The best books that are critical of religion's view of women

Chris Wind Author Of Thus Saith Eve
By Chris Wind

Who am I?

This collection started when I had to take a course on Milton as part of my Literature degree program. It didn't make any sense to me blame Eve for the downfall of Man. (I hadn't yet developed much of a feminist consciousness and so didn't realize that women are always blamed... perhaps especially by men, perhaps especially for their own—i.e., men's—behaviour...) "I am Eve" (the first piece in the collection) is actually based on my term paper. After I graduated, I decided to go through the Bible to see who else needed to protest... 

I wrote...

Thus Saith Eve

By Chris Wind

Book cover of Thus Saith Eve

What is my book about?

Eve should be blamed for choosing the apple? For choosing knowledge over obedience? Knowledge of good and evil? She thinks not. And, well, you can imagine what Noah’s wife had to say about his grand idea... 

Thus Saith Eve presents several 'epistles', each 'written by' one of the women in The Bible, examining her role, her story, her supposed behavior…  Included are Lilith, Abel, Cain's wife, Noah's wife, Hagar, Zipporah, 'the certain woman', Delilah, Eshta, Ruth, the Queen of Sheba, Vashti, Judith, Mary, the mother of God, Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalen, Thecla, and Satan. (Also available in print as part of Satellites Out of Orbit which includes similar collections focusing on women from mythology, fairy tales, Shakespeare, and history).

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The Books I Picked & Why

The Woman's Bible: A Classic Feminist Perspective

By Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Book cover of The Woman's Bible: A Classic Feminist Perspective

Why this book?

Written in 1899, this is still the book to read. It contains thorough and thoughtful commentary on the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (part one) and Joshua to Revelation (part two). 369 pages in all. It includes the original text to be commented upon, so there is no need to go out and buy a Bible. And it is, in a word, mind-blowing. (And it will depress the hell out of you to see where we still are 123 years later.)

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Is the Pope Catholic? A Woman Confronts Her Church

By Joanna Manning

Book cover of Is the Pope Catholic? A Woman Confronts Her Church

Why this book?

From the back cover: "Drawing on her experience as a teacher in the Catholic school system, a former nun, and an outspoken advocate of women's equality, Joanna Manning powerfully articulates how John Paul's views on women are not only a disaster for the Catholic Church, but are also a threat to the well-being of all women, regardless of belief." Well-put. (I imagine there are, and if not, there should be, at least one of these books for each religion/sect... Certainly the Jewish and the Islamic religions are misogynistic as well...)

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The Born Again Skeptic's Guide To The Bible

By Ruth Hurmence Green

Book cover of The Born Again Skeptic's Guide To The Bible

Why this book?

Although the scope of this book is broader than the title of my book list, Green does have a chapter dedicated to "Treatment of Women in the Sweetest Story Ever Told." I believe, like she did, that an almost sure way to atheism is to actually read The Bible – which she did while convalescing from cancer in the 1970s). Two years later, she wrote this book in her 60s.  

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Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature

By Luise Schottroff, Martin Rumscheidt

Book cover of Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature

Why this book?

I'm recommending this book because just—wow. Almost a thousand pages of articles that are feminist in their biblical interpretation. Pity this didn't exist in the late 1980s when I wrote my own book. (It was published in 2012.) (Actually, better that it didn't exist back then—I might not have seen the need for my own modest contribution to the field!)

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The Handmaid's Tale

By Margaret Atwood

Book cover of The Handmaid's Tale

Why this book?

Of course! This one has to be on a list of books that are critical of religion's view of women! Even though it's set in the future, some things never change. And, I believe Atwood said as much when she said that everything that happens in the novel had already happened somewhere at some point in time.  

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