Women in the World of the Earliest Christians: Illuminating Ancient Ways of Life

by Lynn H. Cohick

Lynn Cohick provides an accurate and fulsome picture of the earliest Christian women by examining a wide variety of first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman documents that illuminate their lives. She organizes the book around three major spheres of life: family, religious community, and society in general. Cohick shows that although women during this period were active at all levels within their religious communities, their influence was not always identified by leadership titles nor did their gender always determine their level of participation. The book corrects our understanding of early Christian women by offering an authentic and descriptive historical picture of their lives. Includes black-and-white illustrations from the ancient world.

Genres: History, Theology, Christianity, Religion, Feminism, Womens, Research

350 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lynn H. Cohick provides a detailed look at the lives of women of antiquity from the Roman Republic and Empire, the Judaism of the era, and early Christianity. What emerges from her careful reading is a startlingly wide experience, far from the stereotypical division between mother and wife versus prostitute (although there is considerable discussion of each of those roles), into the worlds of business and religion. She finds considerable female participation in both Roman rite (beyond the Vestal Virgins) and early Christianity: Joanna, who travelled with the disciples, Phoebe the deacon, and Mary of Magdala, who Cohick argues was probably a trader, and not the unnamed sinner who anointed Jesus. (Cohick also argues that Luke uses the word "prostitute" in the parable of the prodigal son, but not in connection with the unnamed woman, who is, moreover, associated with tax collectors).

[Ethan Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent reference book describing the lives of women in the various roles they played in Greco-Roman and Jewish society in and surrounding the time of the NT. It's not an exciting book. Yet Cohick with scholarly care and skill reconstructs the complex lives of women as mothers, daughters, patrons, slaves, prostitutes, wives, and workers. I continually had my simplistic preconceptions broken with each chapter. This book provides important background info for NT discussions on gender.

[Kristel Acevedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fascinating read! Dr. Cohick is absolutely brilliant. There are definitely sections of the book that lost me because it’s so much detail and very much an academic read, but overall I loved this book.

[Amy Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.5. Mom gave it to me for my birthday. It's good to start the year off with an academic read. Learned more about the life of all women (free, freed, slave) -- well researched and her writing style was easy to follow.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an academic book, it was surprisingly well written (i.e. 'not dry'). There were a few sections I skimmed, because they weren't pertinent to my interests, but in all, I think it was a very fascinating, well-written book.

[Matt Maples · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful book packed full of ancient sources

Dr. Cohick has produced a great book of reference to understand how women lived and interacted in their first century worlds. This book has helped me to see that much of what I thought were the roles of women are either slightly incorrect, or at least incomplete. Women played very large and significant roles, even if they were not always the headline names we might remember from history. This was a helpful book, but it read much more like an encyclopedia than a coherent story about historical events. That is likely because there wasn’t one story contained within, but rather, it was a collection of many stories. But it was at times difficult to follow and comprehend, but it is a helpful tool to better understand the roles of women in the first century.

[Kelly Rhoten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed. The subjects are all amazing women but the story telling was boring.

[Cole Ragsdale]

DMin Course Reading

[Philip Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historians would probably want to nuance some of the points made in this book but as an overview of the topic, it’s exceptionally good.

[Heather Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look into the reality of women in the first early centuries. Methodical, thorough & well sourced. The portraits described of real women living in these times often contradicts the generic gender norms we hear offered up about them today. At times the descriptions were heartbreaking (infants dying of exposure, women dying in childbirth, slaves & prostitutes having no recourse) -- yet other times the benefactors of communities, the professional/learned women & the strong mothers/wives offer much hope. The author also undertakes correcting some present day assumptions about specific female characters from the Bible. While at times the book felt very academic and assumed I knew certain published studies (& needed a map!), overall I loved it. It's something I will come back to again as a resource.

[Clayton Keenon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. I learned a lot. There is a lot I’m still processing. The social world of the 1st century is so different from ours that after a while I found it hard to fully get my head around some things. That’s why a book like this is valuable. Her perspective on familiar stories I thought I understood (the woman at the well, Mary the mother of Jesus, etc.) blew my mind.

[Tim Stafford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Cohick's careful, non-ideological approach. Learned a lot about women in Greco-Roman society. It's complicated! It's not like today!

[mikaila may]

I read this for school but won’t pass up an opportunity to add a book to my reading goal.