#66: A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

And another 2022 reading goal

I love reading and I love books and I get excited about year-long challenges. Let’s talk!

After reading War and Peace last year with The Big Read (still not too late to join!), I feel like I can read anything. No book is too daunting and everything can be broken down into daily, bite-size reading chunks. I’m taking this confidence with me into 2022 to try and tackle something I’ve never read before: The Old Testament.

Now, this goal may seem in direct opposition to my other goal of reading only female authors this year. A quick perusal of the table of contents confirms that only 2 of the 39 books in the Old Testament were named after a woman. There appears to be a misalignment of my goals.

My book review this week was everything that I needed to feel that the two goals can coexist in harmony. The refreshing, humorous, and down-to-earth voice of Rachel Held Evans made me feel like I was hanging out with my favorite aunts as they discussed the absurdities and profundities of the Holy Bible and the courageous women within its pages.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

Published: 2012 | Pages: 308

What’s it about?

For one year, writer and blogger Rachel Held Evans scoured the Bible for references specific to how women should behave and then attempted to live by what she found. She baked, crafted, cooked, cleaned, covered her head, called her husband Master, practiced silence, served abroad, used sustainable products, cared for a robot baby, and much more. She also researched other churches and faith traditions that consider the Bible holy text to understand how they interpret what it says with respect to women.

How did it impact me?

Reading this felt like a hearty potluck meal in the church gym with comfort foods like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and jello casseroles. With panache, Held Evans walks the progressive-conservative line that I’ve been trying to find my balance on for years. I felt like I was in safe and familiar territory while at the same time felt challenged by the author’s insights and reflections.

Favorite Parts

• After Held Evans spent the required 12 days surrounding her menstrual cycle not touching her husband, sleeping in a guest room, and carrying a stadium cushion around so as to not defile the furniture, I felt overwhelming compassion for the hemorrhaging woman in the New Testament who had the audacity to break the Mosaic law and touch Jesus. It hit me like never before that she was blessed for her faith and not condemned for the infraction. Held Evans said: “We cling to the letter [of the law] because the spirit is so much harder to master.” So true, even when it’s the spirit and not the letter that make us whole.

• Ahava, an American-born Orthodox Jew, was full of wisdom. I especially liked the utilization of the phrase eshet chayil (woman of valor) as a blessing rather than a job description:

Make your own challah instead of buying? Eshet chayil! Work to earn some extra money for the family? Eshet chayil! Make balloon animals for the kids at Shul? Eshet chayil! Every week at the Shabbat table, my husband sings the Proverbs 31 poem to me. It’s special because I know that no matter what I do or don’t do, he praises me for blessing the family with my energy and creativity. All women can do that in their own way.

• “Do we read the Bible with prejudice of love, or are we reading with prejudice of judgment and power, self-interest and greed?"

Recommendation

You don’t have to be Christian or Jewish or religious to enjoy this book. I expected an apologist tone for why the Bible doesn’t have more women in it, but her approach highlighted the women of the Bible in a way that helped me see them with fresh eyes.

Tragically, Rachel Held Evans passed away in 2019 at the age of 37. It’s really, really sad. You can check out interviews with her and her other writings at the following links:

• Her blog.

• Her presentation about the project at Fuller (47 minutes).

• Her interview on NPR about the project (5 minutes).

• NPR interview with her friend Jeff Chu (8 minutes), who finished writing her fifth book Wholehearted Faith, which was released last November.

Thanks for reading,
Kyle