A Biblical Woman’s Reading List


by Rachel Held Evans Read Distraction Free
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I have just one week left in my year of biblical womanhood, which means I am days away from a much-needed haircut and the ceremonial packing-away of my many head coverings.  In the spirit of Rosh Hashanah, I plan to spend the week reflecting on the past year and the year to come while snacking on apples and honey and attempting to track down a shofar. 

In addition to accumulating a stash of head coverings, I’ve amassed quite a few books over the past year.Occasionally people ask me what sort of resources I used during the project, so today I thought I’d share the list. 

All Year: 
The Bible (There are many translations available at biblegateway.com
- Anchor Bible Commentary Series
The Women’s Bible Commentary, Edited by Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe
Living Judaism: The Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice by Wayne D. Dosick
Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books, and the New Testament, Edited by Carol Meyers, Toni Cravien, and Ross Shepard Kraemer
Recovering Biblical Manhood and WomanhoodEdited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem
- Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy, Edited by Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis and Gordon D. Fee
Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life by Lynn Cohick
God’s Word to Women by Katharine C. Bushnell 
Don't Know Much About the Bible: Everything You Need to Know About the Good Book but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis
-"On The Dignity and Vocation of Women" by Pope John Paul II 
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

October (Gentleness): 
Etiquette by Emily Post
Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila
The Autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux by John Beevers

November (Domesticity):
Martha Stewart's Cooking School
Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and “Women’s Work” by Kathleen Norris
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald
The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Shaeffer
Next to Godliness: Finding the Sacred in Housekeeping by Alice Peck

December (Obedience):
- Created to Be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl 
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement by Kathryn Joyce 
Quivering Daughters: Hope and Healing for the Daughters of Patriarchy by Hillary McFarland
Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives by Phyllis Trible 

January (Valor - Proverbs 31): 
Sewing for Dummies by Janice Saunders Maresh
The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs by Ellen F. Davis
The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 15-31 by Bruce K. Waltke

February (Beauty):
- Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs by Ellen F. Davis
Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions About Sex and Desire by Jennifer Wright Knust

March (Modesty):
A Return to Modesty by Wendy Shalit 
Amish Society by John Andrew Hostetler

April (Purity):
The Red Tent by Anita Diamat
Inside the Red Tent by Sandra Hack Polaski
Living Judaism: The Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice by Wayne D. Dosick
Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner

May (Fertility):
What to Expect When You’re Expecting, 4th Edition by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel 
On Becoming Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam 
The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two by William Sears and Martha Sears 
Babyproofing Your Marriage by Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O'neill, Julia Stone and Rosario Camacho-koppel
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

June (Submission): 
Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat
Finally Feminist: A Pragmatic Christian Understanding of Gender by John Stackhouse

July (Charity):
- Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices by Julie Clawson
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDUnn
The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns 

August (Silence):
I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 In Light of Ancient Evidence by Richard Clark Kroeger and Catherine Clark Kroeger
The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible by Scot McKnight
Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women by Carolyn Custis James
- Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities by Bruce Winter
The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
A Quaker Book of Wisdom by Robert Lawrence Smith
Let Nothing Disturb You (30 Days with A Great Spiritual Teacher) by Teresa of Avila, with John Kirvan and Caroline Myss
All Will Be Well (30 Days with A Great Spiritual Teacher) by Julian of Norwich
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle

September (Faith):
-Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle
-Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
-No Greater Love by Mother Teresa
Loaves and Fishes by Dorothy Day
The Hospital By the River by Dr. Catherine Hamlin 

…So what did I forget? :-) 

Learn more about my year of biblical womanhood here.

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