“The Creator’s maiden, with her braided locks, took a sharp sword, a hard weapon in the storms of battle, and drew it from the sheath with her right hand. She began to call the Guardian of heaven by name” - from Judith, translated by Elaine Treharne
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Christianity Subject Guide

Day, Linda & Carolyn Pressler, ed. Engaging the Bible in a Gendered World: An Introduction to Feminist Biblical Interpretation, Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. | Internet Archive
A really wonderful collection of essays covering various aspects and stories within the Bible through a feminist/gender studies lens. Serves as a good introduction to the various hermeneutics that can be employed in approaching Biblical texts.
Harris, Sarah. "Letting (H)Anna Speak: An Intertextual Reading of the New Testament Prophetess (Luke 2.36-38)", Feminist Theology: The Journal of the Britain and Ireland School of Feminist Theology, vol. 27, no. 1, Sep. 2018, pg. 60-74. | PDFs
Explores the often overlooked figure of the prophetess, Anna/Hannah, in the Book of Luke.
Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love, 14th century. | Project Gutenberg
A work of devotional literature and Christian mysticism penned by a medieval anchoress, who describes her visions - or "showings" - of the Holy Trinity which she received during a life-threatening illness. (Fun fact, this is widely believed to be one of the first books written in English by a female author!)
Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe, late 14th century. | Internet Archive
Another work of mysticism by a woman who believed herself to have had conversations with Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and God, and left her established family life to become a pilgrim devoted to Jesus. She was accused multiple times of heresy and even met with the aforementioned Julian of Norwich at one point. It's an extremely fascinating work of autobiography which forces you to question the line between religion and mental illness.

I myself am not Christian, nor was I raised in a Christian household. (I've never even attended a church service). However, I've long been fascinated by the Bible and Christian history, art, and iconography; as well as the religion's impact on culture in various nations. I live in the US and Christianity is deeply woven into our country's fabric, (often for the worse). It's strange and confusing to grow up with, for instance, a grandmother who is radically accepting of others due to the teachings of Jesus, while at the same time, neo-Nazis use the very same religion to excuse and bolster their oppression of others. Studying the Bible and Christian history is my way of navigating this disorienting state of affairs.

I've taken a couple of Bible-related classes (Bible as Literature in high school and Feminist Biblical Interpretation in college) but most of my study has been self-directed, based on my own curiosity and what I find most interesting. This guide reflects that.

Bible Resources

Interlinear Bible.
If you want to look into the Bible in any capacity, I highly recommend going straight to an interlinear Bible, which provides the original Hebrew and Greek texts alongside simple English translations. The translations tend to be more direct and this method of reading gives you the opportunity to look into the meanings and nuances of certain words. The version I've linked makes this very easy, as clicking on any of the words will lead you to a comprehensive entry that compiles the words' meanings and appearances throughout the Bible.
Strong, James. The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890. | Internet Archive
A concordance is "An alphabetical index of all the words in a text or corpus of texts, showing every contextual occurrence of a word." (American Heritage Dictionary). Strong's concordance of the Bible is a commonly used and (in my experience) very helpful one, which is utilized in the interlinear Bible website I linked above, but is also worth perusing on its own.
Lederman-Daniely, Dvora. "Revealing Miriam's Prophecy", Feminist Theology: The Journal of the Britain and Ireland School of Feminist Theology, vol. 25, no. 1, Sep. 2016, pg. 8-28. | Could not find a free version.
Examines Miriam's status in the Hebrew Scriptures and argues that her position was of equal power/importance to that of her brother, Moses, and that her role was silenced over time in order to fit patriarchal storytelling preferences.
Mandolfo, Carleen. "Women, Violence, and the Bible: The Story of Jael and Sisera as a Case Study", Biblical Interpretation, vol. 27, no. 3, 2019, pg. 340-353. | PDF
An examination of Jael's killing of Sisera in Judges 4 which positions Jael's violence as an instance of female empowerment and agency.
Mouseoleum. "Medieval Christian Body Horror", YouTube, 2025.
A really fun video essay discussing medieval Christians' preoccupation with pain, bodily harm, and disfigurement.
Skidmore-Hess, Daniel & Cathy. “Dousing the Fiery Woman: The Diminishing of the Prophetess Deborah”, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, 2012, pg. 1-17. | JSTOR
A meta-analysis of existing scholarship (or lack thereof) about the prophetess and military leader, Deborah, in Judges.
Thelle, Rannfrid Irene. "Matrices of Motherhood in Judges 5", Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, vol. 43, no. 3, 2019, pg. 436-452. | I could not find a free way to read this one.
A close reading of the victory poem that appears in Judges 5, which describes Deborah as the matriarch of her people.