, and literary complexities. Thus, she spends the first portion of the book laying out a framework for reading the Bible in a Christ-centered way. In doing so, the author asserts that this method avoids cherry-picking and misusing biblical texts to fit our own sinful preferences. Next, Alsup tackles specific parts of the Bible such as Old Testament Law and New Testament epistles to illustrate how these texts serve to reveal God’s intent for women. For example, she brings up the example of Dinah who was raped and mistreated by the men around her. Alsup argues that the narrative is not prescriptive but descriptive of sinful human hearts that fail to live up to God’s commands. Other texts that she focuses on include the wearing of headdresses and directions against allowing women to teach men publicly. Being a short book that aims to tackle such a massive issue, the greatest weakness of the book lies in not being able to dissect the issues presented in a balanced and comprehensive way. Thus, I find that readers are often left with a brisk stroll through texts without careful analysis and discussion which greatly reduces the strength of the author's arguments. With the vast amount of scholarly work written on biblical gender roles along with thousands of commentaries on the various books of the Bible, the book falls much short of convincing readers to agree with its premise concerning the Bible's positive view of women.

I would recommend this book to those who want a general introduction on feminist claims against the Bible. Alsup is commendable for upholding the authority of the Bible as being the Word of God. Moreover, the author advocates for a Christ-centered approach to reading the Bible which is integral to interpreting and applying scripture to our lives. However, I urge readers to dig deeper into the Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit and His servants who have laboured to seek greater understanding of the different nuances of each text. Regardless of our theological positions, let us remain committed to the Bible as the inspired Word and humbly pray for wisdom to embrace what He commands concerning His will for women and men.

In compliance with Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I received a review copy from The Crown Publishing Group in exchange for a book review.

Blog: https://contemplativereflections.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/book-review-is-the-bible-good-for-women/

Many people, both inside and outside the church, are concerned that an orthodox understanding of the Bible is threatening and even harmful to women. After all, the Bible has a number of passages regarding women that are deeply troubling and hard to read.

But is that assessment accurate?

In this fascinating look at God’s work of redemption from Creation to today, Wendy Alsup explores questions such as:

* How does God view justice and equal rights for women?
* What does it mean to be made in the image of God?
* How have the centuries distorted our interpretation of how God views women?
* How did Jesus approach the Old Testament and how does that help us read difficult passages today?
* What is the difference between a modern view of feminism and the feminism that Scripture models?
* How does the Bible explain the Bible to us?

Using a Jesus-centered understanding to look at both God’s grand storyline and specific biblical passages, Alsup gives practical and accessible tools for understanding the noble ways God speaks to and about women in its pages and the dignity He places on His daughters.


This is an interesting and insightful book.

I agreed with some of what she said, disagreed with other parts, but it all made me think. I already believe that the Bible is good for everyone, so I didn't read this book to become convinced. Which is a good thing, because I don't think it would have if I was skeptical about it. It's not bad, but I didn't follow some of her thought patterns and ideas. Not a negative to her, we are different people, so are bound to see things slightly differently. Our spiritual journeys are also different, so we are probably not in the same place theologically, which is fine. I respect the fact that she wrote a book, that she wrote it about a rather hot-button issue and did so without being anti-man. Kudos to her!

Though I think she awkwardly tap danced around the elephant in the room by only discussing male/female husband/wife relationships. Granted, that was the focus of the book, but by not mentioning anything about that elephant, it was jarring and obvious and I think her way of using the Bible to explain the Bible would have been a really interesting look at that topic. Maybe in a future book? I would definitely read it!

So solid read. I have a lot to think about and chew over, which is a good thing. 3.5 stars, rounded down to a strong, solid 3 stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Some men have used a twisted view of biblical manhood to assume authority they did not have over women. Others have twisted Scripture to lord authority they did legitimately have over others in domineering, harmful ways.

