There have been many studies of the women in the Gospels, but this is a new kind of book on the subject. Rather than offering a general overview of the Gospel women or focusing on a single theme, Richard Bauckham studies in great depth both the individual women who appear in the Gospels and the specific passages in which they appear. This unique approach reveals that there is much more to be known about such women than previous studies have assumed. Employing historical and literary readings of the biblical texts, Bauckham successfully captures the particularity of each woman he studies. An opening look at the Old Testament book of Ruth introduces the possibilities of reading Scripture from a woman's perspective. Other studies examine the women found in Matthew's genealogies, the prophet Anna, Mary of Clopas, Joanna, Salome, and the women featured in the Gospel resurrection narrative. A number of these women have never been the subject of deep theological enquiry. Unlike most recent books, Bauckham's work is not dominated by a feminist agenda. It does not presume in advance that the Gospel texts support patriarchal oppression, but it does venture some of the new and surprising possibilities that arise when the texts are read from the perspective of their female characters. Astute, sensitive to issues of gender, and written by one of today's leading theologians, Gospel Women will be of interest to a wide range of readers.

This book offers a reflection on the development of the commitment of a group of Catholic Sisters to the poor and to social justice, from teaching poor children in a convent basement to being involved in public theology at the United Nations. After a brief discussion of the emergence and definitions of public theology and an analysis of the social teaching of the Catholic Church, it offers insights into the history and modus operandi of the United Nations and the network of NGOs, including faith-based RNGOs, that work closely with it on behalf of human rights and development. The interaction between these three protagonists forms the background for the story of a coalition of Catholic Sisters with NGO status at the United Nations whose determination is to be Gospel women, engaging in public theology in the public square. Finally, it offers some thoughts concerning future challenges and uncertainties facing the United Nations that will impact the Sisters and their commitment to the poor and the planet.

Kara Lyons-Pardue examines the issue of the ending of the gospel of Mark, showing how the later additions to the text function as early receptions of the original gospel tradition providing an ancient “fix” to the problem of the ending in which the women flee the tomb in terror and silence. Lyons-Pardue suggests that the long ending functions canonically, smoothing out the “problem” of 16:8 in ways that support the nascent four-gospel canon. Lyons-Pardue argues that the long ending represents an ancient reception of the preceding gospel that continues to the unique portrait of discipleship that is characteristically Markan. Mary Magdalene forms the renewed paradigm of an unlikely person or outsider, here a woman, being the one to “go and tell” the good news. This pattern is then projected onto all disciples who are called to proclaim the news to the entire created order (16:15).

In the nearly two millennia since the resurrection of Jesus, can coherence be found within the ways Christians of different ethnicities have approached the Bible? How does one seek guidance in understanding the Scriptures and then draw on that experience to understand oneself and the world? In The Church and Her Scriptures the ancient diversity of Greek, Latin, and Syriac speaks through, for instance, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine of Hippo, and Jacob of Serugh. The witness and voices of women as recorded in the Book of Daniel and the Gospels themselves are examined. Reanimated through ancient sources, the daily prayer life and holy death of Macrina the Younger, philosopher of God, attest the contemplative power of the laity. The Psalms, so interwoven in her life, prove to be vitalizing for Christians. Their example inspired new psalms in the Epistles. Typology recurred, fed by Jesus's teaching, and this mode of exegesis and key examples of it are likewise respected in this volume. Limning the framework for all this is Patrick Hartin's magisterial essay on Dei Verbum, the Vatican II document on the Bible.

Despite being rooted in a mostly Jewish traditional background, patriarchal, androcentric and misogynous in nature, Matthew places women as the sole witnesses to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Their continuous following of Jesus and their constant presence with him especially at the cross and the tomb meets with the discipleship demands in the Gospel, and therefore attribute to them certain discipleship functions in the firs Gospel. In the absence of the Twelve, Matthew portrays these women as models of discipleship. Through an exegetical-theological-rhetorical approach, the author critically evaluates a wide range of important contemporary literature on the topic, exegeting the Scriptural passages with care and diligence, with deep respect for the word of God, and maintains an irenic and critical sense in a field of study that is often polemical and given to exaggerated and uncritical exegesis.