Editors note: the following book review appears in the Spring 2022 issue of Eikon.
Beth Allison Barr. The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2021.
I was driving one day and turned on NPR. I was clearly tuning in part way through an interview. My ears perked up when I heard something about the Apostle Paul, then something about inerrancy. I thought, “what in the world is this?” Then I heard something about misogyny (or the like), and I thought, “Oh, okay.” I arrived at my destination, turned off the car, and headed in.
Subsequently, I worked out that the interview was with Beth Allison Barr, an Associate Professor of History and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Baylor University. I am a Baylor alum (Ph.D., 2000), so I was intrigued. The interview was related to her book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth.
The book is a mix between…
