Initial Thoughts on A Year of Biblical Womanhood

So last week I saw something on my twitter feed about applying to be a part of a book review and launch team for Rachel Held Evans' new book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood.  When I first heard about this book, which was probably at least a year and a half ago, when Rachel was in the process of "living biblically" for one year (something about not wearing mixed fibers and sleeping in a tent in her yard), I thought she was absolutely nuts.

I think I was reacting out of my love-hate relationship with the Bible.  I love it for what it is and for the richness contained therein, but I absolutely HATE how it is used as a weapon and a wedge between people.  But I was also intrigued by the whole idea.  So I applied for this group and was accepted, me and around 75 other people or so.

What does it mean to live biblically?  What does Biblical Womanhood mean?    Can you live biblically while still living with the full rights afforded to women in our culture (while admitting we still have a ways to go)?  What does this book say about gender roles?  What does it say about people who identify as queer or gender-queer?  How does this sort of approach to living into the texts inform my ministry?  And most importantly, what can I learn?

I have yet to start reading this book, that will happen this weekend after I finish reading Martin Luther's The Bondage of the Will, because I am cool like that.  And I have a particularly demanding professor for that course.  Stay tuned.