First Presbyterian Church of Potsdam, New York

A community gathering in Christ and ministering as God leads

Bible Study Group

BIBLE STUDY starts this Sunday, September 11, at 9:00am in the Head Start room. Pastor Rich Will will be leading a study about women in the Bible. He’ll be using two additional books as resources: Just Wives? by Katherine Doob Sakenfeld and Back to the Well by Frances Taylor Gench. Everyone is invited to attend and participate.

Just Wives? examines the complexity of the lives of eleven women in the Old Testament, including Sarah, Ruth, Naomi, Bathsheba and others. Back to the Well focuses on certain women who encounter Jesus. The author analyzes language, sociocultural and literary context, structure of each story while recounting traditional and contemporary interpretations.

Everyone is invited to attend.

Some Reviews of These Books and Some Remarks about Their Authors

Sakenfeld, Katharine Doob. Just Wives?: Stories of Power & Survival in the Old Testament & Today Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003, pp. vii + 136. Paperback.

• Links to three PDF reviews (the first in French!) at the site Review of Biblical Literature.

Gench, Frances Taylor. Back to the Well: Women's Encounters with Jesus in the Gospel. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004, pp.xvi + 192. Paperback.

• Links to three PDF reviews at the site Review of Biblical Literature.
• Brief note on Frances Taylor Dench at the site Union PSCE.

Some Sources - Women in the Bible

• Women in the Bible. 188 names cross-referenced. From WebBible Encyclopedia.
• Women of the Bible. From www.alabaster-jars.com.
• The Bible's Lost Stories. Article by Barbara Kantrowitz and Anne Underwood in Newsweek about the role of women in the scriptures. From MSNBC.msn.com.