Lauren Ducommun

Book Review:
Jesus Through the Eyes of Women by Rebecca McLaughlin
The Gospel Coalition, 2022

Why did so many women in the Bible flock to Jesus? Why was the early church almost two-thirds female during a time when the Greco-Roman empire was disproportionately male?

I continue to be so impressed by Rebecca McLaughlin’s writing. She is aware of the cultural questions we are pondering, and then she studies the Scriptures and answers in a beautifully written and well-researched book that is told in a gracious and encouraging way.

In “Jesus Through the Eyes of Women”, McLaughlin presents to us women who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection and provides the cultural and biblical context which then in turn deepens our understanding of Jesus. We see him through their eyes and their testimonies just increase our love for our Savior—the Savior of the world!

Quotes:

“Indeed, the way that Jesus treated women tore up the belief that women are innately inferior to men: a belief that was pervasive in the ancient world.”

“…God grants Elizabeth the gift of prophecy to glimpse who Jesus is, even before he is born. Chronologically, these are the first prophetic words spoken by a human and recorded in the Bible since the prophet Malachi four centuries earlier.”

“In a culture where women were often silenced, Jesus commissions a female disciple to announce his resurrection to male disciples.”