We know women are saved by Jesus, not childbearing, so what's going on in Timothy? An author interview
We know women are saved by Jesus, not childbearing, so what's going on in Timothy? An author interview
Sandra Glahn talks with us about her new book, *Nobody's Mother*
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Gentle reader,
Today, I’m excited to share a conversation with Sandra Glahn, who spoke with us about her brand new book (you can preorder today; the book releases tomorrow!), Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament.
The book’s description:
Some Christians think Paul's reference to “saved through childbearing” in 1 Timothy 2:15 means that women are slated primarily for delivering and raising children. Alternate readings, however, sometimes fail to build on the best historical and textual evidence.
Sandra Glahn thinks that we have misunderstood Paul by misunderstanding the context to which he wrote. A key to reading and applying 1 Timothy, Glahn argues, lies in getting to know a mysterious figure who haunts the letter: the goddess Artemis.
Based on groundbreaking research and new data about Artemis of the Ephesians, Nobody's Mother demonstrates how better background information supports faithful interpretation. Combining spiritual autobiography with scholarly exploration, Glahn takes readers on a journey to ancient Ephesus and across early church history. Unveiling the cult of Artemis and how early Christians related to it can give us a clearer sense of the type of radical, countercultural fellowship the New Testament writers intended Christ's church to be.
This book is for those who want to avoid sacrificing a high view of Scripture while working to reconcile conflicting models of God's view of women. Through the unexpected channel of Paul's advice to Timothy—and the surprising help of an ancient Greek myth—Nobody's Mother lays a biblical foundation for men and women serving side by side in the church.
The interview follows:
BFJ: I love the blues on the cover, against that ancient image. Can you tell us about the cover?
SG: At the base of Mt. Vesuvius when it erupted in AD 79 was Stabiae, a lesser-known-than-Pompeii seaside resort village overlooking the gulf of Naples. When the mountain blew, Stabiae was buried in ash. Archaeologists excavating Stabiae more than a millennium and half later found beautiful wall paintings—of which this was one—and relocated them to the Archaeological National Museum of Naples. Although the work in the book’s cover art could be of Aphrodite, the reigning theory is that it’s of Artemis.
When IVP Academic sent me a photo of the cover they were proposing—a cover then awaiting approval for public consumption—my jaw dropped. I knew the art was in Naples, and as it happened, I was headed there soon to teach a course. So, when I arrived, I had fun pulling the book cover up on my phone and having friends take a photo of it with the original. My friends Lynn Cohick and Kelley Mathews bought me swag at the museum shop to celebrate.
Glahn with a photo of her book cover on her phone next to the actual art at Naples Archaeological Museum in Italy.
BFJ: Why did you write Nobody’s Mother?
SG: Scholars’ interpretations of the little phrase in 1 Timothy 2:15, “she will be saved through childbearing” have failed to account for the whole counsel of God regarding women and the priesthood of all believers. Many interpreters have said—and still say—the words mean a woman’s primary way of expressing the gift of teaching is to her own children in a nuclear family. But such an explanation is an odd use of “saved.” And it contradicts both Paul’s emphasis on celibacy (see 1 Cor 7) and the early church’s numerous virgins, including many who endured martyrdom rather than marry.
Others said Artemis, whom they claim was a mothering fertility goddess, dominated Ephesus, where 1 Timothy was received—and that, they say, is what influenced its author to write about childbirth.
Exploring the context of Artemis of Ephesus at the time of the earliest Christians has led me on a 20-year quest to determine her actual identity in antiquity and in the New Testament. And the title pretty much tells you what I concluded.
BFJ: Give us the short version: what’s the book about?
SG: I argue that Artemis of Ephesus was not a fertility goddess, but quite the opposite: she was nobody’s mother. I look at writings, inscriptions, statues, and other data from the period to determine her identity. And I end the book with what I see as the ramifications.
Glahn with Artemis swag from the museum, gifts of friends Lynn Cohick and Kelley Mathews.
BFJ: Share a detail you’re fond of from the book?
SG: In the process of learning about first-century Ephesus, I focused on ramifications for 1 Timothy. But in the process, I learned some things that helped me better understand the Book of Ephesians.
My husband and I are the adoptive parents of an only child. And I’ve noticed when we talk about adoption in North American today, we usually emphasize the beauty of building a family based on love. But in the minds of the earliest Christians, adoption had a much greater connection to inheritance. Julius Caesar in 46 BC had posthumously—famously so—named Octavian (“Caesar Augustus”) as his heir. And that meant Octavian could, and did, inherit Caesar's name, estate, and loyal legions.
