162 - Women Who Knew Paul

Women Who Knew Paul
By Florence M. Gillman
Collegeville, MN, Michael Glazier Books, The Liturgical Press, 1992. 95 pp. $6.95.

In size alone, this offering to the Zacchaeus Studies: New Testament series points out just how sparse is the information concerning women in the New Testament world. Gillman's intention is to "bring some of the women who knew Paul out of his shadow by introducing and describing them as fully as the limited literary resources will allow." Depending upon New Testament sources, extrabiblical literary sources and archaeology, Gillman constructs portraits of approximately thirty women. She puts them in categories thematically, according to stated relationships and roles: women in Paul's family, those remembered for their faith, women as heads of households, co-workers, and women of means and influence in Jewish society. In addition to fleshing out these women's lives and roles, Gillman sees them also as potential types, representative of the larger number of unnamed and forgotten women who worked for and supported the early church and the missionary efforts of Paul. If Junia (Romans 16:7) is an apostle, as she asserts, this would be highly significant for all women as they look to the church for acceptance of their gifts and callings.

This is a concise, well-researched, and thorough look at particular women who are mentioned in the New Testament. While Gillman acknowledges all of the biblical sources are not of equal weight in historical reconstruction, she is at times more optimistic than the evidence might warrant.

Kathryn L. De Witt
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, NJ.