This was perhaps the most notable section of this book, otherwise it is a ‘think of heaven as the ultimate goal and put up with what you’ve got for now’ kind of book in my opinion. I really hoped that Alsup was going to write a book of the truth for women but as usual, it fell short of the goal for me. Alsup takes a good long while looking at what the Old Testament says about the fall of mankind and then slowly works her way up to what she believes the bible is saying about how women should act and behave today.

Alsup begins the book by looking at the first wave of feminism and how it has its roots in the church in its desire to give women a vote and equal rights. She then says that the second wave of feminism is where the church and the cause parted ways. She encourages the reader to look at the baggage of what they currently might interpret the bible says about women and the motive for reading the book before really researching the topic (which one would imagine would include reading her book and agreeing with its conclusions) and getting to grips with the topic from a Jesus-centred understanding of Scripture.

Alsup is good at teaching big theories and concepts with her background as a mathematics teacher. She suggests that if you don’t understand the Bible generally, you won’t understand it specifically about women. She then goes to great length to look at some disturbing areas of the Old Testament. Such as Genesis 34, Deuteronomy 22 and Judges 19, which involve the abuse and rape of women which is often very troubling parts of Scripture to people who don’t have the necessary knowledge of what these stories actually mean. She also takes us through a journey through the whole Bible to see how (in her mind) all things bleed together to form a consistent thread of knowledge and understanding on where women stand with God whilst they are on Earth.


She teaches that women are called helper, which in our modern culture is not seen as a very important role and often is despised by further explaining that the word used in the original language is ezer. God Himself is called our helper, our ezer, the same word used of the first woman in Genesis 2:18…. If we hold in to the dominant cultural attitude that being a helper is a substandard identity, we mock the name of God and His character. This is an interesting part of the book in which the role of women are highlighted and held up high in value.

After spending a great deal of time looking at the narrative throughout the course of the Bible as to the value of and role of women, she then goes into deeper exegesis as to Scriptures and the hope they hold for women. This is when it becomes a whole, ‘think of the blessings later and don’t worry so much about the now’ sort of teaching. It became really frustrating in that she excuses herself from answering questions we may have as not being possible this side of heaven.

Note that we will not resolve all questions in the New Testament pertaining to women. I can’t imagine that is possible this side of heaven! Even questions I am able to answer for myself I may not answer for you. ... But in the end, I will leave you to wrestle with the Spirit in your own study of the Word to draw your personal conclusions and private applications. Perhaps this is where I would encourage readers to get a hold of a copy of “Ten Lies The Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage” by J. Lee Grady as further reading towards understanding what a woman’s role in this world and church is to be.

There are distinctions in the church, particularly relating to the spiritually authoritative role of elder, or overseer, which Paul reserved for men.
Is this passage good for women? We are called again to consider our definition of good here…..

It is important to note that my personal views of church authority structures play into the application here. By conviction, I follow a Presbyterian view of church authority, in which elders are those with spiritual teaching authority, and deacons are those called to serve the needs of the church under the elders’ leadership.

We are taken through some difficult passages in the New Testament that have been misunderstood, miss-interpreted and misused by men and leadership in the church in regards to women. The way each troublesome passage is explained in and of itself is fairly done, but in the end it left me feeling that rather than empowering women, this book tells women to stay in their holding pattern and wait for heaven. I wanted it to be a book that explained how Jesus dealt with it all (the impact of sin on our lives) on the cross and set women free, but just never got that impression from the work. It teaches that women are allowed to be in limited leadership within the church, but still not allowed to gain positions of authority and power. The feeling of disappointment is the overriding sense of this book.

This was a great book. Challenging and thought provoking

What do you do with the women in the Bible such as Tamar, Dinah & the daughter of Jephthah? What about head coverings & women being silent in church? The author does a great job working through each of these stories and answer some why questions. Rather than telling you her answer, she says "the Bible is the best commentary on itself!" and does a nice job guiding you through the Bible.
This book would make a great book for a women small group. There are good discussion question for each chapter in the back of the book.