Fearless Daughters of the Bible by J. Lee Grady

I love this book! Love it so much after reading Women, Slaves and the Gender Debate. It's not a theological book (it's more like an encouraging one), but it makes so much more sense than Women, Slaves and the Gender Debate (henceforth, "the other book")

From the very start, the importance of women is affirmed. The book says "when you read the Bible, it is obvious that God often anoints women to be initiators." The book goes one to take about a varied bunch of women, including The Five Daughters of Zelophehad (the courage to challenge tradition), Miriam (the courage to lead in a man's world), Priscilla (the courage to mentor others) and many many others. There are 15 women/groups of women in total, so that's a lot of courage and a lot of encouraging.

In addition, each chapter talks about various women that the author has met, proving that it's not only in the Bible that women was called to take charge and lead.

There is this really strong contrast between America and the rest of the world (particularly China) in this book. The author talks about how in America, some Churches are debating things like whether women can lead worship, while in China, women are pastoring thousands of Churches each. What a huge difference!

Because I believe that God gives his gifts as he sees fit, and not according to gender, I agree completely with this book. There's a Chinese saying which I don't know and can't be bothered to check, which goes like "Women hold up half the sky". There's really no reason for us to cower behind the guys when it comes to doing battle on God's behalf.

In conclusion, this is an excellent book that everyone should read. You don't need to be a girl to appreciate the message of courage, and it's fully of people you should know about.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.