With fresh interpretations of scripture tuned to today’s woman, author/activist Katey Zeh frees ancient text from the bonds of tradition, offering new vision.

With the stated intention of evoking dialogue --- even disagreement --- Zeh enlivens the biblical accounts of several notable women. She portrays their struggles, courage and conflict in the light of her own personal perspective as someone who was raised as a Christian but often felt perplexed, even dumbfounded, by the conventional explanations of these women’s actions and feelings: “How could women be to blame for all the evils of the world?”

"Any woman who encounters this intelligent and very accessible book will quickly sense that its author is someone who would enjoy sitting with a group and exchanging ideas, remaining open to learning from others."

The relationship among Sarai, wife of Abram, and the servant woman Hagar, presents much food for thought. Abram, one of the most revered figures in the Old Testament, freely gave his wife as a prostitute to his Egyptian oppressors (claiming she was his sister), and when Sarai had produced no children, he impregnated Hagar, apparently with Sarai’s approval. Then Hagar, doubtless feeling a certain pride in having satisfied her master’s whim, begins to act haughty towards Sarai, and is banished to the wilderness where she gives birth to Abram’s son, Ishmael. But there, we learn, she is blessed by God, who tells her he will “greatly multiply” her offspring. Zeh, who is a justice-seeking faith leader, relates Hagar’s plight --- and that of Sarai --- to the desperate situation of women trapped in modern-day sex trafficking. She focuses on Hagar’s courage, and reminds us that Hagar conversed with God, surely a significant reward for her strength and spirit.

Other women whose lives are examined here have been historically characterized mostly by men, including popes, with predictable bias, which Zeh seeks to expose. These include sisters Leah and Rachel, the immigrant Ruth, Hannah and, of course Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary Magdalene, Zeh believes, has been particularly miscast, unfairly shown as a prostitute. Yet she was the first person to discover the empty tomb and declare that Jesus had risen from the dead --- in a sense, the first evangelist.

Two lesser known figures are Shiprah and Puah, Hebrew midwives who were ordered by the king of Egypt to murder sons of Hebrew women at birth. They did not obey him, and one result was the birth and concealment of Moses. Zeh suggests that these midwives and others like them, in league with the mothers they cared for, may have spawned a widespread resistance movement. The author also notes that, ironically, the Egyptian king “wrongly assumes that boys pose the real threat to his power.”

Zeh’s writing reveals her scriptural erudition, yet also conveys a sense of conversation, often linking a sacred text to her own experience as a girl, wife, mother and advocate. Any woman who encounters this intelligent and very accessible book will quickly sense that its author is someone who would enjoy sitting with a group and exchanging ideas, remaining open to learning from others. WOMEN RISE UP definitely presents multiple angles for reading biblical tales, with an open mind and a refusal to accept as “gospel” the template imposed upon stories of bold, generally oppressed women by the controlling minds of church fathers.

Zeh’s book is highly recommended, along with her other professional endeavors --- gender justice advocate, minister and co-host of the "Kindreds" podcast for women of “faith, feminism and friendship.”