good reads |

Susan E. Hylen, Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2023)

While Phoebe, a deacon and benefactor from Cenchreae (Rom. 16:1–2), serves as an entry point for each chapter, Dr. Susan E. Hylen’s new book, Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like, is not a biography. Rather, Phoebe is a representative of similar women in the New Testament period. This fascinating book, academically solid yet accessible to any interested readers, is an invitation to explore new understandings of the social realities of women, both named and unnamed, during this time. Additionally, it helps one reflect on what this means for interpreting the New Testament.

When reading the New Testament, we make a lot of assumptions. This is inevitable and necessary when reading regardless of what one reads; it is not unique to the Bible. The question is not does the reader bring assumptions to the text, but rather, what assumptions are made and why. Examining our presuppositions about women in the ancient Mediterranean world at the turn of the era is critical. It is commonly believed that women neither owned nor controlled property. Furthermore, they were excluded from civic life and/or leadership roles in churches, and they were not allowed to speak in public at all. While interpreting the New Testament, many people have brought these ideas to the text. Yet, are they accurately based on ancient evidence? Do they correspond to the cultural perspectives of ancient readers?

By carefully examining various types of evidence, Hylen provides a helpful social/cultural context that allows readers to view women in the New Testament as its earliest readers would have. The following sentence epitomizes her nuanced approach: “Gendered inequalities affected women’s lives, but they were not the whole story” (130). On every page of this book, readers will be surprised by the other part of the story—that women during the New Testament period received education, owned and utilized property, enjoyed substantial independence guaranteed by both law and custom, became patrons for individuals and society-at-large, and used their voices.

Additionally, some virtues that one might think exclusively feminine (e.g., modesty) were in fact civic virtues for both women and men. Yes, there were gendered inequalities, but many women negotiated social norms and exercised their agency in multiple ways. More importantly, this was not only true of a few exceptional women. This book is reader friendly. In each chapter, the author supplies vivid examples of social life through a lively story of a hypothetical Roman couple (Paula and Marcus) as well as through diverse literary works, papyri, and inscriptions from the ancient world. Study questions are also provided at the end of each chapter to help individuals and groups formulate further discussions. As Hylen notes, a single book does not lead to “widespread agreement about how to interpret New Testament texts that mention women—let alone about the roles women should play in churches today” (4). Rather, this book offers wonderful opportunities to renew our imagination (“History requires an act of imagination” [5]) in ways attentive to both ancient evidence and the role of readers. I invite all of you on this eye-opening journey to find Phoebe(s).

Written by Dr. Donghyun Jeong, Assistant Professor of New Testament