Women’s History Updates

As we close out this year’s Women’s History Month, let us add to our resources.

Blog posts

In March 2023, we offered an updated list of our blog posts about women, goddesses, goddess worship and female imagery. Here we offer a list of our relevant blog posts since March 2024.

• “The Beauty and Artistry of Roman-era Mosaics,” posted January 23, 2026
• “Mary and the Magnificat: Words of Praise and Subversion,” posted December 12, 2025
• “Photos from Cities of Paul,” posted September 26, 2025
• “New Testament Basics: Counteracting Biblical Literalism,” posted August 22, 2025
• “Recent Archaeological Finds that Illuminate the Social World of Early Christianity,” posted July 25, 2025
• “Unnamed Women in the Christian Testament: Celebrating the Contributions of the Invisible,” posted March 28, 2025
• “Bishop Mary,” posted January 24, 2025
• “Friday the 13th and the Heritage of the Goddess,” posted September 13, 2024
• “Ancient Papyri, Household Codes, Slavery, and non-Western Paul: A Sampling of Current Christian Testament Research,” posted June 14, 2024
• “Uncovering Nympha: Scholarship and Female Leadership in the Early Jesus Movement,” posted April 26, 2024

New books and articles

In March 2024, we provided a sampling of resources about women, especially focused on the early Jesus followers, the New (Christian) Testament, nascent Christianity, and the ancient (Western) world. Research is always progressing, so here are additional recent books and articles that add to our wealth of knowledge in these areas.

• Abrahamsen, Valerie A. “St. Paul and Goddesses along the Via Egnatia: Paganism and the Early Jesus Movement in Ancient Macedonia,” The Independent Scholar, Vol. 9, https://www.ncis.org/the-independent-scholar/tis (December 2022) 40-55.
• Abrahamsen, Valerie A. “Titus and Other Jesus Missionaries on Crete: Encountering the Legacy of the Goddess,” The Independent Scholar, Vol. 10, https://www.ncis.org/the-independent-scholar/tis (December 2023) 64-78.
• Chin, Catherine M. and Caroline T. Schroeder, eds. Melania: Early Christianity through the Life of One Family. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2017.
• Cianca, Jenn. Sacred Ritual, Profane Space: The Roman House as Early Christian Meeting Place. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018.
• Cohick, Lynn H. and Amy Brown Hughes. Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second through Fifth Centuries. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017.
• Doerfler, Maria E. Jephthah’s Daughter, Sarah’s Son: The Death of Children in Late Antiquity. Oakland, Calif.: University of California Press, 2019.
• Felicetti, Elizabeth. Unexpected Abundance: The Fruitful Lives of Women without Children. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2023.
• Hylen, Susan E. Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2023.
• Jensen, Robin M. From Idols to Icons: The Emergence of Christian Devotional Images in Late Antiquity. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2022.
• Johnson, Elizabeth A., ed. The Strength of Her Witness: Jesus Christ in the Global Voices of Women. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2016.
• Kateusz, Ally. Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
• Matis, Hannah. A History of Women in Christianity to 1600. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2023.
• Tilford, Nicole L., ed. Women and the Society of Biblical Literature. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2019.
• Peeler, Amy. Women and the Gender of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2022.
• Schiff, Stacy. Cleopatra: A Life. New York: Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company, 2010.
• Zamfir, Korinna and Uta Poplutz, eds. Reading Women in the New Testament Letters. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2024.

 

Note: Starting in April 2026, we will reduce the number of posts and start posting on the third Friday of the month around 6:00 Eastern Time in order to free up time for other writing projects. There may be occasional special posts at other times. Thank you for reading!