Junia Is Not Alone

A short tract which opens with the story of Junia in Acts 16, outstanding among the apostles, whose gender was removed from Bibles after the first millennium. People seemed to be saying, 'Apostles must be men, so either Junia is not an apostle or is a man.' Even the Nestlé-UBS Greek New Testaments, used by most clergy, had an invented masculine name (Junias) until very recent editions.
Scot McKnight highlights the strong women in the Bible, and then tells the story of some women, Marie Dentière from Calvin's Geneva, the African American Mary McLeod Bethune included, and encourages us to tell and celebrate the stories of women we know whose influence in the church is important and might otherwise be unnoticed.
I enjoyed the informal show more style in which Professor McKnight wrote about women's ministry and wished that he developed it into a longer book. show less

Gender bending textual criticism made Junia, the apostle mentioned by Paul in Romans 16, a man named Junias. There was not a single instance of the male name Junias in the ancient world. The sex change was because the Apostles were definitely not women.

In this brief essay (27 pages) McKnight argues that not only was Junia a woman apostle, but she is one of many women in the Bible who exercise authority to teach, preach and prophesy.

This book is too brief to convince the die-hard biblical complementarian but Mcknight makes some cogent points.

A introduction to the life of Junia the Apostle in Romans 16:7 and how for centuries Greek New Testaments changed her name to Junias, a non existent male name. McKnight builds on this to agrue that the church has ignored gifted women in ministry throught the centuries. Too brief for an indept discussion of women in ministry but serves as an interesting introduction to the subject.

Here McKnight tells the story of Junia. Although little is known about this Biblical figure, her story only begins with Paul's passing reference in his letter to the Romans (16:7). Centuries later (at least fourteen of them!), Junia became Junias (a masculine name), which seemed more appropriate in light of her designation as an apostle by Paul. Junia is silenced. Junia is not alone. Junia, argues McKnight, stands in a long line of women – in the Bible, in church history, and in ministry today – silenced because of their gender. B

I wish this book was longer, but it serves as a nice, strong introduction to Junia and the topic of how women have been silenced so many times throughout history. And now I want to read pretty much everything he referenced or cited.

This brief book packs a nice punch: "Junia was a woman... Junia was an outstanding apostle." It is a good introduction, but for the more detailed work go to the book by Epp.

I wrote a review of this book and published it here: http://wp.me/p382tY-uR
Check it out!