*An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Full disclosure- I grew up in the fundamentalist homeschool movement. K-12. My parents weren't strictly fundamentalist, more like cultural conservatives looking for community that would vote right and talk anti-establishment with them, but I still spent almost all of my social capital in fundamentalist Christian homeschool circles. I knew a frightening amount of the folks mentioned in this book personally and that was an uncomfortable experience. It's always a great day to find out one of the writers of your literature arts curriculum is a sexual predator.

This book looks at the women who singlehandedly stood up to authority and exposed the abuse and deceit running rampant behind the scenes of these fundamentalist movements. From Homeschool Anonymous to all the folks who left SBC before Beth Moore, Stankorb does a great job chronicling and outlining how the movement went from grass roots to iconic enough for a Netflix docuseries.

I found it really hard to stay interested in this book and ultimately DNF'd it. It's a topic I've read a decent amount about before, and I just didn't find any of this new or groundbreaking.

Wow. I grew up in an evangelical family, was homeschool, and exposed to many of the ideologies discussed in this book. While my own experience was vastly different to so many of the stories found in this book, I readily identified with every one of them. I could see how close I came to being them and how many of my friends have lived those stories. This book is excellently written and researched. Stankorb deftly weaves the web between all of these women’s stories, the ideologies that caused them, and her own experience of faith and deconstruction. She is honest, empathetic, and keeps aware of her reader. As a deconstructed evangelical who still believes in the God, I found that Stankorb balanced calling out wrongdoing while not condemning faith overall. It is clear that there are specific thought groups in the evangelical church that are evil, but that religion itself is not the problem. Overall, I am grateful for this book.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC. Book was adequate, I found it to be choppy in parts and although this is a topic I have read a lot about I find myself losing interest.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A fascinating read about the evils that are happening to girls and women in the name of God. I found this book to be hard to stomach at time due to my own SA (not chuch or religion related), but it's an important book that allows woman know they are not alone and it's not their fault.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This was a heart breaking and eye opening read on the role churches play also in society in the form of abuse of their members. The book is a conversation started of what happens when the people you trust to grow your faith become the cripplers of your faith. The book also tackled the homeschool movement and it was terrifying. I was sobbing for dear life when I read about the quivers and how childbirth almost destroyed a woman because of religion. The author did a wonderful job of research and investigating, Kudos to her for giving a voice to victims and it was heartbreaking that people have left their faith because of what happened to them.

What a book! Sarah has obviously done a lot of work to seek out these stories, fact-check and follow up with all parties. This collection of essays/reporting articles, spanning a wide base within the evangelical movements, from Bill Gothard, to Southern Baptist Churches, to Vision Forum, quiverfull movement, and many more independent churches, and families, she brings exposure to so much of the corruption, of keeping the abuse hidden and “in house”.

She ends the book with this phrase: “Disobedience is not wrong when you defy those doing harm. It might be the thing that saves the rest of us in the end.”

It is such an excellent way to summarize all of this. Us, women who leave the abuse of the white christian system, are labelled as fallen, jezebels, disobedient, won over by satan, or that we never truly knew the truth of Jesus. Yet we left to save ourselves, to save our children. I left because I saw it not working, leaving me with C-PTSD, depression, nearly ended my life. I left it, and paid the cost in (loosing family, friends, job, education) so that my children don’t have to grow up with this. So they don’t have to pay the cost.

As someone who escaped all this in my late 30s, and have connected with others and read extensively, none of this was new to me. It’s a good resource for those who are curious about it all, and want to know more.

Disobedient Women, by Sarah Stankorb, was an enlightening read on the topic of sexual abuse with churches and parachurch organizations. After reading the entire book, my heart was very heavy. The amount of abuse and atrocities committed against women (and some men) throughout the ages, by the very entities they should be able to trust and depend on, is disheartening. I read this book after recently watching Shiny Happy People and the Hillsong documentary, so I have been pretty enmeshed on the topic of sexual abuse and how rampant it is in our churches and with those in authority in churches. I am also a mom who homeschooled her children, and reading on some of the "homeschool movement" entities and the abuse committed or perpetrated by these groups, was horrifying. Thankfully, we did not get mixed up in the Bill Gothard saga, but we did have some exposures to the Vision Forum products and others.

Ms. Stankorb did a wonderful job being thorough in her research of these many entities she investigated, although it is not complete and I doubt any one person could make a totally complete picture of all types of church abuse. Some denominational abuse stories that have been rampant in the news over the years, were missing from this book. However, it was very thorough on the topics that were included. Many victims had opportunity to have their voices heard. Their stories are so very sad and very convoluted, as some have left the faith, others have found new aspects of their faith in which they can be in a safe environment and loved unconditionally by others, and others are still seeking for closure and healing. Some descriptions of abuse were very explicit, so caution is advised for victims of sexual abuse.

