Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful

I decided to start “listening” to the voices and stories of the women within scripture’s pages from a woman’s point of view, for we know God created woman with good intent. To woman God gave the power to bring forth life, to be strength, courage, and a powerful rescue to the people of earth. Adam was unable to go it alone. Only with Eve, his equal and his counterpart, bringing with her the gifts of life, love, hope, strength, courage, faithfulness and power would Adam survive. Together, they had the potential to thrive.

To study 32 women from the Bible, Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful

From the blog

Martyrdom of the Mothers, Part Two

Last week I gave the cultural and Christian context for martyrdom, particularly of women, and mothers at that. I also gave the context of choice, highlighting the difference between Perpetua’s and Felicity’s grisly end in the arena, and Paula’s “living” martyrdom of poverty and self-denial for the sake of Christ.

This week I look at the context of their children.

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

Martyrdom of the Mothers, Part One

The translation of Perpetua’s first-hand account (in Greek) of the weeks leading up to her martyrdom, her visions, and that of one of her companions, of the loss of her son, and the loss of her servant’s daughter, is available in the public domain following this link. It is only six pages long, the last page written posthumously by someone of her Christian assembly who was there to watch her die in the arena that day.

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

Tabitha (Dorcas)

The unique and intriguing story of a woman with dual citizenship, as it were, a woman known for her good deeds, the only woman who was actually called disciple in the entire Christian Testament, whose death rocked her Christian community to its core, and her deliverance by being raised back to life generated widespread belief in the Lord.

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful

I decided to start “listening” to the voices and stories of the women within scripture’s pages from a woman’s point of view, for we know God created woman with good intent. To woman God gave the power to bring forth life, to be strength, courage, and a powerful rescue to the people of earth. Adam was unable to go it alone. Only with Eve, his equal and his counterpart, bringing with her the gifts of life, love, hope, strength, courage, faithfulness and power would Adam survive. Together, they had the potential to thrive.

Keep reading
by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

A Better Reading of 1 Corinthians 11 and 14

Paul shook his head and muttered to himself. He could feel his temperature rise, even against the close heat of the small room he’d been given, to spend the night. But, there was no mistaking what he was reading, as the simple, clay oil lamp flickered its light across the papyrus. “God!” he thought. “God! Why!”

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

Colossians 3: Household Codes

Paul worked from the teachings of Jesus. Everything Paul wrote must be sifted through the Gospels, or it won’t read right. Jesus was very clear—a point we have tragically ignored for most of Christendom’s existence—that we are not to rule over anyone within the kingdom.

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

Let Her Learn!

I learned in my own Greek class that whenever a group was mixed, male and female, only the male gender was used to describe the group. If you were looking at a group of, let’s say, six girls and one boy, you would use male gendered language to describe that group, if you were speaking Koine Greek.

Now, just think about that for a minute, as you review famous Bible phrases and passages

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

Three Keys to 1 Timothy

What if we’ve been trying to unlock 1 Timothy from a modern, western, Age of Enlightenment perspective when the letter itself is based upon the logic, letter-writing customs, and Greek idiosyncrasies of the ancient near east?

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

What is the Point of 1 Timothy 2:12?

The Chiastic Structure or Pattern shows a different emphasis in 1 Timothy, one in which proto-gnostic teaching was becoming a problem that must be addressed head on. Timothy was to make sure everyone was properly educated before they were entrusted with being deacons and elders, teachers and leaders within the church.

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

1 Timothy 2:11-12

The part people often miss is that Paul wanted women in the classroom, learning scripture, theology, Greek and Hebrew, reading and writing, and presumably teaching and evangelizing, right alongside the men.

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

Ezer Kenegdo

God made woman to share with man a mutual concern and responsibility, a shared commission to govern the earth, with united commitment to each other that reflected God’s own eternal three-in-one being of equal deity and power.

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by Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer

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About Me

My passion for the Bible began when I was eight or nine years old, somewhere in there, when on occasion my dad would take me to synagogue, where he sang. I remember watching the men in synagogue pray the words of scripture, murmuring and weeping, lovingly touching and kissing the Torah, and I wished I could read what they were reading.

Imagine, then, my wonder when I was given a Bible of my own!

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Let’s hang out

[Catacombs of Saint Gennaro | By Dominik Matus – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58309035]