Abstract
In this entry level book Susan Hylen offers an introduction to the social role of women in the New Testament world. This book is a popular level version of her 2018 Oxford University Press book, Women in the New Testament World. It covers many of the same topics as her earlier work but in a rearranged structure. Finding Phoebe aims to dismantle common assumptions about women’s lives in the New Testament period that shape our interpretation of New Testament texts. Using Phoebe as an entry point into the discussion, she pushes back against the misconception that ‘women weren’t able to do much,’ were ‘unable to wield authority’, ‘did not own property or participate in civic life in significant ways’ and were ‘not educated’ (p. 3). Instead, Hylen encourages the reader to have a more nuanced understanding of the social history of women by exploring the historical evidence around each of these themes.
Finding Phoebe is split into four parts. Part one examines property ownership and management, marriage, and occupations. Part two looks at social influence, social status, patronage, and education. Part three highlights the virtues of women, including modesty, industry, loyalty, and marital harmony. Lastly, part four explores everyday speech, prayer and prophecy, and speech and silence.
Each chapter, typically, first explores evidence from the ancient world relevant to the topic including ancient texts, inscriptions, and archaeological evidence from a range of environments (e.g., Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Jewish). This socio-historical work provides most of the content of the short chapters and lays the foundation for the proceeding discussion of the New Testament evidence. The readers’ engagement with New Testament material comes primarily through their own examination of the New Testament texts prompted by the study questions provided. Consequently, Finding Phoebe does not give the reader strong articulations about how the New Testament material should be interpreted. Instead, it encourages the reader to utilise the historical evidence to look at dimensions of the texts again and seeks to foster both new insights and further questioning. Therefore, the benefits gained from this book are dependent on how much the reader wants to engage in this exercise.
Hylen’s book is a balanced, lucid and engaging introduction to the topic. One of its strengths is that it allows readers to explore the New Testament material on their own terms. This makes the book more accessible to audiences who might be put off engaging with the topic of the role of women if it were framed in either a more directive tone or with an obvious feminist agenda. It can, conversely, have downsides too, in that unless readers are open to thinking through historical evidence again, then they may not see beyond their established position. Therefore, this book would be of most use in a group discussion environment, whether within a university, seminary, or local church, where participants will likely have a range of opinions and, therefore, group discussion around this book will have more potential to foster new insights and lead to better, historically grounded interpretation.