Nijay K. Gupta

Confession: I feel strange rating a biblical studies book with five stars. I imagine some folks think "5 Stars" must mean the person who read a book just "swallowed" every single point or argument in it.

A book like this isn't for just swallowing the information but for using the space it provides for thinking. For processing. For gaining perspective. Given the major perspective-shift I've been going through for some years now, this was a great "processing" book for me. I'd heard some of the show more information here before, and some of it I hadn't.

I think it's important to note that this also isn't a book where the author presents baseless suppositions to adhere to contemporary ideals. Rather, he presents critical consideration of the actual culture and historical circumstances of the ancient world in which Christianity originated. (Because, no, Christianity did not come into being inside of a cultural and religious vacuum, with no outside context or influence.) The author combines the look at history and related historical writings with a closer look at Scripture: at details in the Bible that people may often breeze over, or dismiss as insignificant. Or read with little to no context. Or take out of context. Or...not even look and see for themselves.

But this is definitely a subject worthy of serious pausing, looking, and seeing for oneself.

I found this book to be well worth the read.

I received an advance reading copy of this book for an honest review. show less

Summary: The often overlooked stories of women in the New Testament and how they led, taught, and ministered in the early church.

Not unlike the “hidden figures,” Black women engineers at NASA, Nijay Gupta contends that there are a number of women who played vital roles during the New Testament era but whose stories have been overlooked. They taught, led, and ministered in the church. For example, in Romans 16, ten of the twenty-six people commended by Paul are women. Gupta shares his own show more journey of moving from overlooking these stories to growing awareness and appreciation of them.

Before considering women in the early church, Gupta looks back. He begins with Deborah, a woman who led Israel during the time of the judges, perhaps the most exemplary of the lot. We know she has a husband because he is mentioned–once. He plays no part in Israel’s deliverance. She speaks prophetically, exhorting her military commander, Barak, and because of his reticence, prophesying that Sisera’s death would come at the hand of a woman.

Then Gupta turns to Genesis 1-3, portraying a unified species in two types with man needing a helper and woman helping (a word often used of God’s help). There are no roles of gender superiority or inferiority, but only role distortions in the fall. Following this, Gupta discusses the New Testament era. To be sure, patriarchy existed in the Roman world, but there were many women, often wealthy widows who exerted power, ran households and businesses, owned property under certain circumstances, and even rose to political office.

Likewise, women played a significant part in the ministry of Jesus, beginning with Mary, the mother of Jesus as caregiver, teacher, companion, disciple, mourner, and eventually church leader, mentioned in the Pentecost accounts. Women like Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna prepared the way for Jesus. Jesus, in turn, cared for women including the woman caught in adultery. He talked with and taught them. They ministered to him, supporting his itinerant ministry. These and others, including Mary Magdalene, may have been among the larger group of disciples, sent out at points to minister. Of course, Mary Magdalene is the first to give testimony to the risen Lord.

The second part of the book focuses on the early church. He begins with looking at the leadership of the early church and the language of overseer (episcopos), elder (presbyteros), and ministers or servants (diakonos). He notes women specifically designated as the latter and argues that women householders who headed house churches would have been considered episcopos and that no prohibition existed against women as elders and that Junia, also called an apostle, would certainly have fallen in this category. While most leaders would have been men, he notes there were a number of women who were exceptions. He discusses how women co-labored as ministry leaders with Paul.

Gupta then considers in consecutive chapters three of them: Phoebe, Prisca, and Junia. Phoebe is Paul’s trusted proxy in Rome, not only carrying the letter to the Romans but, as letter carriers did, reading and interpreting the intent of the letter. Prisca, almost always named first, is a strategic leader whose business enables her to set up house churches and to give instruction at crucial points, as with Apollos, correcting an incomplete message. Junia is also named apostolos. Gupta not only offers evidence that Junia was a female but holds her up as one so bold in testimony that she endured imprisonment.