Thank you to Worthy Publishers, Sarah Stankorb, and Net Galley for the complimentary copy of this book that I received. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Parts of the white Christian church in America are being forced to wake up to the prevalence of sexual assault and abuse among their church leadership teams. Sarah Stankorb tells the stories of some of the most visible and vocal (mostly white) women and non-binary people who've refused to stay silent about gender-based violence in white evangelicalism. Throughout the book, she also weaves her personal experiences of feeling unsafe at home and at church.

This is a strong addition to the cultural conversation happening around the question, "What's gone wrong in white American Christianity?" I found the shifts between personal narrative and others' stories disjointed at times, and there were some inconsistencies in language that an editor could (and hopefully will) fix. And I would have appreciated Stankorb acknowledging the limited scope of her material. She wrote almost exclusively about white evangelicalism, but never stated that focus explicitly. Given the current rise of white Christian Nationalism, such an acknowledgement would have bolstered the book's relevance and usefulness. I did *really* appreciate the author including stories of LGBTQIA+ individuals and honoring their desired pronouns and language without apologizing for it.

All in all, this book deserves a spot on the reading lists of those of us who care about transforming the institutional structures of white American churches to create safer communities for the most vulnerable among us.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-copy for review.
3.5 stars

Sarah’s writing is insightful, inspiring, and shows us how to sit in the pain to find a better way. Abuse in the church is a difficult topic, filled with coverups, bro clubs, and conflicts of interest that tone police, silence and discard women. Instead of witch burnings and scarlet letters, Twitter theobros vilify “Jezebels,” supposedly trying to bring alleged good men down.

Sarah centers women who are survivors. She lets them be our teachers to see the patterns, and lead us out of the darkness by shining a light on the dangerous wolves lurking. Sarah has a way with words. I had so many “a-ha” moments. This book is going to give many eyes to see, and a path forward. I highly recommend this to anyone in or outside the church.

"When girls are taught 'Biblical womanhood' equates with purity and submission, they are trained to feel responsible for protecting men from their allegedly God-ordained sexual appetites—dress modestly, avoid front-to-front hugs, vow virginity until marriage—but also obliged to yield to authority figures: their pastors, fathers, men. Through one lens, they are delicate, precious. But through another, easy prey." (loc. 870*)

For decades, the Southern Baptist Convention has been a conservative stronghold in the US, holding firm to a patriarchal view of religion. Think purity culture, think fighting against marriage equality, think forbidding women to preach. And think sexual abuse: for decades, the SBC covered up abuse by leaders and more generally men in the church, blamed women (and girls) for men's crimes, and told survivors over and over again that their voices were not to be heard.

Not all women listened. And it's that story that Stankorb documents in "Disobedient Women": sometimes it started with a blog post, and sometimes with a tweet, but over the years a growing number of decided that it was time for something to change. They started sharing their stories, swapping information, and building databases of the men the church had, again and again, protected from the consequences of their crimes.

If you're familiar with the IBLP (think: the Duggar family, Bill Gothard, and the recent docuseries Shiny Happy People) and the way it has contributed to change in the American religious landscape, a lot of this will feel familiar. Stankorb did not grow up directly in it, but she felt the reverberations in her own upbringing, and her research is meticulous. This is not a book about religion or faith—it's about one of the ways that religion has been used to mask grabs for power and to abuse those with less power. I'm fascinated by the points Stankorb makes about blogs and social media doing things that traditional journalism could not:

"Wartburg Watch covered the extreme theologies of popular pastors and broke abuse cases journalists couldn't touch. It is immensely difficult for journalists to get editorial approval on a story about sex abuse allegations without charges; it requires deep fact-checking, a willing editor, and a publication taking on potential liability risk. But reporters have more readily covered the fact of a blog post making such claims, and in this way, Parsons helped create an end-around for getting media coverage of the stories she worked to corroborate." (loc. 1160)

Eventually, these voices added up, reaching a critical mass loud enough that they could no longer be ignored. And yet this can only be the beginning: "Over the course of these years that started with reporting on the bloggers and then following my sources' advocacy on social media," writes Stankorb, "the countermovement for reform has changed shape too. This book, in many ways, represents a snapshot in time. Much as the reckoning begun with those in this book has rocked the church, in other ways, a needed shake-up is only beginning" (loc. 3125).

This is one of many recent books that are continuing that shake-up, and it's a good one to have on your shelves.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*I read an ARC, and quotes may not be final.

