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Reading Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey was like a soothing salve for my soul. I have never read any religious or feminist book quite like it. Jesus Feminist honestly changed my entire perspective on what it means for me to be both a Christian and a feminist.
Sarah Bessey explains her deep, passionate love for Jesus Christ, and how that love requires her to be a feminist as well. Her book reads like an invitation from an old friend, one woman confiding in another.
When I was a little kid, my vocabulary didn’t include feminism, sexism, or gender. In fact, I didn’t learn the terms patriarchy, misogyny, or benevolent sexism until I was in college. But even as a kid, I recognized something was wrong with my church. I remember asking my parents why none of the elders in our church were women. I didn’t understand why my role models “Miss” Lucy (Patrick) and “Miss” Jane (Hill) couldn’t be elders alongside their husbands. They had such hearts for God and for children–shouldn’t our church leaders include women with such love and wisdom?
Jesus Feminist reassured me that everything I have felt about the role of women in the Church, everything I have fervently believed for as long as I can remember, is right and true.
Jesus Feminist is divided into 12 chapters, not counting the Foreward, Introduction, and Notes. Based on how much I underlined, I found great truths and wisdom in every chapter, from the opening “Jesus Made a Feminist Out of Me” to the closing “The Commissioning.” Jesus Feminist inspired me so much that I posted a few favorite passages to Facebook and many more to Twitter.
"Paul and Peter used the [household] codes…because they were familiar and daily, not because they were prescriptive or ideal."
— Brita Long (@BelleBrita) July 20, 2014
"Life in Christ is not meant to mirror life in a Greco-Roman culture." #JesusFeminist
— Brita Long (@BelleBrita) July 20, 2014
Some people think that Christianity and feminism are incompatible. Either they don’t know much about Jesus, or they don’t know much about feminism.
Sarah Bessey goes through the scripture and reminds us of how radical Jesus’s treatment of and ministry to women was for the time period. Paul’s letters are pretty radical as well, inviting women to learn alongside men. How can you read the scriptures, all of the scriptures, see what God managed to accomplish within an oppressive and patriarchal society, and then NOT think that God calls men AND women to ministry?
God blesses men and women with different talents, unique to the individual, not segregated by gender. If women are excluded from Church leadership, how can we best use our gifts to glorify God? While not every woman–nor every man–is called to ministry as a profession, many women do heed God’s call. In 2014, in a tumultuous world that needs Jesus, why is anyone still trying to block half the Christian population from ministry?
If you have doubts about the role of women in the Church, or if you have ever felt snubbed by your brothers in Christ, I encourage you to pick up Sarah Bessey’s Jesus Feminist. She doesn’t argue semantics, or analyze the Greek, or go into any academic arguments for the full inclusion of women in the Church. She simply expresses her love for Jesus and how He inspired her to be a feminist.
I have to read this book. I was like you growing up and questioning why the women were excluded from ministry.
It is truly a wonderful book, completely reassuring and passionate about how a love for Jesus necessitates egalitarianism.
Always looking for new books to read, and this one sounds awesome
I post book reviews every few weeks, so keep checking back! Jesus Feminist is among the best I’ve read recently.
I’ve heard a lot about this book and this is really encouraging me to read it. I think it’s so important to follow scripture’s teaching but it’s also important to realize that some things were cultural and some things are spiritual. Nate and I definitely have had long, long talks about what a Godly marriage should look like – especially with me being a very strong willed, independent woman and him being a much more sensitive, compassionate man than most. We definitely don’t feel like “submission” or the man being the “head of the home” means what most evangelical Christians believe those scriptural terms mean. Thanks for linking this up with the Faith and Fellowship blog hop! Hope to see you there again next week! 🙂
I do identify as a “Jesus Feminist”–this sounds like a very interesting read!
It’s seriously amazing. I love it so much, possibly even more than A Year of Biblical Womanhood.
THIS post makes me so happy. I need to read this book!! Thank you so much for sharing – I am sharing a link to this on my weekly WQ link up today!