Tell Her Story is, at its core, a book about influential women in the Bible. Perceived gender roles continue to be argued about in the Western Christian church, often by dissecting so-called prohibitions texts, studying Greek words, and occasionally looking into the cultural context of the passage. Instead of using the popular approach, Gupta tells the stories of the women in the Bible, highlighting their influence, leadership, and necessity in the early Christian church. Instead of arguing about chunks of text taken out of context, Gupta has the most sound argument of all: Women were there, leading the church just like men, put in positions of influence and power, respected and trusted well beyond their cultural context, and were doing all the things they seem to be prohibited from doing: teaching, leading, overseeing, apostle-ing. The book's greatest strength was the depth of cultural context provided, and in many ways changed incorrect preconceived notions I held about Greco-Roman society and the result church. The book's greatest weakness was the tone. Often, books about gender roles written by men have a disappointing tone of trying to be understanding and charitable towards those who holds the opposing belief. As a woman, I find it offensive to be charitable towards anyone who thinks God made women as less than men, that God made us less intelligent or capable, and that God made men to domineer over us. Frankly, those people don't need my charity or Gupta's benefit of the doubt.

I'll end with these words by Gupta himself:
"For too many years, I neglected the stories of such women in the Bible. I am willing to take responsibility for that. I treated the Bible as a man’s world, where women were just supporting characters. I hid them. I hid them from myself, and eventually I hid them from others. But now I realize that God inspired, gifted , and held women responsible for fortifying the life of his people."

Ultimately, anyone who perpetuates an oppressive, unbiblical, patriarchal view of scripture, as Gupta once did, should be apologizing, repenting, and doing everything they can to undo the harm they caused. I assume this book is an attempt at that. However, Gupta should not be trying to tow the line "in good faith" to be palatable towards those perpetuating misogyny. While I found the content interesting, the tone turned me off enough that I wouldn't recommend it to most.

My thoughts:
This book was really well thought out. It has great research throughout. We see internal evidence as well as the use of outside historical evidence. This book is a great introduction to many topics surrounding the Biblical time periods. I appreciate the responses given to the many questions that inevitably come up when discussing these topics. Gupta seems to have begun researching this topic with no clear outcome in mind and because of this the book does not seem forced to prove one side or another.

Who is this for:
This is a great book for anyone looking to learn about obscure women in the Bible, historical contexts of Paul and the Roman Empire, how God used women throughout scripture and more. This book is a great introduction text to many deeper topics.

Questions, Comments, Concerns:
I appreciate the research and hope many find this book useful.

A well-researched book. I especially appreciated the additional resources in addition to scripture, many of which were new to me. A thorough, educational overview of how women were leading in Bible times.

Two weeks later than intended on this very important book by New Testament scholar Nijay Gupta on carefully re-reading the Old and New Testament stories of women in the Bible, especially the epistles and letters in light of contextual considerations. How the literal reading of scripture more confirm our patriarchal heritage and bias then to see historically, women have been involved in all parts of ministry, including leadership. Junia the apostle with Andronicus, Phoebe, entrusted to be letter expounded to the church in Rome, just to name a few. We owe it to ourselves to at least consider the implications brought by the careful reading on these texts.

Gupta brings a welcome perspective into discussions about women in the Bible. While his focus is on women in the early church, after Jesus, he starts with some earlier women for context. I especially liked his discussion of Deborah in Judges. I appreciated Gupta's humility in talking about how his perspectives have changed the more he studied the topic, as well as presenting his conclusions with acknowledgements that they represent his interpretations. His use of historical sources gives insight into what might be the cultural setting for the writings of Paul and others. A book I will want to refer to in the future.

Gupta’s thoughtful re-examining of these stories and his own beliefs about women in church leadership was a welcome breath of fresh air. I got the sense that he felt joy in uncovering and sharing what he’d found. I was impressed with his careful scholarship (so many footnotes and references!) and consequently it does read a bit more like a textbook than consumer non-fiction. Clearly Gupta has done his homework. I think this book is important and I hope it finds many readers.

Loved, loved, loved reading this. So often you'll find books on the topic of women in the Bible that choose their side of the argument and then take it to the extreme. With this book, it really felt like Gupta wants his readers to understand that there has always been, and will always be, more than one layer of context here.

