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Great Women Of The Christian Faith

Great Women Of The Christian Faith
by: Edith Deen Copy Right 1959 Harper and Brothers Publishers. New York

Book report by Kevin Jesmer of NIU UBF

Edith Deen (1905 to 1994) was an author, lecturer and public personality from Texas. She was the editor and daily columnist of Fort Worth newspaper. Her husband was once the mayor of Fort Worth Texas. She had 2000 volumes of women’s role in history. 600 of these went into writing this book. She was on the board of regents of the Texas Woman’s University. In writing this book she was concerned with Christian women who have been instrumental in their own times. Her criteria was, “What women – through their love of God and devotion to Christ – can be of greatest help to guide and inspire lives today?”

This book is divided into three sections. First, “Spiritual biographies of Christian women from the second to the 17th century.’ Second, “Spiritual biographies of Christian women from the 18th to the 20th century.” Third, “Vignettes of other Christian women through the nineteenth centuries.” All together there are stories of 108 women.

This book is 411 pages long. And for those who know me, they know that I seldom read books that are 400 pages long. But this book was an exception, because when I read the book I was amazed at the lives of these women and how they changed the world in which they lived.

The first section of the book was about Christians in the time of persecution, in the first two centuries AD. I was amazed at their faith in the midst of sufferings and martyrdoms. They never shrunk back. They glorified Jesus in their death.

Later there were women in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Many of these women were rich roman women. One was so rich that they owned whole cities and yet they loved Jesus and wanted to serve Jesus. Some built churches in the holy land.

Then there were women in the middle ages. Some of them were queens who opened up the royal treasuries in order to feed the poor. One queen, a queen of Hungary, spent so much money feeding the poor that her brother-in law drove her out and exiled her before all the family treasures were given away. She became a nun. There is queen Isabella of Spain, who sponsored Columbus. She served the poor and was buried in a nun’s humble dress.

Then there were the women of the 18th and 19th centuries who supported their preacher husbands. There was Suzanna Wesley who raised 19 kids and had prayer meetings at her home where 200 people came. She raised up John and Charles Wesley as great servants of God and history makers. There were also missionary wives who followed their husbands onto the mission fields of African a Southeast Asia, knowing full well that their days will be filled with toil and sickness and poverty and discomfort. Many of these women died serving their mission fields.

The book talks a lot of women who headed up new spiritual movements, like the Quakers. There were women mentioned who headed up movements that we would consider as Christian sects, They were courageous in their own right.
There is mention of a lot of women that we heard about but did not realize the depth of their Christian faith. There was Joan of Ark who led a liberating force, liberating France from England. There was Florence Nightingale, who was inspired by Jesus and the Gospel for much of her work as a nurse among the wounded of the Crimean war. It was intriguing to hear their backgrounds and their faith.

I know a few great Christian men in history, but not so much about their wives. But it is important to learn about the wives, because behind every great man is a great women. I could see how these women co-worked and supported and even endured suffering to help with the mission that their husbands were called to. David Livingston’s wife went to Africa to serve with her husband fully knowing what they were getting into.

This book was copy righted in 1959 and so there is no mention of Ruth Graham and other great women of God in our modern times. I was a little disappointed about this. But after getting an overview of women in 2,000 years of Christian history I can see how great they were and how much God has used them. I know that one day, Julie and Jenn, Sarah and Hope will be included in this history and in future books about women of faith.

This book is a “must read” for anyone who wonders what it means to be a Christian woman.




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