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Book Recommendation: Christian Women in the Patristic World
As I head into the fall semester, I’m updating some of my course bibliographies to include books published in the past year. Since the 2017–18 academic year, one of the best sources I’m adding is worth stopping to recommend: Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries. I know. It sounds academic. That’s because it is. But you can handle it. One of the gifts to us from those who pressed for women to have more access to education has been the explosion of new works on women in history. That’s because up till about the mid-1950s, few people were even doing their…
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Samaritan Woman: Stay Away from Me?
I received a question this week from a former student, Vernita, about the Samaritan woman, whose story John records in the fourth chapter of his Gospel. Vernita: I'm looking for any credible historical data to support the statements I've read in some commentaries which suggest the Samaritan woman was an outcast in her society and came to the well later in the day than most women in order to avoid the scorn of that crowd. Are you aware of any writings that specifically and definitively state that, or would that be speculation based on what we know about that society? Me: English translations tell us, "It was about noon" (Jn.…