Book Review: “The Making of Biblical Womanhood” by Beth Allison Barr
Beth Allison Barr’s “The Making of Biblical Womanhood” is a detailed and approachable study of an idea that has plagued American Christianity: Biblical Patriarchy.
While many may not know what the exact term “Biblical Womanhood” means, we are familiar with its basic teaching: God has ordained men/husbands to be leaders and women/wives to support them, raise children and tend to the household. This means women should have no leadership roles and, in Barr’s case, not even be able to teach Sunday School to adolescent male students. While secular society has battled against patriarchy in the past century, many evangelical leaders have dug in to keep it. They say: these roles are clearly outlined in the Bible! But as Barr points out throughout her book, they don’t know the full history.
In eight chapters, Barr explores the actual role of women in scripture and history and how it is different from the version of history many churches teach. The first part of the book looks at what the Gospels say about the roles of men and women, looking beyond the sola scriptura of modern English translations to the actual cultural context that Apostles lived in. Barr then surveys the history of Christian women in Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages and the Reformation to refute the justification that Biblical Womanhood has always been there.
Interwoven with the history is Barr’s personal story: growing up in a Baptist church, involvement with a church at which her husband was a pastor, and her awakening that the Biblical Womanhood “theology” is actually putting a perverted Biblical bow on patriarchy. Barr details her own journey and the repercussions raising issues detailed in the book had: her husband losing his job and their family losing a community. Barr’s personal experiences are important to give the context in which this book was written as well as the effects the ideology can have.
“The Making of Biblical Womanhood” is an excellent introduction to the ideas and history has infected many of our churches and cultural understanding of what a Christianity actually teaches. Barr illustrates throughout that “the subjugation of women is indeed a historical constant—but that doesn’t make it divinely ordained” and that “as Christians we are called to be different from the world. Yet in our treatment of women, we often look just like everyone else.”
This is an important book for any Christian who’s grappled with the question of Biblical Womanhood, those, like me, who didn’t know how to talk about these issues and, hopefully most of all, for those who’ve left the Church at large because of it. The ideas and women Barr presents may not be taught in many sunday schools or seminaries, but are vital to bring us to the full feast of becoming new humans in Christ.
