Good Girls, Bad Girls of the New Testament

Today is St. Patrick's Day, which is now a day mainly to honor the Irish. A couple days from now, the lesser-known St. Joseph's Day does the same for Italians. I noted here a long time ago that we don't hear much of all about Joseph in the New Testament. And, since I'm Irish (mom) / Italian (dad), I created my own St. JP Day (3/18) for us.

The original origins of the two (three?) days as saints days make a brief reference to Good Girls, Bad Girls of the New Testament: Their Enduring Lessons by T. J. Wray relevant. She picks twelve (a symbolic number), but basically hard to find many more women (especially since a few others pop up while discussing them) who get more than a passing reference.

The author is a professor at a religious college (she also co-authored a book on the origins of Satan, which Elaine Pagels also wrote about). The book itself is basically historical though does not challenge the basic material covered. The chapters discuss the women and then have an "enduring lessons" section for discussion and contemplation.

I think some of the enduring lessons assume stuff from limited information. Overall, however, the book is interesting and puts forth reasonable arguments.  She notes at one point there are five versions of what a reference to "siblings" means when used for Jesus, the reference is only an issue because of Catholic Virgin Mary concerns.  She later (without saying why) says the stepsiblings option is the most likely. I don't think so.  

The author argues (she said she changed her mind on the matter) that Pilate's wife actually was against Jesus when she sent a note to her husband that she had a dream about Jesus.  The basic idea was that she was saying Jesus was a true believer and implicitly that Pilate should beware.  

I guess.  The reference seems a bit too bare to tell too much. More convincing to me is the idea Mary Magdalene was an older widow, which particularly would cause less talk when she (with other women) traveled around with Jesus and his mostly masculine disciples.  The view many have is that she is a sexy younger woman. Having her more Mary's age (40s) or older would probably bother some people.  

The book provides some interesting context, including the use of non-biblical sources, to help understand the women involved.  The book is a little over two hundred pages and is padded with information surrounding the women themselves.  So, since we know basically nothing about Pilate's wife, we learn a lot about Pilate.  This is fine.  

The enduring lesson sections are a bit too drawn out at times.  Overall, I enjoyed the book.  I will check out the Old Testament version and another book she wrote about biblical literacy since both are available in libraries I have access to (if I get all three, I will get books from three systems -- NYPL, Westchester, and Manhattan College).  Enjoy the holidays!

ETA: The OT book is a bit shorter but of the same caliber.