Dear Readers—

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Thank you for your interest in this work. Six years ago, the publisher and I agreed to print 2000 copies of the book. I am thrilled there are many interested in the work. And the interest has if anything, continued to grow. Rather than a second printing, we are very excited to make it available in a digital format for free. Digital fosters easier research and searching for scriptures.

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There have been a few changes made to the book. It has been edited and the Introduction is reordered for readability. I would like to thank my family for their input and competent editors who helped make it better. I would especially like to thank Dr. Michael Rhodes, emeritus Professor of Ancient Studies, as well as others on the faculty of the Brigham Young University and the Religious Studies Center for their insightful input and peer reviews. They made the book better, but all its faults remain my own.

 

In its new format, the book jumps right into the analysis to demonstrate definitively Jesus’ transformational power, culture-setting (and breaking!), doctrine, and love. Most of the former Introduction is now Appendix 1. It contains definitions and context. It will particularly be helpful to the reader for whom much of the New Testament context is unfamiliar. The appendices are designed to either be read or consulted as you read. Like the first edition, this book includes every women—named and unnamed—in the New Testament. I also attempted to reference every passage on women in the Gospels and Epistles, specifically tackling the troubling passages.

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Jesus is our exemplar in everything. This work demonstrates His life-giving lov especially to women, children, and servants. In a world overcome with division and strife, His messages of inclusion for women and children, of mutuality in marriage, and of the need to lose ourselves in love and service to each other, could not be more germane and timely.

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Lynne Hilton Wilson

February, 2022