His explanation of the cultural context in both Judaic AND Roman settings paints an even clearer picture of the way that women in the Bible would be important players.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone that's looking for a good deep dive into women in Christianity.

(4.25/5 stars) I loved this read! I found it so refreshing (after growing up in a church culture where women aren't allowed to lead, or are named "directors" when they're serving in pastoral roles) to see how Jesus, Paul, and even Old Testament Israel platformed women and did not hinder them from fulfilling the roles to which God had called them. Gupta does not shy away from the fact that in the times when the Bible was written, patriarchy was common and men were often serving as leaders/householders/etc. However, women were not disallowed from serving in those positions, as Gupta states: "It is one thing to acknowledge that men commonly held these positions and another thing to take this as excluding women." I found myself highlighting whole pages of text! This book is well-researched, insightful, and easy to read without sacrificing the scholarship on which it is based. Certainly would recommend!

An excellent look at women in the early church in the historical setting of that time period. Women played important roles in the church from the very beginning and we need to learn from them and be encouraged to continue to follow their example. I appreciate the deep dive into this topic.

This book is an in-depth overview of women in the Bible and verses about "commands" for women in the Bible, discussing the meaning and implications of each view. It is rather academic but also accessible. I overall enjoyed the variety of opinions that were shared, and the way it factored in the understandings of early church fathers and the early church of these passages and the original Greek. My one complaint (or preference) is all of the annotations appeared after each paragraph rather at the end of the chapter.

There are plenty of books that examine the lives of historical women in Scripture as a whole, and there are also plenty of books interacting with Scripture on a theological level with regard to the question of women in the Church. The downside of the former approach is that it's literally thousands of years of historical/cultural ground to cover. The downside of the latter approach is that if one is not careful, it can come across as if the issue of women in the Church is merely a theoretical issue, one solved like a game of theological chess. What struck me about Nijay Gupta's new book, Tell Her Story, is how specific it is. As a writer or teacher it is tempting to say everything that could possibly be said about any angle of a subject, but Gupta exercises admirable constraint so that he can tell the historical tale of women in the New Testament well. And it is primarily historical rather than theological: although he treats Genesis 1-3 early on, and passages such as 1 Timothy 2 in his appendix, this book is almost entirely about the lives of those women of the New Testament that tend to be overlooked.

With that said, his first couple of chapters are about Deborah and Genesis 1-3 so that he can establish a brief portrait of the Judaic context which the New Testament purports to fulfill. If, for example, one reads Genesis 1-3 as establishing a divinely ordained subordination of women to men, then one will necessarily read stories of female leaders in the early Church as somehow at odds with God's will. Women such as Junia get transformed into men (Junius) by translators because of the theological conviction that a woman simply could not have been "among the apostles." Yet if Genesis 1-3 instead portrays female subordination as a result of the fall rather than of creation, it becomes an entirely different situation; the mutuality of men and women serving in the early Church is a symptom of humanity's redemption rather than its corruption.

From there Gupta gives a glimpse of the Greco-Roman world of the NT and then goes through the women we meet in the Gospels and Acts. What I personally found most interesting, though, was his attention to the smallest details in Paul's letters. He spends the most amount of time on Romans 16, considering the ratio and ordering of men and women in the chapter as well as what implications can be deduced. A good example of this attention to detail is this:

The most common commendation Paul gives is for their "hard work" on behalf of the the [sic] Lord. Paul doesn't make explicit what this work is. But it is unlikely that he had in mind household work. Why? You have to ask yourself, How does Paul know these ten women? Keep in mind, he says to the Romans that he had not visited them before, so Paul did not meet the people he greeted in Rome. So where did he meet them? How exactly does he know so much about them? He could have met them anywhere they traveled for ministry, as he did with his friends Priscilla and Aquila, but travel many of them did and that tells us something about their independence and mobility.

