Book Review – Saving Women from the Church

This seems to be a week for book reviews (which I’ve found fun). I just finished reading a review copy of Susan McLeod-Harrison’s Saving Women from the Church: How Jesus Mends A Divide (Barclay Press, Feb. 2008) and found it to be a beneficial contribution to the conversation about women in the church. This is a practical book that addresses the ways women have been hurt by the church and the hope Jesus offers to them. Unlike many of the books on this topic out there, this offering manages to translate theology into language and examples understandable to the average lay Christian struggling through these questions – a book that can help, heal, and educate the everywoman so to speak.

Saving Women from the Church is divided into topical chapters which follow similar patterns. In each chapter one hears the story of a contemporary woman who has been hurt by the church, an imaginative retelling of a Biblical passage involving women, a short theological reflection on the two, discussion/journaling questions, and meditations for healing. The issues addressed range from women being told they are inferior to men, to those who have been commanded to submit to abusive husbands, to those denied ministry roles, to those encouraged to deify motherhood. In each chapter the lies told women are shown to be unbiblical and the magnitude of the ways those lies have hurt women revealed. I appreciated the book’s focus on such a wide range of issues as it acknowledges that church stereotypes about women often go far beyond merely barring them from the pulpit. Women who have faced the abuse of these stereotypes often are afraid to question them, assuming that the pastor or the church must always be right. This book gives them that freedom to question, to put their pain into words, and realize that they are not alone. It helps them see the need for healing and guides them along the first steps of that process.

One issue I had with the book though was that it (in my opinion) didn’t take things far enough. After finishing many of the chapters I was left wonder “what happens next?” The hurts were acknowledged, the theology/opinions causing the hurts were shown to be biblically unfounded, and all that was provided next were prayers of healing. Now I’m all for prayers of healing, but sometimes a more active response is needed. Half the time as I read the stories of the women in churches I wanted to just yell – “You are in a spiritually abusive relationship, stop being a victim and get the hell out of there.” (and pray that I would have more tact in real life). I know that solutions aren’t always that easy or simple, but I wished that leaving harmful situations or even strategies to work for improvements would have been provided as options. Acknowledging and overcoming hurt is necessary, but moving forward constructively should be part of that process as well. I feel that unfortunately many readers will leave the book wondering “what now?” (I should add that the author does provide a list of books for further reading which might help with that next step issue).

So just who is this book for? My first thought was that this would be a perfect book for the typical church women’s group. I’ve experienced too many of such groups where the level of interaction with women in the Bible involved commenting on how much fun it must have been for Mary and Elizabeth to pick out their baby’s layettes together and we all need to be sure to have close friends like that around us (I am so not kidding). This books provides good introductions to women in the scriptures that are often ignored or grossly misrepresented. Yet while I feel that any woman in the church would benefit from these reflections on the lies the church often feeds women, I feel that perhaps the women who might need this book the most may have already rejected (or been ejected by) the typical women’s ministry groups. Those who have been hurt the most and have allowed themselves to acknowledge that hurt (even if they couldn’t name it’s cause) are the ones for whom this book will help the most. But, of course, this book could benefit anyone who cares about the church and about the spiritual life of women – even (especially) those who don’t believe the church could ever hurt women.

I hope this book can reach the women who need it the most, but it a useful read for any believer seeking to understand the unique experience of women in the church. I’m grateful for Susan McLeod-Harrison’s willingness to make an examination of these often painful and hard issues available to all.

Tags: Susan McLeod-Harrison, Saving Women from the Church, gender, christianity