In the latter part of 2018 Pastor Benjamin Blankenship was tasked by the Holy Spirit to write a book regarding the Bible’s egalitarian view on women within ministry. Throughout the entirety of scripture and history alike, there is a consistent pattern where God calls women to step forward and religion berates them. The book Thank God for Women Preachers acts to serve asboth a Biblical and historical marker of such.
Like the man dying in the gutter whom the good Samaritan helped, there is an emphatic difference between being Pharisaical or Christ-like characters who crossed his path. Jesus told that the religious men (the priest and Pharisee) both looked on and felt suffering man didn’t personally have anything to do with him. They each stepped to the other-side of the road ignoring his plight. In extreme contrast to this, the unlikely hero whom Christ praised, took compassion on this complete stranger who had been victimized. He went out of his way to help someone he’d likely not see again in this world. It cost him time, energy, personal supplies, and money. Yet, he had the love of God in his heart and empathized with someone he didn’t even know.
Thank God for Women Preacher not only goes to great lengths to establish the misappropriation, misinterpretation, and miscommunication of scripture within the Biblical canon which has done damage to women; but likewise there is an additional chapter that deals with the Biblical statutes for divorce (in detail). Like the woman’s biology keeps her from meeting a falsestandard, the divorcee is also often oppressed or suppressed by sanctimonious self-righteous men.
This book challenges the reader to ask Who is my final authority? When examining the Bible it’s clear that the passages of scripture which are utilized to devalue women are several distorted through a long history of bigotry towards our female co-laborers in the faith.