Much of the book is like this: taking a fine-toothed comb to those passages and meditating on them long enough that they begin to reveal more. It's worth noticing that Gupta's conclusion in that paragraph is that these women must have been active in ministry because Paul knew them, and that this is technically speculation. Yet it's also a good question: Why did Paul know these women so well that he could call them his "coworkers" or "those women who work hard in the Lord"? I do not tend to be a detail-oriented person, and yet it's exactly this kind of focus on the details that really matters in biblical study.

Though it's tacked on as an appendix, I also found his treatment of 1 Timothy 2 very much worth reading. He brought up a point that I had never considered before:

First, we can say that if women not teaching men is a universal apostolic mandate, then why does Paul present it to his close friend and longtime ministry associate Timothy as if it is new information? Paul would merely need to say, "Timothy, you know what we teach about women; enforce that here as well."

Whatever you think of that argument, I love that it treats Paul and Timothy not as theology robots who only ever speak in divine propositions, but as human beings who knew one another, who had shared life and context and understanding, who cared about one another. Paul was writing to Timothy out of a sincere desire to help him put out the pastoral fires he was fighting; the letter isn't just some kind of random theological pronouncement about matters unrelated to Timothy's churchly situation. And if all that is the case, then we must read it as such.

Tell Her Story is, in many ways, an extended meditation on Romans 16 with some extra frills. There were times when I found myself wishing to hear more exposition on other passages relevant to women in ministry, but at the end of the day it's good to focus in on one passage like this and give it its due. I would recommend the book to those who feel sympathetic to women in ministry and yet feel some degree of hesitation. It's a good thing to be willing to submit to Scripture even if it teaches something you don't like, but it's a joyful thing to discover that Scripture itself presents the stories of many competent, godly women leading and ministering and working in the Church.

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of a fair, unbiased review.

5 stars = Outstanding!

This was fantastic - scholarly and relatable. I heard the author speak on this material a couple years ago, so I was eager to dig into this new book. Fascinating look at history and context as well as the Biblical text. I think this could be used as a text book, but it's not too academic to keep it from equal use as a Bible study/personal study. I think this would make for a fascinating book group option. Highly recommend!

In my honest opinion, this is an interesting but very dry read. I was expecting a a book that went into greater depth of discussing each of the women in the Bible. Instead, it goes into great detail about the history of Rome and other areas in the Old Testament and the New Testament to describe the culture and how women fit into that culture. The first chapter on Deborah was very interesting, and I wish the book continued in that manner. The author focused on many words and then discussed their Greek meaning and how it translates. If you’re looking for a book that goes into detail on Roman history, and discusses the intricacies of daily life, and how women were perceived, and broke the molds, then this is a book for you. If you’re looking for a book that goes into depth about each of the women of the Old and New Testament and how they were instrumental in the message, this book will not meet your needs. Unfortunately, I was in the latter group. Truthfully, many women in the Bible do not have much written about them so the author goes back in to history, and dissects words and the cultural and political norms to explain how these women have a larger role than one might think at a quick glance. I can respect the hard work that Gupta did, however, I just had a hard time getting through this book is it that the content is pretty dry.

I wasn’t expecting the book to read as an academic text, I but appreciated how well organized and cited the passages were. This is the first time I thought about the women who were traveling alongside the disciples and may have been disciples themselves. Nijay lays out stories of women like Deborah that helped me to see them in new light. This would be a fantastic companion to Bible studies or expanding Biblical knowledge.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to the book pre-publishing. Thoughts and reviews are all my own.

Book Review 🗣️

One of the BEST books I’ve read on women in leadership in the Bible that does not relegate them to sidebar characters or as unimportant because of the men around them.

@nijay.gupta shows us their importance and their place as women in leadership so that women today can also accept when they are called to leadership. I appreciate that Nijay addresses both Old Testament and New Testament women in leadership.

Oh and a plus? @bethallisonbarr wrote the foreword 👏🏽👊🏽

I don’t want to give away too much. However I implore you to run to get your copy when it releases tomorrow.

#ivp #books #bookstagram #bookworm #women #womeninleadership

Like many Christians my age, in recent years I have found myself trying to untangle what’s biblical and what’s cultural about my faith. Unsurprisingly, women in church has loomed quite large in my mind (especially as a woman who has worked for and taught [women] in a conservative church). I am thankful to live in a time where I have access to a wide range of scholars and fellow believers’ thoughts on the subject.

