Women in the Ministry of Jesus: A Study of Jesus' Attitudes to Women and their Roles as Reflected in His Earthly Life

by Ben Witherington III

A fascinating and original contribution to the exegesis of Biblical passages relevant to the current debate on women's roles in the Church and society.

Genres: Religion, Theology, History

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Ben Witherington III (PhD, University of Durham) is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and is on the doctoral faculty at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is the author or coauthor of more than thirty books, including The Jesus Quest, The Paul Quest, and The New York Times bestseller The Brother of Jesus. He has appeared on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN.

Reviews

[Beza]

It’s an excellent book truly. There are some scary things if you’re a fundy but approaching it as more of a thought challenge helps.

[Terri]

For Jewish women in the first century A.D. their world was their home. ”A woman’s sphere of influence or importance in the legal sense was confined to her connection to her family, her faithfulness to her husband, and her domestic responsibilities… One must bear in mind the extraordinary patria potestas a father had over his daughters and a husband over his wife… A woman was passed from a father to her husband’s sphere of authority usually without being consulted.” Judaism restricted women’s participation in religious functions. Women could not make up the quorum in the synagogue nor could they receive the covenant sign. Jesus came and granted women together with men equal rights to participate fully.

Ben Witherington III very carefully (Greek included) goes through the New Testament explaining, bringing to light and expounding on Jesus' attitude toward women.

Understand, that women and the fact that they are even mentioned in the New Testament as doing anything other than keeping house is monumental given the time and place, a patriarchal set up that kept women down. Jesus came and raised woman up.