The Word According to Eve: Women and the Bible in Ancient Times and Our Own

by Cullen Murphy

An insightful glimpse into the male-dominated past studies of the Bible brings to light the important roles of women in this ancient text that previously have been ignored and examines how society's perception of women affects the reading of the Bible.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Feminism, Gender Studies, Christianity

302 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

John Cullen Murphy, Jr. (born September 1, 1952) is an American writer and editor probably best known for his work at The Atlantic, where he served as managing editor (1985–2002) and editor (2002-2006).

He was born in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was educated at Amherst College, from which he graduated with honors in medieval history in 1974. Murphy's first magazine job was in the paste-up department of Change, a magazine devoted to higher education.

He became an editor of The Wilson Quarterly in 1977. Murphy, along with his father, John Cullen Murphy, wrote the comic strip Prince Valiant from the mid 70s to 2004. He is also the author of The Word According to Eve: Women and the Bible in Ancient Times and Our Own (1999) and Are We Rome? (2007), which compares the politics and culture of Ancient Rome with that of the contemporary United States.

He currently serves as editor at large for Vanity Fair and lives in Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murphy gives a well presented study of women's roles in Judeo-Christian history. His story partly concerns the exclusion of women from formal power. But more importantly it shows the different kinds of power which women have wielded - most often the power to nurture and inspire, rather than the power to control and punish. All of it is well documented and clearly written. For one example, Murphy relates how around the year 900 in Italy, Bishop Atto of Vercelli wrote a letter to one of his priests, a Father Ambrose, answering a question about female church leaders in the past. Father Ambrose had asked why the old church records from the first centuries often mentioned women, with the feminized titles "presbytera" or "diacona". Bishop Atto gave a frank reply:

"... since your wisdom has determined that we ought to decide whether to understand "priestess" or "deaconess" in the canons; it seems to me that since in the primitive church, according to the holy word, "Many are the crops and few the laborers," for the helping of men, even religious women were ordained caretakers in the early church. This is something that blessed Paul points out in his Epistle to Romans ... One understands this because then not only men, but also women were in charge of the churches ... This practice canon 11 of the Laodicean council later prohibits when it says that it is not allowed for these women who are called "priests" or "those presiding" to be ordained in the churches." (p. 181-182.)

So there used to be more work for the church to do. Both men and women were once needed to nurture the world's crop of souls. But since the church achieved power there was not so much to be done, and the female workers were not needed. Therefore imperial church councils such as the synod of Laodicea (ca. 364) had determined to reserve all religious roles for men.

The story continues, telling of the many religious roles which no one could stop women from playing.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though rather ponderous at times, this book provides information on women in religion currently and in times past. The author has interviewed several female theologians giving the reader a glimpse of the hurdles they have had to jump in the male dominated field. At the same time he elucidates us on the problems created by essentially single sex interpretation of ancient manuscripts. For instance, the Hebrew word for toil is translated as such when Adam is concerned but as pain in childbirth for Eve. With the discovery of ancient manuscripts it has become known that a male hierarchy willfully mistranslated and/or omitted almost anything that showed women in a positive light. For those willing to accept new ideas this is an interesting read. For those stuck in dogma it will be a difficult read.
Having just finished re-reading it on 4/13/21 I am more than convinced that a bunch of misogynistic men burned books and declared anything that portrayed women in other than a subservient light to be heresy. One is caused to wonder why Peter, the 'disciple' that was wrong a good share of the time, that denied knowing Jesus of Nazareth, would be chosen as the 'rock' on which the 'church' was built.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was skeptical when I started this book that I would encounter a lot of radical feminist viewpoints, but was pleasantly surprised. I still did not agree with every stance. Like many other books on Biblical study, I wanted to see what other people (in this case, mostly women) think about and take from the Bible. It is actually self affirming when I see that others struggle with the same ideas.

I liked the structure and composition of the book as well; in school I shuddered at historical examinations because they have been so boring. When someone is able to put something together that I can visualize, I find the topic much more interesting.

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good overview of different lines of reasoning/research about women in the Bible/Judaism/early Christianity. I like that it includes sound examples -- the one that was the most striking to me was a woman in Paul's letters who, in later translations, is rewritten as male. Usually I'm skeptical about such claims, but the evidence seemed pretty good to me!

The beginning and end (where the author is trying to tie it all together) kind of drag, but much of the meat of the book is quite interesting, and not too hard to follow.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atlantic Monthly writer Cullen Murphy explores the world of feminist Bible scholars. Feminism has been described as the next intellectual revolution in Bible scholarship. The writing is witty and engaging. Murphy draws fascinating portraits of the pre-eminent female Bible scholars today. Their research is fascinating and much in need.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rambling, unfocused survey of female theologians and biblical academics and their scholarship on women in scripture. Not really sure what the purpose of this book was. Murphy's writing is flat and unconvincing. Eh.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like reading about feminism and religion, here is a good book for you. I learned a lot about the subject and about the women who are pursuing it.

[Dian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting and thought provoking look at the complicated subject of women and the Bible. Even though this is about 20 years old, I still found it to be full of insightful ideas and thoughts. I also felt that it didn't push one agenda over another, which was very refreshing. I highly recommend this for anyone who is a subject of gender studies and religion.

[Katerina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure how is it possible to write such a boring book on such an interesting topic. I really wanted to like it, but I simply can't bring myself to finish it.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The synopsis is far more interesting than the actual book. I didn't know someone could write about feminism and theology and make them boring. Illuminating.