A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Blogger Rachel Held Evans' book about her year-long effort to keep all the Biblical directives regarding women made for an evening of spirited discussion.  After enjoying a "Jewish" feast at Nancy's house complete with Kosher lox, cabbage rolls, and fig cake, we retired to the living room to share our thoughts.

Points of discussion:

• Several of us expected to be more challenged by the book to make personal changes, however it was more entertaining than life-changing.  It was humorous, and read like a long blog entry.  We did learn quite a few things about the Bible and customs of women around the world which was very interesting.  The author really did her research.

• None of us could relate much to the author's great fear of motherhood.


• We appreciated the overall theme of how judgement, criticism, and condemnation hurts us as women (as humans).  Our insecurity can cause us to think God can't be there and here.    There are so many instances where culture and context create differences that aren't right or wrong, and we don't need to define them as such.


• It was nice that the author didn't speak for her husband but allowed his journal entries to share some of his side of the project in an authentic way.


• There were many quotable lines throughout the book, but one that really stood out was from St. Teresa of Avilla:  Let nothing upset you, Let nothing startle you.  All things pass; God does not change.  Patience wins all it seeks.  Whoever has God lacks nothing.  God alone is enough.

Fun Facts:
Apparently, Jackie has a "rat-mentioning quota" per evening that greatly disturbs Jessica.
Nancy's advice for deciding what to clean:  "Does it show?  Then, NO."
Jackie's really upset to discover that the Bible never explicitly condemns polygamy because that was the only reason she wasn't participating in it and she could have had sister wives all these years helping her around the house.
It was determined that a case of constipation = one book read by Becky.