Knowing this, I found an inscription from Ephesus in which someone offered Artemis his inheritance. And the language reminded me of Ephesians 1, where we read that the opposite happens for believers in Christ. That is, instead of believers offering God our entire inheritance, the text says that through our adoption in Christ, we inherit lavish spiritual blessings from our heavenly Father.
BFJ: What do people mistakenly assume when they hear about your book?
SG: Some assume it’s a book about whether women can impart theological content to men, especially in public settings. They want to know where I land on that before reading the research.
BFJ: How does the book relate to or come from your experience in teaching and discipleship?
SG: I have taught at a conservative evangelical seminary for more than 20 years, and I’ve noticed that while in our schools and churches the emphasis has been on barring the back door against radical feminism, we’ve de-emphasized barring the front door against sexism. Part of how the latter has crept in has been in communicating to men and women alike that motherhood is a woman’s highest calling. Yet God made women for more than marriage and motherhood, wonderful as these are. And my work on the phrase “saved through childbearing” helps to further establish that the apostolic anthropology of woman does not align with such thinking.
If that were true, Jesus would have had a different response to the woman in the crowd who called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” Instead of saying, “You are totally right,” he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it’” (Luke 11:27–28 NIV). He places doing God’s will over biological motherhood. His mother did that. And so should we.
Sandra L. Glahn (PhD, University of Texas at Dallas) is professor of media arts and worship at Dallas Theological Seminary, where her emphases are first-century backgrounds related to women, culture, gender, and the arts. She has authored or edited more than twenty books, including Vindicating the Vixens.
BFJ: Are there difficulties in the spiritual life that your book can help to address?
SG: Nobody’s Mother helps to address “who is woman and what was she made for?” by eliminating one of the wrong answers. And it’s a question for men and women alike. Many have read Genesis through the lens of 1 Timothy 2 rather than the other way around, and as a result, some of us have concluded that it’s okay to lead like the Gentiles.
BFJ: If you could gift everyone with one insight from the book, what would it be?
SG: I would love to leave my readers embracing the truth that Jesus is far, far better. He is the ultimate Savior. He is the Lord of all. He is our intermediary. He is the mystery of God made manifest. He is better than the upside quest for power. And he has the power to deliver.
BFJ: How has your spiritual life and prayer life changed as you’ve matured?
SG: As I’ve grown in my faith, which includes growing in my love for the Scriptures, I have developed a more consistent hermeneutic. And that has led me to acknowledge that God has at times called women into public ministry even when good men can be found. The Day of Pentecost included men and women, rich and poor, powerful and powerless, publicly filled with the Spirit. This reality has deeply affected how I see myself in Christ.
In terms of prayer, I embrace questions and lament much more than I once did. Early in my faith, someone taught me not to ask God questions. (Apparently, they had not read all the Psalms.) I also internalized the idea that strong faith meant being upright, downright happy all the time. But facing infertility in a context that told women we were made only for marriage and motherhood threw my existing faith against a brick wall. And it required me to revisit the Scriptures to see where we got it wrong. Maturing has included grieving and mourning and lamenting in prayer over the effects of such falsehood rather than pretending such teaching was putting forth a beautiful design.
BFJ: Besides Nobody’s Mother, what are your top reading recommendations for folks who want to think more deeply about these matters?
SG: I think we need to read or listen to the Bible itself more without constantly consulting commentaries. Rather than limiting ourselves to ten minutes of devotional reading, important as that is, or even to a deep dive in one sentence, which is what I do in Nobody’s Mother, I think we need to read or listen to entire Bible books at a time. The questions that drove my research came from reading the whole counsel of God and seeing how some interpretations of NT passages didn’t fit the whole.
Recently, I took students to the UK for a course that included reading British authors—Lewis, Tolkien, Sayers, Austen, Eliot (both George and T. S.), Shakespeare, Dickens, Lancelot Andrewes and George Herbert. We attended Evensong in Oxford, Canterbury, and London, and a mid-day prayer meeting in Canterbury. You know what surprised me most in those spaces? How much scripture I heard read in public with minimal commentary added. Sometimes in our Bible churches we get less Bible and more explanation.
I read recently that Bible reading is up, including among younger people—just maybe not in book form. But people are reading. And listening. I recommend the Dwell app. Lately I’m partial to readers with British accents.
Thanks to Sandra Glahn for sharing her work with us and for helping us to see God’s desire that men and women should work side by side for the kingdom.
Grace & peace,
BFJ
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Oh, I so agree about the need to read more Bible and less commentaries/devotionals! I think those have a place, but God has given His Spirit to all believers, and He can speak directly to each one of us what we need to hear.
Wonderful interview - enjoyed reading it!