Sunday, November 1, 2015

Good Girls, Bad Girls of the New Testament, by T.J. Wray

I was given an advance readers copy of this book. It will be released on March 2, 2016.

T.J. Wray takes us into the New Testament and non-biblical historical works to give short bio’s of twelve women of influence from the time around Christ’s life on earth and the times of the early church in the Middle East.

Each chapter will delve into the history of one or two women and give details about their lives as well as dialogue about the Scriptural texts that they are a part of. The work is not to heavily academic for the average lay person, it is well written and interesting for those wanting more detail about the women of Christ time.

Unfortunately for me I do not think that T. J. Wray gives the Biblical text the credit that it is due and that she does not take it as scared scripture of God’s word. Why, do you ask? Because I think that she makes some assumptions that the text does not always give.

There are details that are not supported by Biblical text. Such as her claim that Simon the Leper is the father of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. No where in Scripture is that fact given, nor is it a fact given by the Jewish historian Josephus. So, this leads me to believe that Ms. Wray takes some liberties with her interpretation of scripture.

Scripture should speak for itself and not be made an assumptive process.


So, with that said, I did enjoy reading her detailed script of the lives of the women, but I did not allow her discussions of non-Biblical facts interrupt my enjoyment. I have studied scripture and historians and thus have formed my own opinions. Thus they are mine. Thus I must allow Ms. Wray her opinions. But for my loyal readers I will just give this disclaimer to not accept assumptions that Ms. Wray makes to take the weight of fact without your own research into the historical texts of the time.