Half The Church by Carolyn Custis James
(Format used for this read: Print–paperback)
This book was given to me as a gift from my sister in law Laura at Christmas and I just got around to reading it!
Here is a summary:
“Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This all but shuts women out from contributing to God’s kingdom as they were designed to do. Furthermore, the plight of women in the Majority World demands a Christian response, a holistic embrace of all that God calls women and men to be in his world.
The loudest voices speaking into women’s lives in the twenty-first century thus far come from either fundamentalist Islam or radical feminism. And neither can be allowed to carry the day.
The Bible contains the highest possible view of women and invests women’s lives with cosmic significance regardless of their age, stage of life, social status, or culture. Carolyn Custis James unpacks three transformative themes the Bible presents to women that raise the bar for women and calls them to join their brothers in advancing God’s gracious kingdom on earth. These new images of what can be in Christ free women to embrace the life God gives them, no matter what happens. Carolyn encourages readers with a positive, kingdom approach to the changes, challenges, and opportunities facing women throughout the world today.”
The end of each chapter has discussion questions and I would have liked to read this with others to unpack together.
I appreciated the author’s knowledge and there were lots of noteworthy things I wrote down.
While most of what she said was quite good and powerful, there were some things I was like 🤷♀️ about.
My opinion on it:
Kinda liked it.
Kinda didn’t.
She says some great things.
She says some not so great things.
I agree with her on some points.
I disagree with her on other points.
Bottom line:
Wasn’t the most profound book I have read but it did teach me some things, got me thinking, opened my eyes to perspectives I had not considered and had me analyzing the Word…so that’s never a bad thing.
Time was not wasted in these pages but I did not have any profound takeaways.
(One important thing I did take from it is she kept referencing a book called “Half The Sky” that is now on my “to read list)