This was a wonderful book to read as a woman in christian ministry. I was so encouraged by the perspective that women were actively involved in prominent roles in the early church. Having been raised in a traditional and conservative form of Christianity I wasn't given a lot of teaching and examples of women serving and leading in ministry. So this book was a great way to research into the Bible. The author did a wonderful job giving cultural and historical context to what was going on in the world Scripture was written in. She gave lots of research and context to be able to hunt down my own facts. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I will be recommending it to any woman struggling to defend their desire to step into ministry.

After reading #TellHerStory and interviewing author, Nijay Gupta, I recommend it to readers who are interested in learning more about why female-centered stories are important for Christian life. To hear the details of our review, and to learn more about the book, listen to Mutuality Matters on your favorite podcast platform. The episode drops Feb 11th.

Many books have been written about women in ministry, and this new book from IVP offers a valuable contribution to the discussion. Specifically, the author looks at women in ministry in the early church.

The book is divided into two main parts. The first part looks at the Biblical context of women in ministry, prior to the early church. Gupta highlights the example of Deborah from the Old Testament as an incredible woman leader. He also devotes a chapter to discussing the Creation story and Genesis 1-3. And then another chapter reveals how women were involved in ministry during Jesus’ life. These are valuable chapters for understanding the Biblical context and examples of important women who are too often overlooked.

The second section of the book dwells specifically on women involved in ministry in the time of the early church. The author gives a detailed, yet accessible, explanation of various ministry roles in the new churches discussed in the New Testament. He explains how the Greek terms for “overseer,” “ministry-provider,” and “elders” primarily referred to men— but not exclusively! And the author makes the case that these roles were not prohibited for women. In fact, there are many New Testament examples of exceptional women— serving, leading, and ministering in the churches.

After giving an overview of the various ministry roles and women involved in service, Gupta zooms in and devotes chapters to introducing the reader to three incredible women: Prisca, Phoebe, and Junia. While I was familiar with these women’s names, reading this book gave me a new appreciation for these women— and their very important roles in the early church. Too often what we read as an unimportant postscript of Paul’s letters actually contains gems of information for us. I am very grateful for Gupta’s careful study and how he artfully shares with the reader his beautiful findings.

My hope is that many people will read this book, both men and women, and realize that there is a deeply rich tradition from the beginning of Church history of women in leadership.

And may the past inspire new generations of young women to be welcomed into ministry, too.

Tell Her Story; How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church by Nijay K. Gupta was a truly fascinating read. As someone who has read the bible over and over again, many moons ago, it is nice to see women get the recognition they deserve.

Tell Her Story sounded like it would be a great book, I found it lacking and the author did tell of biblical women and their enpowerment, but also just not respecting Men and women as equal. Wanting to crush patriarchy is one thing but if you take away one, you are saying that God didn't know what he was doing. He made both sexes and they are equal

Both approachable and academic, Tell Her Story offers interesting, helpful, and important insights into the role of women in the early Church.

This is a challenge to write as Nijay Gupta is a well-respected academic, a New Testament scholar and author and I am an average lay reader. The book is well written and thoroughly covers the topic. I remain unconvinced on some points, as they seem conjecture to me versus proof positive. It’s a volume I intend to return to and study out in more depth. I did feel the need to read and review before publication as this was a NetGalley offering but I plan to spend a lot more time with the material.
#TellHerStory #NetGalley

One of the negative comments I have heard from modern readers is about the patriarchal nature of the Bible, especially the Old Testament. They note how the heads of households in the past are restricted to men. There are also many instances where modern folks quickly accuse gender discrimination. Why should Eve be a "helpmeet" to Adam and not the other way around? Why are most of the judges male? What about the way women are been treated? Is God being fair to the oft-referred "weaker" sex? Even in the New Testament, why did Paul put restrictions on women when it comes to teaching in the Church? These questions not only colour the minds of people, but they can also sometimes affect their faith. It might even cast doubts about God being fair and just. Sometimes, this has spurred the rise and development of modern feminism. Aware of such trends, scholars and theologians have begun addressing the issue of women and gender inequality in the Bible. In this book, author Nijay Gupta looks at the women leaders in the New Testament to highlight how such "hidden figures" have impacted the development of the Early Church. Apart from people like Mary, the mother of Jesus, Priscilla, and a few others like Phoebe and Eunice, the number of women leaders is agonizingly few. By shedding light on the impact of women leaders in the Bible, the author hopes to inform readers about the significance of women in ministry yesterday, today, and into the future. At the same time, there is definitely more than meets the modern cultural eye about women in the Bible. Gupta aims to debunk some of the myths that people have, such as women being resigned to insignificant roles in society then; and the unfair status imposed on women, etc. More importantly, by understanding the stories of these women, we get a better understanding of contexts. "Her Story" includes:

- How Jesus interacts with women in the gospels;
- Curious insertion of women in the Jewish genealogy in Matthew 1;
- List of model women figures in Paul's list to the Romans 16;
- ...

In Part One, Gupta shows us the contexts of early women leaders such as Deborah, God's vision for both men and women, and how women navigated the Roman cultural norms. Deborah in particular was singled out for her leadership that led to 40 years of peace, something unheard of during the tumultuous period of the judges. God's plan in Genesis is about caring for and cultivating the earth, with shared responsibility for both Adam and Eve. In the New Testament, even when men were the defacto leaders in society, women are not necessarily marginalized according to the modern perceptions we have about ancient society. For instance, it is not true that women cannot own property or run a business then. While they are generally urged to adopt domestic duties, that does not prevent them from activities outside of the house. In the gospels, Jesus interacted with many women in a positive way.

