Shaking things up
Beth Allison Barr is at it again
“Barr upends everything you thought you knew about Christianity and gender.”
That’s what I said about Beth Allison Barr’s first book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood. She’d sent me the manuscript for endorsement several months before it published, and as soon as I started reading it, I knew what it was going to do. It was going to blow things up.
That’s exactly what happened.
The book became a best-seller and changed countless women’s lives. (And men’s lives—I often hear from men when I’m on the road who tell me how her book opened their eyes and changed their trajectories.)
Now, she’s done it again.
Becoming the Pastor’s Wife promises to be every bit as disruptive as the first.
Powerful doesn’t begin to describe it. It is gutting.
On the surface, it’s about the role of the pastor’s wife. But it’s really about so much more than that.
In Beth’s trademark fashion, she draws on her extensive historical expertise to show how out-of-sync contemporary evangelical ideals of female leadership are with centuries of church history. She weaves this historical narrative seamlessly together with her own experience as a pastor’s wife and as a scholar. Then, she employs her expert research skills to track down chilling accounts of what protecting male power has meant for Christian women.
It is a book you will want to read. And it’s a book that you will want to process together with others. Trust me on this.
The book is available for preorder wherever you buy books, but right now Beth’s publisher has a special deal when you order more than one—you get merch!
IF YOU PREORDER TWO (2) COPIES:
You get a lenticular magnet that changes between the women featured on the cover for Becoming the Pastor's Wife
What are lenticular magnets, you ask? Here’s a glimpse of my personal collection. (My youngest likes to rearrange them artistically on our fridge.)
IF YOU PREORDER FIVE (5) OR MORE COPIES:
You get a pink t-shirt that says, "Women: Preaching and Pastoring Since AD 1" in your preferred size (XS-XL)
You get a lenticular magnet that changes between the women featured on the cover for Becoming the Pastor's Wife
Buy at the bookstore of your choice. For merch, record your preorders here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0glmIAUHr1-gneDRZ5yYXjX7rlfn58O7u2BKbGDWNUR---A/viewform?pli=1
The book releases in March, but by preordering you won’t just have a chance to get magnets and t-shirts, but you’ll also give the book a boost. Publishers and booksellers pay attention to pre-orders to decide how many books to print, order, and promote. If you want to support an author, the best way to do this is to pre-order their book!
I wish I had that book this minute. As a pastor’s wife for forty years and unable to shake my own husband out of his stance on this subject I watched in fury and sorrow as our relatively moderate church just installed three new leadership pastors after the retirement of my husband and the senior pastor. The newly installed pastors were three middle aged white males of admirable quality and the only women on the stage were their wives and the wives of the male elders called up to pray for them. Despite this being a moderate major church in New England that weathered the current crises by staying mum with no political comments and would decry any association with Christian Nationalism, it has a also has a large African American contingency that is also not represented in leadership. Since my husband retired I have refused to go to the church. I would have protested the new leadership but there is no avenue available for a woman to voice an opinion.
My daughters left the church when my youngest, asked to speak on a panel on Women’s Leadership, found the panel abruptly cancelled when it became obvious that the direction of the discussion would draw attention to the lack of women leaders in the church.
I feel devastated that in being a good wife to my husband, I failed my daughters.
If I had this book, copies would be sent to the entire pastoral staff and elders.
Thanks for listening.
Sounds like I need to preorder a few more! I do feel like Beth is gonna blow it open with this one. She's someone I've really come to admire these last few yrs, staying in a Christian space and persevering despite all the crap thrown her way. And I've just loved watching this thesis develop and come to fruition.