Rachel Held Evans - A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband Master&quot

Praise for
A Year of Biblical Womanhood

Funny and fearless, Rachel Held Evans is twice the woman Ill ever be.

Daniel Radosh, writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and author of Rapture Ready!

A bittersweet cocktail of wisdom and absurdity that will charm you, entertain you, seduce you and, finally, instruct you! A Year of Biblical Womanhood is funny, droll, charming, and deadly serious, all in one set of covers.

Phyllis Tickle, author and lecturer

Because I first heard Rachels voice in reaction to public tomfoolery about womens roles in the church and society, I half-expected A Year of Biblical Womanhood to be sort of... reactionary. After all, how could a liberated woman covering her head and bowing in reverence to her liberated husband be anything else? Yet with her signature wit, Rachel Held Evans A Year of Biblical Womanhood offers a disarming treatmentaka fair and balanced!of biblical womanhood. Specifically, readers will be equipped to read the texts more faithfully and to discern what faithfulness looks like for women and men today. Modestly cloaked in starched apron garb, Rachel Held Evans serves a feast to thoughtful men and women who are hungry for insight.

Margot Starbuck, author and speaker

A Year of Biblical Womanhood will instruct as it delights, and delight as it instructs. Of course its about womanhood, an incredibly important subject for 100% of the population. But its about a lot more toohow we read and interpret the Bible, for starters, and how weboth men and womengrapple with issues like justice, charity, silence, and grace in todays frenetic world. On top of that, Rachel is such a gifted writer... youll be warmed by her good sense, good humor, and keen eye for beauty and insight on every page.

Brian D. McLaren, author, speaker, activist, brianmclaren.net

A triumph! Rachel Held Evans has written a comprehensive, impeccably researched, heartfelt, whimsical, scripture honoring book about the role and experience of women in Christian society. This magnificent achievement should be required reading in every church, home, student ministry, college, and seminary in the world. Eshet Chayil!

Ian Morgan Cron, author, Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir of Sorts and Chasing Francis: A Pilgrims Tale

Rachel Held Evans is my kind of woman, Christian, and writer. She cares too much about the Bible to read what it says without wrestling with what it means. Rachels new book is full of humor, humility, and truth.

Glennon Doyle Melton, author of Momastery.com and Carry On, Warrior

A Year of Biblical Womanhood will challenge, amuse, inspire and entertain you. I applaud Rachels sharp sense of humor as she attempted the near impossible. I also appreciate her gut-honesty, willingness to try crazy things, and ability to admit when she didnt have all the answers. A compelling story told brilliantly.

Mary DeMuth, author of Everything: What You Gain and What You Give to Become like Jesus

With curiosity, honesty, and humor, Rachel Held Evans takes readers along on her year-long adventure in Biblical womanhood that manages to be both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

An unexpected, laugh-out-loud then turn the page and tear up, enjoyable and poignant read. By following Evans journey, youll see yourself and the women of the Bible in deeper and nuanced ways.

Shayne Moore, author and activist

Rachels disarming and inviting sense of storytelling coupled with her sharp wit makes for delightful retellings of biblical stories. This peek into her courageous venture into a year of biblical womanhood ought to be required reading for all thoughtful evangelicalsmale or femalewhose response to Scripture is usually an unqualified nod of approval.

Jennifer Bird, associate professor of religion, Greensboro College

When Christians allude to biblical womanhood, they seem to mean someone safely feminine and clad in floral prints. In her project, Rachel Held Evans uncovers something far more mysterious, a picture by turns glorious and disturbing. Blending laugh-out-loud moments with serious cultural critique, Evans discovers that living the actual teachings of the Bible means surrendering idealized role-playing in favor of becoming an eshet chayila woman of strength and wisdom.

Jana Riess, author of Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor

Rachel Held Evans is smart and funny and gutsy, willing to tackle the most sacred cows, willing to ask the trickiest questions. For all of us who have found the term biblical womanhood somewhere between confusing and crazy-making, her voice is one of intelligence and courage.

Shauna Niequist, author of Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet, www.shaunaniequist.com

A Year of Biblical Womanhood is thoughtful, witty, and eye-opening, one of the most important books Ive read in a long time. In detailing her Old Testament adventure, the always earnest Rachel Held Evans flexes her writing muscle by painting vivid scenes, inspiring prose, and offering well-played opinions doused with persuasive theology. A Year of Biblical Womanhood is a brave book, proving Evans knack for packing a powerful punch while still managing to remain devout, humble, full of grace.

Matthew Paul Turner, author of Churched

A YEAR OF
BIBLICAL
WOMANHOOD

2012 by Rachel Held Evans

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Published in association with the literary agency of WordServe Literary Group, Ltd., 10152 S. Knoll Circle, Highlands Ranch, Colorado 80130.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked DRB are taken from the Douay-Rheims Bible (public domain).

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version (public domain).

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked UPDATED NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Other versions briefly quoted include: the American Standard Version (public domain). Common English Bible (CEB), 2011. THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. THE GOOD NEWS TRANSLATION. 1976, 1992 by The American Bible Society. The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Used by permission. All rights reserved. New Century Version. 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.