In Part Two, Gupta describes the context of the way New Testament writers communicate with the Early Church. This is then followed by a description of the roles and impact of some of the New Testament women in the Early Church like Phoebe, Prisca, Junia, and other co-labourers in the faith. He looks at leadership structures, ethos, roles, and various forms of leadership. There was no explicit gender-related prohibition when serving in these capacities. In the 1 Tim 2 passage about forbidding women to teach in Church, Gupta sets aside a chapter to discuss that pointing out common "misreadings" before showing the reasons why Paul wrote what he did. One key point the author makes is the problem of arrogance among some women who disrupted the Church with their superior patterns of leadership. The point is, Paul was writing the passage in a specific context in order to maintain calm and peace in the community. This specific passage should not be generalized. The call to order was more important than mere gender prohibition. Gupta also covers other areas such as the submission texts, the "saved through childbearing" verse, and many more. 

My Thoughts
==============
Throughout history, women have played major roles in society. Whether it is inside the home or in the office, it is fair to say that without women, society will stumble and in some cases fail to function at all. In some parts of the world, such as the Middle East, women are still relegated to minor roles. They are also subjected to all kinds of prohibitions. Even for those activities that they are allowed to do outside of the home, they need to be accompanied by a man. Whether such practices are inherited from past traditions, we do not know. What we know is that certain interpretations of ancient traditions and texts would have influenced the way many societies function. That is why interpretation needs to be wisely applied after diligent study. This book serves as a guide to help us understand the role and stories of women in the Bible. In doing so, Gupta has given us a fresh interpretation of women's role in the past. He provides us with a new lens to see how women in the Bible have contributed to the life of the people of God and the doing of the will of God. This is important for three reasons.

First, seeing the prohibition in this new light frees all of us to see the will of God as bigger than human prohibitions. There is no need to make things more difficult for anyone who wants to serve. The best servants are willing servants. This should enable women not to be afraid of breaking scriptural principles when they have been gifted with spiritual gifts like teaching or preaching. Some of the best teachers I have benefitted from are women. It is inconceivable to deny a qualified lady from teaching just on the basis of the plain reading of Scripture. Every text comes within a context. Every context has unique challenges that led to scriptural injunctions. Many of the prohibition texts come within this category of unique circumstances. When gifted women serve, this book helps to address questions posed by people adopting a plain but uninformed reading of the Bible texts.

Second, women continue to play a huge part in the modern Church. If there is any way we can encourage them more, we should and this book helps in that direction. Sometimes I wonder: "What if one day, all the women in the Church were to quit en mass?" Chances are, the Church will not be able to function or survive into the future. In every ministry, there is a chance of seeing more women than men. Take Sunday School for example. I have seen some churches where all the teachers were female! 

Finally, as far as pastors and elders of the Church are concerned, many conservative churches still prefer to maintain a male requirement. Will this book change their position? Unlikely. No matter how we cut it, there is still the question of why many of the key characters in the Bible are male. The Old Testament have more major male characters than female. In the Early Church, Stephen, Peter, and Paul are some of the earliest evangelists. The New Testament writers use language that is more complementarian than egalitarian. Jesus chose 12 male disciples! Many churches still frown on some modern translations that have tried to make the Bible more gender-neutral. While I do not expect major shifts from the positions adopted by various churches, it is hoped that books like this will help one to be more open to new interpretive possibilities.

Nijay K. Gupta (PhD, University of Durham) is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He has written several books, including A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies, Paul and the Language of Faith, and academic commentaries on Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1-2 Thessalonians. He is coeditor of the second edition of IVP Academic's Dictionary of Paul and His Letters and serves as a senior translator for the New Living Translation. He blogs at cruxsolablog.com.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of InterVarsity Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

"Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church", by Nijay K. Gupta, is a book that focuses on the women of the Bible, most specifically those that are not mentioned as much as others. Gupta begins her book discussing Deborah, noted female judge and leader in the Old Testament. She continues by talking about New Testament women who haven't received as much notice. According to the author, "women were welcomed and supported by apostles like Paul, they were equipped and trained for ministry leadership, they ministered to leaders, they served on the front line of the gospel mission and faced hardships because of it -- and some became heroes and legends."

If you want to know more about the women of the Bible, this book would be a great recourse. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

A Bible feast addressing the subject of women in church leadership. Unlike other great contemporary works that tackle the topic from a cultural or sociological evaluation, Gupta’s insights into the New Testament world make this volume a must read for students of Scripture and church leaders across denominations.

The chapters exploring the types of leadership in the NT, and the leaders themselves in context of the NT world, were eye opening and challenging. It made abundantly obvious that, yes, women were valued leaders in various capacities in the early church. However, while the gospel did in fact produce an equalizing effect across genders in the NT, Gupta does not persuade, either from a cultural or biblical standpoint, that certain church offices (pastor/elder) did not require an exclusively male leadership. I appreciate the clarity of his argument regarding the lack of strict or explicit prohibitions concerning the topic, but it seems the NT model betrays the principle as far as I can tell.

While I was left unconvinced of some conclusions regarding egalitarian offices in the local church, I was challenged by the NT de facto elevation of women across leadership responsibilities in the church. Required reading for anyone entrusted with any level of church authority.