Disobedient Women by Sarah Stankorb is a smartly written and gripping account of women who stood against those who would harm women and start a change in Evangelical circles and protect women in the future.

An incredible book that dives into a much needed topic. Every Christian should read this book. Every person who has left the church due to the damage it has done should read this book. Women are heros and I love hoe open and honest so much of this book is. Difficult to read at times but incredibly important to discuss.

Ugh! How to tackle a topic that NEEDS to be exposed and yet most don't like to even talk about it. What topic? Women being abused within the church and the church covering it up. It's been going on for waaaaay too long, and really, if we're being honest, should never have even happened in the first place. And even more realistically speaking, it isn't JUST happening to women, though this particular book does focus on women in particular.
Sarah listened and gives a voice to the (dis)obedient women who spoke up, before the #Metoo movement, and even the #Churchtoo movement that followed. From the women who were influenced and manipulated by the Bill Gothard's of the world, to those who learned from Bill Gothard's toxic theology, like the Doug Wilson's of the world. These type of people have taken Christianity and twisted it to serve their ends, which doesn't surprise me, but still is maddening when I hear the latest breaking stories of human toxicity bending power to their own devices.
Back to this book. Sarah is an investigative journalist who doesn't just interview people for a story, but really gets to know them, gain their trust, and help give them an even bigger platform for their voice, their story, their experiences to be heard. For that, I thank you. For the real life individuals in this book, I hear you, and I am so sorry this happened to you. This is not what Christianity is about. It isn't what humanity stands for. Thank you for bravely standing up and courageously telling your stories.
While the church (as a whole, across all denominations) has been extremely slow to address this issue, I am seeing more and more lately of the church coming forward and moving in the right direction. This book is thoroughly investigated and researched and provides a comprehensive in depth look at the individuals, culture, changes, and path of how we got to where we are today. Worth reading and hopefully it really starts conversations of how not to set up nor repeat this ever again.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

This is a wide-ranging, powerful, and super-timely account of how countless abuse and sexual assaults have been covered up in different factions of American Fundamentalist & Evangelical Church culture for generations. Written by an investigative journalist, this is a good follow up for anyone who watched the “Shiny Happy People” and Hillsong documentaries and is looking for a deeper understanding of how this all unfolded. The author digs deep and doesn’t pull any punches. At times I wish the book had been a bit narrower in scope, as it was difficult to keep track of the different cover-ups and who the different people were that she spoke to and about. But I appreciate that she did not pull back from how vast and tangled this problem is. A tough but important read.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

I could write SO much about this book. I was raised under Bill Gothard’s cult. I grew up watching Doug Wilson “evolve” into a very dangerous man.
I am a Christian who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is only by His grace that I remained strong.
The Bible has the truth. However, man takes and twists so many parts of it. Part of deconstruction is relearning God’s Word. We are ALL made in God’s image and worth more than just popping out kids. God cannot make mistakes about our gender.
Marriage is supposed to be partners facing life together!
Complementarianism aids and abets abuse. However I don’t see women preachers in the Bible.
I’m really sick of the hatred for Trump. The lies about January 6. Video footage shows the truth…It is the left who is driving racism, CRT, and rewriting history. Wokeism is destroying America.
We are a divided nation. Either you are a socialist trying to destroy America or you are a twisted conservative who is a bigot. There is a LOT in between that are Patriot Americans trying to save our nation.

Very informative read. Will be easy to recommend to many different kinds of readers. I’d like to read more from this author.

Sarah Stankorb is an investigative journalist who has turned her researching eye to the topic of Christian morality in her new book, "Disobedient Women: How a Small Group of Faithful Women Exposed Abuse, Brought Down Powerful Pastors, and Ignited an Evangelical Reckoning." This book centers around such movements as the Quiverfull movement (and the Duggar family), Sovereign Grace ministries, purity culture, and Christian nationalism. Each movement has victimized women, many of whom are now speaking up and sharing their experiences. I appreciate Stankorb's transparency and the respectful manner in which she handles these weighty topics.

Furthermore, I was really touched by the author's conclusion, which states, "I don't know where the American church goes next, either the white, evangelical, patriarchal form or the one trying to survive with that mess bleeding all over it. . . But I do have a kernel of some old familiar faith, the same stories of Jesus once given to me." Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Disobedient Women" is a compelling and empowering exploration of the transformative power of the internet in dismantling oppressive structures within evangelical communities. Sarah Stankorb's thoughtful and thorough examination of these women's stories highlights the ongoing resistance and advocacy that is challenging the status quo. This book serves as a testament to the profound changes taking place within evangelical culture and the indomitable spirit of women who refuse to be silenced.