How To Explore Biblical Womanhood with Beth Allison Barr

Hey hey! Today’s episode is a must-listen, friend! I am so convinced that this is 100% true I am bringing this conversation back from the archives! You’re certainly in for a treat as we revisit this powerful discussion with historian, pastor's wife, and author, Dr. Beth Allison Barr. 

Listen in as we talk about her book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood, in which she outlines the definition of biblical womanhood and how it affects women’s choices about careers, their roles in ministry, their relationship dynamics, and so much more. Beth shares how biblical womanhood isn't biblical but actually arose from a series of clearly definable moments in history. Friends, this is a game-changer conversation for sure!

Beth Allison Barr is the James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University. She earned her PhD in Medieval History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is the bestselling author of four books including The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. She is also a pastor’s wife and mom of two great kids.

Listen in to hear all about:

• How to become more biblically literate by approaching the Bible with a contextual understanding of the time it was written.
• What the Reformation cost women in terms of opportunities and societal norms.
• Ways culture shapes our view of women and men in a way that women and men are not shaped in the Bible.

Favorite quotes:

~Biblical womanhood is one of the most recent manifestations of the patriarchy.

~I think the cost of the reformation for evangelical women is that it made only one right way for us to be Godly. And that was to be married with children under the authority of our husbands.

~Culture shapes the way we view women and men in a way that women and men are not shaped in the Bible.

~There was a wage gap in the medieval world. Women made about 71 cents to the dollar, if we put it in modern terms. And here we are in the 21st century and women make about 75 cents to the dollar compared with men for doing the same jobs. I think that is a very powerful example of something  going on in which women’s work is not valued in the same way as men. That women are seen as not as not quite as good as men around them.

Links to great things we discussed: 

https://bethallisonbarr.com/

The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women ...

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xo,

Alli