Great read about Junia

I really loved this book. It was my favorite read of 2022 (I read well over 100 books in '22 and rated several at 5 stars, so, for me, that's saying something) and has earned a spot in my top 10 favorite books list.

In it, Rena insightfully weaves what we know about Junia's story with the stories of other women (and men) throughout church history in fascinating and poignant ways. I love the way she sleuths out pieces of the story from all different directions and then brings everything together in a cohesive, understandable way. Though the work is well researched, her writing style is refreshingly readable. It was illuminating but not dense-feeling.

I highly recommend this book.

Brilliant. So wonderful to hear some more of Junia's story pieced together. I really feel like Paul is given such a bad name for his apparently misogynist views, when in actuality, he speaks so highly of women like Junia. (Yes, he said some difficult things, but taken in context, there is a good explanation as to why.) So I have grown in respect of Paul too. He was living in a patriarchal culture and the early church was working out what it looked like to be the body of Christ - male and female and all the rest of it - while still living out the radical way of Jesus.

Some sections of the book felt like harder work than others, but I appreciate the thorough research that has gone in to this.

It is such a shame the way Junia was 'lost' for so many hundreds of years. I am so pleased Pederson is bringing her life and story back in to view. For this reason I would highly recommend this book to anyone, but I think particularly men in ministry would benefit from reading and understanding some of the damage that patriarchy has done in silencing beautiful female voices - who were such an integral and essential part of the establishment and growth of the early church!