HOLLYWOOD LUTHERAN CHURCH
Study of the Women of the Bible begins January 23
It seems clear from the long list of leading women we know that the sacred history of the Jewish and Christian faith cannot be told without knowing and understanding the place and importance of women. Yet we seldom take time to look at the women’s stories in the Bible and to look for those stories teach us about our faith.
The Hebrew Scriptures include legend and history, colorful lore of both good and bad, overlooked as well as central figures in the ancient Jewish story. It includes both the prophetess and the seductress, the heroine and the evil manipulator.
Some stories were preserved in the Bible because of fond national memories of key women and their role in the national development. The history of Samuel could have been told without his family history, but the story of his parents hoping for a child and then dedicating their infant boy to the Lord, is touching and inspiring.
But in other places women seem to be simply placeholders, types or fixtures in the telling of the larger story. Many of these women, such as Lot’s wife, Potiphar’s wife, and Pontius Pilate’s wife, are never named!
In the New Testament, the stories of women, named and unnamed, serve to advance a central theme of the Christian Gospel—that Jesus fully included women in his ministry, and foresaw their full place in the Kingdom of Heaven which he described. It seems indisputable that neither Jesus nor the early church intended to exclude women from any role in this growing community of believers.
Yet later New Testament writings, especially some but not all of the epistles of St. Paul mention restrictions on the role of women. Why did this happen, and what are we to make of these restrictions today?
The new study on the Women of the Bible will take its own pace, with plenty of time for discussion. Not every woman mentioned can be studied in detail, but we will examine at least 25 different individuals whose story and place in the Scriptures has significance.
Please join us on Wednesdays beginning January 23: we begin at 6:30 p.m. for Potluck or 7:30 p.m. for the Bible Study.
You can also read along with us:
Bible Women -- Old Testament Figures (February 13-20, 2008): prostitution, concubinage and plural marriage, and the whole jealous history of Jews vs. Muslims, oh my!
The Amazing Story of Queen Esther: One scholar calls it a Jewish “novella”, and Esther seems like a “rags to riches” story. This story of an orphan girl who becomes the Persian queen is the origin of the festival of Purim, which is celebrated to this day, some 2,500 years later! Yet this story was almost left out of the Bible!
Mary Magdalene: Mysterious, Faithful, Dishonored: This engimatic woman is mentioned in 12 places in the Gospels, and has wrongly been thought to have been a reformed prostitute since the 6th century! Learn the real story of Mary Magdalene's place of honor as one of Jesus' benefactors, the "apostle to the apostles" and first witness to the resurrection.
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