The book concludes with a “what about?” section concerning the prohibition of women teaching in 1 Timothy 2:11-15 and the instructions to women to submit in the household code passages. Gupta concludes that the unusual language of the prohibition in 1 Timothy focuses on a special situation where a kind of “lockdown” was necessary that should not be universalized. He notes that the household codes were reflective of Greco-Roman rather than Hebrew culture, that for the church to contravene these would incite unnecessary opposition, and yet in how they are framed (for example, the preface to mutual submission), Paul gestures toward redeemed relationships reflecting mutual love, respect, and service rather than power/subservience defined relationships. We should no more universalize wifely submission than Paul’s instructions to slaves.

What distinguishes this work is that it clothes scholarship in storytelling. Gupta brings women like Phoebe, Prisca, and Junia to life, while offering biblical warrants for his account. This results in a highly readable work that serves as a good introduction to more technical studies of women in the Bible. It makes the case that while patriarchy, both in the New Testament and subsequent eras, meant that men dominated the narrative, women were not confined to being good housewives. Women did exercise significant influence both in Greco-Roman culture in many instances, and in spiritual leadership in the New Testament. They supported the work and were disciples of Jesus, and co-labored with Paul, who never speaks critically of, but only commends women by name.

This work is probably best-suited for the student of scripture with questions about women in the church but open to considering a biblically grounded argument for women leading along with men in the church. It is a book that will be a great encouragement to women. It really should be to all of us, particularly as we glimpse the courage of Junia, the missional heart of Prisca, and the confidence Paul places in Phoebe to interpret his most challenging letter.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. show less

Summary: Roman society thought Christians weird for both their beliefs and practices, and yet oddly compelling.

The early Christians in Roman society were weird. Strange. They weren’t trying to be. But their faith resulted in them standing apart from others in Roman society. Their beliefs and practices broke with religious conventions. Yet some found them strangely compelling and their movement kept growing. nijay K. Gupta transports us back to first and second century Roman culture to help show more us see why they were thought so strange.

He breaks his study into four parts. The first shows how strange becoming Christian was. In Roman society, the gods just were, and there were lots of them. One didn’t choose to believe in a god so much as did the things to stay on good terms with the gods, pax deorum, or “peace with the gods.” There were regular practices to appease the gods. No one thought about friendship with the gods, just staying on their good side. Then Christians came along talking about believing–that there was one God, that Jesus came as the image of God in human flesh, and thus they made no images. Faith had both content and was personal–people trusted in God because of Jesus, saw them in a covenant friendship with God. What’s more, this Jesus who they worshipped as the image of God died a despised death on a Roman cross and his followers claimed that he physically rose and, because of this, they believed they would one day bodily be resurrected. Strange, huh? They also thought it was dangerous, not a religion but a superstition that could endanger the social order. It was innovative rather than ancient, ecstatic rather than ritualized, individual rather than corporate, and desperate, as in intense in devotion, rather than ritually effective.

Then there was the matter of what they believed–unbelievable things! They believed in the supremacy of Jesus as Lord over all, not one of a company of gods. There was no smoke and blood of sacrifices but simply worship. Rather than believing in shrines and temples as “spiritual hot spots” to connect with the God, they believed themselves indwelt with God through the Holy Spirit, enabling them to worship and connect with God anywhere. Finally, they thought differently about time, not as an annual calendar of festivals to the gods, but in terms of what has been fulfilled in time and what is yet to be fulfilled–is it time yet?

They were strange in how they gathered to worship–privately in houses rather than at appointed times in public at temples. It led to a lot of rumors. There was the language of family–brother and sister. Instead of priest, the were led by the head of the household, who presumably managed his own household well. And these gatherings broke social conventions with rich and poor, slave and free, men and women at table together. It was also a priestless gathering, with Christ their priest, whose sacrifice for them was remembered in the bread and cup of shared meals. They responded to him in offered lives, songs of praise, and prayers as he had taught them. All in these private household gatherings.

