NEW BOOK REVIEW: TELL HER STORY: HOW WOMEN LED, TAUGHT, AND MINISTERED IN THE EARLY CHURCH
I fell down an escalator, at a recent Evangelical Theological Conference (ETS), to get Nijay Gupta’s newest book, Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church. I’d seen a Twitter announcement about this forthcoming book and couldn’t wait to read it. A word of caution, if you drop something while on an escalator DO NOT bend over to pick it up! When my feet hit the bottom step, I rolled like a bowling ball and landed in a splat. Fortunately, though rattled (and bruised), all my limbs worked. Two gentlemen kindly helped me to my feet. I immediately turned to see if I could recover my lost item. Behold, a guy with a twinkle in his eye handed me the postcard he had seen me drop and perilously attempt to recover. “Thank you,” I said and sheepishly added, “It’s for a free book!” All three men laughed uproariously. They weren’t so much laughing at me (well maybe a little), as with me. ETS conference attendees are book nerds, and we especially appreciate free books! With my feet on firm ground, I redeemed my rock-and-roll postcard for a complimentary advance copy of Tell Her Story. The book’s official release day is March 14th and I’ve written a review for you.
A Traditional View
Nijay Gupta, a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, is the author of several books and Bible commentaries. In the Tell Her Story introduction, Gupta explains that during the early years of his Christian faith, he saw only men “up front”—men teaching, preaching, and leading in the church. His college experience with parachurch ministry leadership was more of the same. Naturally, he reasoned that males leading, with females in support roles, must be biblical. After all, Jesus, a male, chose twelve male disciples, and “the Bible said women couldn’t teach or have authority in the church (didn’t it?).”[1]
Amplifying the Women Leaders in the Early Church
Employing his seminary training, Gupta closely examined the Bible and began to see the women in the text. Women engaged in active ministry and ministry leadership, he realized, were always there but their stories have largely been overlooked. Gupta’s purpose for writing Tell Her Story is to specify and amplify women leaders and their contributions to the early church. He asserts that there is scriptural evidence of women accomplishing significant kingdom work, including serving as leaders in house churches.
Tell Her Story Content Overview
Tell Her Story is organized into two sections with nine chapters and two bonus chapters. Part One, titled “Before the Women of the Early Churches,” begins with a chapter about Deborah. Deborah led Israel as both prophet and judge—a female spiritual leader who was chosen by God to serve as the nation’s governing authority.
In chapter two, Gupta summarizes Genesis 1–3 and describes God’s divine design for man and woman. Gupta sees in the creation accounts the themes of unity and ruling in partnership, rather than male headship and female submission. Sin’s entrance effectively initiated man’s rule over woman, oppositional to God’s good design for humankind.
The final two chapters of Part One discuss women, their lives, and ministries in the New Testament world. Within that Greco-Roman patriarchal context, and contrary to a traditional understanding, many women exercised agency via the cultural power of social class and the patronage system. Gupta debunks three historical myths regarding a husband’s legal authority concerning his wife, women’s property ownership, and the private versus public understanding of the home. Next is a description of the women in the Gospels who actively ministered to and alongside Jesus. Gupta asserts that the story of Jesus largely rests on the witness of the women—his mother Mary, Salome, Joanna, Mary Magdalene, and others.
Part Two, titled “The Women Leaders of the Early Churches,” begins with a discussion in chapter five of the origin, structure, ethos, and forms of the leadership of the early churches. Paul often described fellow ministry leaders as “coworkers” or “fellow laborers.” Gupta provides a rich discussion of three prominent leadership terms in the text: diakonos (servant, deacon), episkopos (overseer, manager), and presbyteros (senior leader, elder). Then in chapter six, he focuses on women in ministry leadership in Rome, Philippi, and the Lycus Valley—women across the Empire who were traveling evangelists, led house churches, and served as liaisons within the network of churches.
Part Two’s final three chapters highlight the contributions of three key New Testament leaders: Phoebe, Priscilla, and Junia. Each chapter is rich in detail, with scriptural and scholarly references, as well as historical comparisons. Paul worked with, relied on, and viewed women (and men) as strategic ministry partners. Gupta asserts that the exemplary wisdom, faith, and service of Phoebe, Priscilla, and Junia make them vital role models for the church today.
Explain Why
Gupta concludes that the apostle Paul “clearly saw no deficiency of intellect, skill, or morality in women as women.” Therefore, he continues, “If a church today decides to bar women from eldership, preaching, teaching, or pastoral leadership, I think the burden falls on them to explain why. It is not enough to say, ‘Go read 1 Timothy 2:11–15.’”[2]
Tell Her Story Bonus Chapters
Gupta fully and succinctly accomplishes the primary aim of his book: to uncover the historical leadership contributions of women in the early church. In addition, via the content of his bonus chapters, he addresses and refutes primary arguments against women in leadership. The first bonus chapter contains his theological arguments related to 1 Timothy 2, while the second discusses submission in connection with the household codes. Gupta concludes that 1 Timothy 2 does not prohibit women’s teaching or leading, rather Paul was prohibiting certain women in Ephesus who were teaching unsound doctrine.
Conclusion
A well-known historian has a coffee cup etched with these words, “Write Women Back into History.” Whether you ascribe to the complementarian or egalitarian view, Tell Her Story is an important book to read because women’s leadership contributions appear in the biblical text yet have long been obscured. Gupta’s book beautifully highlights the ministry of Bible women who were called by God and served as exemplary leaders for the gospel mission.
[1] Nijay K. Gupta, Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2023), 2.
[2] Gupta, Tell Her Story, 158.
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If you missed my previous blog post, read about the ‘Bible Women’ Who Founded and Established the Chinese Church.