Gupta does an excellent job providing (well-researched, well-cited) context for much of what was happening culturally in the early church and how that may have influenced the fledgling faith. While I was most interested in the last two chapters of the book dealing with the so-called prohibitive Pauline texts and household codes, I am glad Gupta puts those at the end as the earlier chapters provide a necessary foundation.

One other reviewer noted that this text is unlikely to change the mind of many conservatives, and I believe they’re right. However, I think most readers would benefit from understanding the wider cultural context and history. “Tell Her Story” provides perspective from a faithful believer who arrives at a different conclusion and I think differing conclusions are beneficial for us to engage with.

So, you should read this book. Gupta is a masterful writer with a lot of compassion for the “conservative” view. Even if you don’t end up agreeing with him, you will be the wiser and better able to engage those who disagree with you for having read “Tell Her Story.”

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is one that I immediately ordered for myself to further study and mark up. The introduction alone is inspiring: "And I began to see women that were there all along but whom I hadn't paid much attention to ... I was not taught their importance in my early years, but I know better now. And now more than ever, their presence and work deserve our attention, our thorough examination, and also our admiration." It's heavy and takes some time to move through, but it's good stuff!

I really enjoyed Tell Her Story by Nijay K. Gupta. It's more of an academic read that I expected going in, but I still think it's approachable for anyone. Definitely a lot of food for thought in going back to see these Biblical references with more in depth cultural context into the lives of women at this time (both in the Jewish traditional and in Greek/Roman life). I appreciated the stripping away of some of the added nuance of English translations that tip in favor of discrediting the contributions of women in the early church.

As a male Christian and ordained minister, I am so glad for this book on how the Christian Scriptures testify to how and where women have, in Biblical history, led, taught, prophesied, and ministered. This book is important because sadly, in some areas of the Church, this remains a contentious issue with many shrill voices that often add more heat than light. Gupta, a New Testament Professor with a PhD from the University of Durham, is a credible and irenic guide through this study. I understand that Gupta personally moved to fully supporting women in ministry after careful biblical study and wide reading on the subject. In this book he sets the scene by looking at the life and example of Deborah in the Book of Judges and then takes the reader through a careful examination of Genesis 1-3. The book then works through the historical world of women in the New Testament era and the role of women in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Gupta in detail, then shines the light on women or ministered in the early church - Phoebe, Prisca and Junia. The final part of the book is focused on addressing the difficult scriptures in Paul's prohibitions and the household codes. Gupta's position is extremely well presented, meticulously footnotes, and beautifully written. I will personally use this book in preparing message series and encouraging women ministers and as a referral resource to recommend those who are wanting clarity on the role of women in ministry. Thos is a book that needs to be read by every minister who takes the Bible seriously. I also recommend it to every student and church leader. I recommend it to women who have been knocked down or hurt by less than Christlike attitudes and policies in churches.

So often we paint our own flawed perceptions about the past onto the Bible when really, we do not have a complete understanding. Tell Her Story contextualizes the mentions of women in both Old and New Testaments in their places in history and serves as a basic building block to understand what the world was like for women both culturally and in the early church. The author takes many preconceived notions about what men and women may and may not do in ministry and points out the women noted in scripture for in fact, doing those things.

The author digs into how the contemporary culture of the time would have viewed women and how the church sometimes did not align with that. Women found a great freedom and even leadership opportunities in the early church. The book also digs into the Biblical text, looking at word choice and meaning of the Greek and Hebrew. I really appreciated how the author would expand upon the one-line mentions of women in the gospels and Paul’s letters such as Damaris or Lydia and extrapolates what we can understand about who they were and what their impact was in both the early church and their inclusion in the Bible by the writers.

The sections that I loved, however, were the portions on Luke and how interested his gospel is in the lives of women and Jesus’s interactions with women, and the section on Junia and so many facets around her controversy and things I had never considered before!

While not as impactful as other books I have read concerning women’s roles in the church (I think of The Making of Biblical Womanhood) I think Tell Her Story is a great starting point for those interested in history and the early church as well as a great refresher to really see the women that we far too often skip over in our studies of scripture.