Apart from the mystery cults, Romans didn’t want to get too close to their gods. By contrast, Christians sought to become like Christ, to imitate Christ. And what they imitated stood out. They sought to follow Christ in his humility, his love, righteousness, and purity–not qualities sought after by the Romans. The status-toppling life of Jesus from Son to despised servant who died upturned all social hierarchies, leading to a radical equality, as already noted. But Gupta pauses at this point to observe their imperfections. They fought and split. They did not protest the institution of slavery. and they slandered each other and spoke judgmentally, making statements that would later be used to justify anti-Semitism.

So what made these strange people so compelling? Gupta speculates:

“Some say it was the promise of immortality. Some say it was the networking savvy of spreading the religion in an organized across the whole empire. Some say it was the attraction of monotheism. Some say it was the teaching on morality. I am sure all of these are factors. But I can’t help but believe it was the people, the Christians themselves. In the first century a Roman encounter with Jesus was probably going to happen through a small community of Christians. This community had to be compelling.”

One can’t help but reflect on the parallels and differences in our own social setting. It makes me wonder if we are thought strange and weird and dangerous and compelling in ways that reflect the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus. Are we thought strange because we impoverish ourselves to help those with even greater needs in our midst? Are we thought weird because renounce consumerism and unsustainable living on our planet as well as self-promotion for ways of hidden service? Are we thought dangerous because we challenge national pretensions to imperial greatness for the sake of the advance of God’s transnational kingdom, and because we welcome the “others” that our politicians consider dangerous? Are we thought compelling in a society of epic loneliness because we really function as family, especially for those who have none? What troubles me as I write this is that by and large, I don’t think these are the ways we are found to be strange, weird, and dangerous. And I wonder if we are found compelling in consequence?

What strikes me in Gupta’s account is that the early believers weren’t trying to be strange, weird, dangerous, or compelling. They were struggling, imperfectly to be sure, to follow Jesus, to become like him. Their lives, their practices, including their transformed social relationships, were shaped by what they believed, by who they believed. And this makes me ask, quite simply, are we?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review. show less

Review of Gupta, Tell Her Story; how women led, taught, and ministered in the early church (2023)

The Author is a professor of New Testament, teaching in seminaries and publishing in theological journals. He is an interpreter of the “faith talk” of Paul’s Letters and the rich metaphors of the gospels. For this book, Tell Her Story, Gupta writes as a Christian for other believers as well as for a broad audience interested in the roles of women as “unknown changemakers” who appear in show more the Bible.

Gupta brings linguistic expertise with ancient Hebrew and Greek words to clarify ambiguities and even historical errors. In effect, he offers a challenge to the assumed “patriarchal” paradigm, which he analyses. He asks, if women were not present, where were they? 31. Of course, women are everywhere.

For example, in the Creation accounts of Genesis, the Creator provides Adam with Eve, as ezer, or “helper”. Gupta clarifies the role by showing that “no clear prerogatives” of command or rule over the woman is given to Adam. Nothing in Genesis suggests female submission or male rule. Ezer is thereafter and repeatedly used to describe the relationship of God and Adam—“He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword”. Deut 33:29. Gupta makes the point that Eve is created as an equal partner in taking care of the created world. 24-25.

Gupta offers the famous tale of Metamorphoses by Apuleius as a good case study showing the role of gender and class in the lives of both men and women in the Greco-Roman world. He gives historical examples of women who wielded influence, thanks to class, grit, and shrewdness. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of two contemporary examples: Fulvia, a political organizer in Rome whose two husbands were killed, and Empress Livia, wife of Augustus. Gupta introduces the idea that although men dominated the Roman world, that is not the whole story. The evidence is that women had significant influence in politics, business, in the domus, the home, and especially in “religious life”. 36

Gupta reviews the recent literature provided by scholars who are reexamining the Judaic texts with an ungendered or even “feminist” lens. For example, Tal Ilan reviews the apocryphal books of Susanna and Judith and notes their appearance during the reign of Alexandra Salome in Judea from 76 to 67 BC. We also know that women were “benefactors” of certain synagogues and appear widely on the stone inscriptions with leadership titles. Gupta cites Bernadette Brooten for documenting naked gender bias in the inscription interpretation. For the longest time, these titles were interpreted by modern scholars as “honorific”. In fact, Brooten provides examples of women named as leaders of communities and synagogues with no mention of husbands or men. Women served as priests. 47-48.

