Girls Night #287: Biblical Womanhood: Separating Fact from Fiction — with Beth Allison Barr

9 snips

Mar 3, 2025

Beth Allison Barr, a history professor at Baylor University and author of "The Making of Biblical Womanhood," delves into the complex narrative surrounding women's roles in the church. She explores how distorted messages about biblical womanhood have evolved over time, examining historical contexts that shape modern perceptions. Barr challenges traditional theological constructs, advocating for a reassessment of women's contributions in faith communities, and discusses the rise of women's rights within religious contexts. Her insights offer a refreshing perspective on the intersection of faith and feminism.

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ANECDOTE

Husband Fired

Beth Allison Barr's husband was fired from an evangelical church.
The triggering factor was allowing a woman to co-teach a high school Sunday school class.

INSIGHT

Ideal Biblical Womanhood

The "ideal" Biblical woman prioritizes her husband's career and family over her own.
She maintains purity before marriage and fulfills her husband's needs, shouldering the blame for his infidelity.

INSIGHT

Restrictions on Women's Roles

Biblical womanhood theology restricts women from teaching or having authority over men.
This is based on interpretations of 1 Timothy 2 and household codes in Ephesians 5 and Colossians.

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Hey friends! Welcome to Girls’ Night!

This last April I wrote a book called Create A Life You Love: How to quiet outside voices so you can finally hear your own. In the book, we talked about the voices we grow up with as women — and there are a lot of them — all telling us who we should be, what we should look like, how we should behave, how we should spend our time, what we’re allowed to do, what we’re not allowed to do, and more.

The most confusing thing about this is that oftentimes, the voices disagree. One section of the peanut gallery says we should be doing this, while another section would judge us HARD for doing that exact thing.

Some of the loudest voices when it comes to who a woman should be come from the church. I know they have in my life. And in a lot of ways, that’s a good thing. Our faith — the bedrock of who we are and what we believe — should absolutely impact who we become.

The problem is… while many of us are looking to God to tell us who we are and what we should do with our lives, oftentimes that message has gone through a bit of a game of telephone. The message started one way, but by the time it reached our ears, it was something completely different.

A few years ago, I came across a book that changed my life. It’s called The Making of Biblical Womanhood — How the Subjugation of Women became Gospel Truth. The book takes a look at what women are told in the church today — and then traces the thread back through history — trying to figure out where it came from and if what we’re being told God wants from us is actually what God said in the first place.

Today on the show, I’m so honored to get to welcome my new friend, author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood, Beth Allison Barr. Beth is James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she specializes in medieval history, women's history, and church history.

This episode is SO powerful — and if you have questions about what we’re supposed to be doing as women and where exactly those rules came from, this episode is for you.

One last thing before we dive in:

This show is all about women supporting women — and so that’s why, this season, we’re doing a really fun giveaway each week as a thank you for supporting this show (and the women who put it together!).

This week, we’ll be picking one winner of a $50 visa gift card — perfect for hosting a girls night of your own!

To enter, all you have to do is take a screenshot of the show as you’re listening, and share it on social media. Make sure to tag me! I’m @SMayWilson.

Okay, with that said, let’s dive into my conversation with Beth!

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