Consider the Women: A Provocative Guide to Three Matriarchs of the Bible

by Debbie Blue

Overview

A timely and compelling new look at three key women in the biblical narrative 

Among the mostly male-dominated narratives in Scripture, the stories of women can be game-changing. In this book Debbie Blue looks closely at Hagar (mother of Islam), Esther (Jewish heroine), and Mary (Christian matriarch)—and finds in them unexpected and inviting new ways of navigating faith and life. 

As she sets out to explore these biblical characters who live and move in places and ways outside of the strict boundaries of tradition, Blue encounters many real life characters who challenge her expectations and renew her hope—a Muslim tattoo artist, a Saudi Arabian sculptor, a rabbi in a Darth Vader costume, Aztec dancers at a feast of Guadalupe, an Islamic feminist scholar, and more.

Readers who embark with Blue on the sometimes unorthodox, subversive paths of these curious and lively figures will be led to envision more expansive and hopeful possibilities for faith, human connection, and love in our divided, violent world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467452243
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/07/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	592 KB

About the Author

Debbie Blue is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and one of the founding pastors of House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minnesota (once named "the Best Church for Non-Churrch goers"). Among her other books is the award-winning Consider the Birds: A Provocative Guide to Birds of the Bible.

Table of Contents

Introduction We Live Die by Stories 1

Part 1 Abrahamic Faith

1 Go from Your Father's House 13

Moving to New and Unknown Places

2 Rambunctious Monotheism 18

The Feminine Face of God

Part 2 Hagar

3 The Biblical Story 31

A Matriarch on Par with a Patriarch

4 The Mother of Islam 45

Looking for Hagar in the Qur'an, a Tattoo Parlor, and an Art Gallery

5 Full Faith and Effort 58

Where I Meet a Feminist Muslim Scholar

6 Iftar 68

Visiting a Mosque with My Daughter

Part 3 Esther

7 The Biblical Story 77

The Jewish Heroine Who Reclaims Eros

8 Purim 100

The Farce Awakens

9 Shoah 114

Scapegoating and Status-Seeking

Part 4 Mary

10 The Biblical Story 129

The Subversive Mother of God

11 The Shape-Shifting Queen 148

Goddesses, Guadalupe, and Grandmas

Acknowledgments 175

Notes 177

Readers Guide and Discussion Group Questions 197

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/14/2019

Blue (Consider the Birds), founding minister of House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minn., examines the biblical stories of Esther, Hagar, and Mary to highlight how underrepresented they are in contemporary Christian scholarship. A beautiful aspect of the biblical canon, writes Blue, is that one can look back on an endless matrix of interpretation written over thousands of years. Subversive rather than subservient, Blue’s book directly disrupts male narratives and interpretations. She offers fresh insights on her heroines: Esther is presented as a pioneering “young, clever, and Jewish” girl who opportunistically seizes her chance for a better life; Hagar is the first person in the Bible to weep; and Mary, Blue reminds readers, “breastfeeds God”—an aspect of Mary’s story that she feels is often conveniently overlooked. Blue also relates instances when her female subjects are celebrated enthusiastically, including at Purim parties and in modern Aztec dances. Her writing is clear, engaging, and funny but also maintains seriousness: “It’s not just women who will suffer if white men remain in their place of historic supremacy; it’s anyone who is not a wealthy, healthy, white male.” Blue’s message of a female-centric rereading of scripture will resonate with academics and any general reader of Christian theology. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Jana Reiss
— author of Flunking Sainthood
“Every time I read a book by Debbie Blue, I learn something. Here, the women of the Bible come alive, and even stories I thought I knew become fresh and dangerous. I love Blue’s sense of humor, her deep research, and above all her empathy for these biblical characters.”

Katherine Willis Pershey
— author of Very Married
“With her signature wit, eccentricity, and sweeping curiosity, Blue vividly imagines these ancient matriarchs in new and nuanced light. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, Consider the Women is just the book we need in a world suffused with inconsideration and misogyny.”

Alice Connor
— author of Fierce
“Consider the Women is part playful reminder of all the stories we’ve forgotten and part frustrated disapproval of where we’ve ended up. Blue delves deep into women who couldn’t be regulated, who didn’t recede into the background, who persevered. It’s an encouraging read in an era of physical and spiritual threat. What if, even for a moment, we consider the women?”

— Douglas Frank
“With her usual relaxed humor and sly understatement, Debbie Blue imagines her three biblical matriarchs—Hagar, Esther and Mary—into full and thoroughly messy humanity. Her colorful everyday language and spunky irreverence mask her deep wisdom and the profundity of her observations and help relieve the boredom so many of us feel when we try to read the Bible.”

Publishers Weekly (STARRED review)
"Subversive rather than subservient, Blue's book directly disrupts male narratives and interpretations. . . . Clear, engaging, and funny but also maintains seriousness."

Jennifer Grant
— author of Maybe God Is Like That Too and Love You More
"What happens when we dare explore Biblical stories from the perspectives of faith traditions different than our own? In Consider the Women, Debbie Blue does just that—and also looks at these stories through a matriarchal lens. The result—as is always the case in her provocative, engaging, inspiring writing—is a new way to approach and appreciate our odd, contrary, and sometimes disturbing Scriptures. We also gain a fresh look at Hagar, Esther, and Mary, “three matriarchs of the Bible.” Bonus: the reader’s guide at the end of the book moves way beyond rote Q&A and invites serious group study and contemplation. (Though “serious” is too dry and brittle a word; she compares Esther to Alexander Hamilton, for crying out loud, as she’s “not throwing away her shot.”) Highly recommend!"

Christian Century
“With her characteristic wit and insight, Debbie Blue weaves together the stories of Hagar, Esther, and Mary (the mother of Jesus) with stories of her own encounters with Muslims, Jews, and Christians who hold these biblical matriarchs in their hearts.”

Church Times
“Consider the Women is not only provocative: it is refreshing, and it has ‘attitude.’ . . . [Blue] brings the biblical stories alive with lots of contemporary parallels, and she investigates Hagar in Islam and Esther in Judaism with masterly bravado. . . . Witty, sharp, funny, and never boring.

From the Publisher