In turning to focus on the early Christian communities Gupta reveals a surprising number of leadership roles in re-reading the text of Paul’s letters. He compares the Letters (1 Cor 11:2ff, 14:33-36; 1 Tim 2:11-15) and the women actually met in the Book of Acts. The ministry was simply not an exclusive male domain. In spite of any patriarchal social anthropology, Paul repeatedly acknowledges women in leadership with high praise. Gupta challenges any assumption that Paul would strip Lydia of her authority in her own church after she came to the aid of Paul and Silas, and they engaged with her in her home. 49, Acts 16:40.

A challenge to the privileges and presumptions of a patriarchy runs through this work. While “Women were encouraged to focus on the home, this did not prevent women from running businesses or acting as patrons and benefactors.” And while there are no female Roman senators, “a shrewd priestess of a powerful religious cult could wield social power” equivalent to a Senator. Gupta finds Christian women traveling long distances, working without mention of husbands, instructing other leaders, and even ending up in prison for their ministries. He writes that “On the face of it, the Gospels seem to be stories about the lives of men…but when we look at the Gospels more carefully, women are not absent; in fact, the story of Jesus cannot be told without them”. 51 They are present, and instrumental.

For example, Gupta introduces Mary and Elizabeth, noting the curiosity that Luke begins the story with miraculous pregnancies of two humble women. Gupta opens up the Song of Mary, Luke 1:46-55, as a mirror to her own joy and a reflection on a long history of God’s faithfulness to his people while looking ahead to the fulfillment of covenantal promises. 53 Mary sings to Elizabeth, perhaps also “with a wink to us, the readers of Luke’s Gospel”. Echoing Psalms, “Mary describes the redemptive justice-seeking work of God as a great upheaval and reversal of the fortune of her weary people”. Citing John Carroll’s explanation, the hymn is a praising to God, “whose ways challenge and subvert the way things are in the world. It is about God, who keeps promises and cares for the lowly and powerless. Singing her faith in God, Mary models authentic response to divine initiative: joyful praise and bold proclamation.”

Truly, that is exactly how to begin Gospel. Gupta points out that Luke, this ancient biographer, “gives voice to the experiences and hopes of a woman.” And Joseph, her husband, soon disappears from the picture without a trace. It is Mother Mary who remains with Jesus, reappearing again and again, and there again at the foot of the cross. John 19:25. Among Jesus’ final thoughts was concern for his mother. He requests the Beloved Disciple to “adopt” Mary as his mother and give her a safe home. 55.

Gupta plies the methods of a Biblical scholar by posing questions which point to meaning. What was Jesus’ attitude to women? Did it reflect stereotypes of the day? Do the Gospels leave women out or in minor roles? No; Gupta shows how the Gospels and Paul bring women into the heart of the stories in deeply meaningful ways. He also shows how it is often the interpreters who drop the girls or subordinate them.

After careful examination of women in the life and ministry of Jesus, Gupta turns to the “early churches” and women as partners in the ministry. Without Lydia, whose help literally saves Paul and Silas from being stoned and starved, there would be no Paul and Silas. Possibly no Churches.

Gupta highlights three other unappreciated leaders: Phoebe who was trusted as a proxy, Prisca who was an expert Teacher, and Junia, a heroic figure. Paul mentions that Junia and Andronicus were in prison with him.

Gupta takes stock of the details in “God’s redemptive work” in the early ministry, mirroring five key ideas. His summary is supported, convicting, and forceful: Women were needed from the beginning, they are diverse, Paul preached harmony, relied upon women as partners, and women emerged as leaders of radical change. show less