Bad Girls Of The Bible and What We Can Learn from Them

1169 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Feminism in literature essay

Higgs, Liz Curtis Bad Girls of the Bible and What We Can Learn from Them. Colorado Springs, Colorado: WaterBrook Press, 1999.

In her book Bad Girls of the Bible and What We Can Learn from Them, Liz Curtis Higgs delivers fictionalized, modern stories based on the lives of biblical women. She writes her book in a self-help format so that her readers can relate and compare their lives to the lives of several different biblical women. Higgs hopes that by pointing out flaws and corruption of women in the Bible, it will show modern woman that no one, not even biblical women lead perfect lives. She hopes that by pointing this out, woman will take their lives into personal consideration and strive for a well rounded existence.

Higgs used mainly all biblical verses in her research for this book. She incorporates bible verses into her fictional stories to make a legitimate statement. She also claims that her husband, Bill Higgs has "held her hand through the entire process" as well as review and change almost every word. Higgs leaves selective corresponding notes all throughout her book so that readers have a chance to flip to the back of the book and find out exactly where she got some of her information.

While growing up into her late teens and early twenties Higgs led a very troublesome life. Her family tried to raise her as a very down-to-earth and wholesome girl, but somewhere down the line, she veered off-track. She often found herself in bars many hours of the week as well as finding companionship with different men around

every corner. A couple of years later, her life hit rock bottom, she was getting into several different drugs and leading a very promiscuous lifestyle.

However, Higgs figured out that the only way sh...

... middle of paper ...

...is story, Higgs tries to point out to her "Good Girl" readers and remind them of the fact that forgiveness isn't something they deserve; it is something they should accept as a gift from their Father.

Higgs does a very commendable job on this book. She targets certain readers so that she can make her point very clear and open for all women in need. Through fictionalized stories, Higgs was able to make the life of a modern-day woman equivalent to the women of biblical times. By doing this, Higgs created a gateway of opportunity to explain to several different types of women all the lessons that can be learned in life and all the simple things that one can do in order to make life a more wholesome experience. No matter where a reader is at on their path of life, Higgs creates an unfathomable spiritual inspiration to all those who happen to cross the path of her book.

Show More
Related

  • Religion, Family and Feminism in Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barbara Kingsolver is a fictional writer who enhances the richness of imagery, language, and alongside with feminist rights. Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible depicts the Price family on a religious mission in converting the Congolese into Christianity. That is, Reverend Price is extremely devoted in converting the Congolese to Christianity, where eventually his family eventually give up on treating him as a husband and a father to four divergent daughters. Reverend Price and Orleanna have four daughters: Ruth May Price, Leah Price, Adah Price, and Rachel Price. Through the journey that Kingsolver creates, the readers are able to

    Read More

  • The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant

    2339 Words  | 5 Pages

    Since the advent of ordered civilization, patriarchal rule has held dominion over the kingdoms of men. Women have had equally as many influential, inspirational and imperative tales to be told as men, however their voices have been marginalized, neglected, iniquitously subjugated, and bound by the ineffable chains of bondage for centuries. One need only possess a cursory knowledge of biblical history to recognize immediately the lowly status of women in the ancient Hebrew world. There is nary a better sourcebook of patriarchy and the proscriptive treatment of women in all of literature than that of the Old Testament. One cannot possibly, however, ignore the stories of Delilah, of Sarah, of Jezebel, and, perhaps most interestingly, of Dinah. Anita Diamant, a contemporary chronicler of Jewish lore and a seminal figure in modern-day historical fiction, expressed the woes and voicelessness experienced by the women of the Old Testament in her novelistic midrash entitled The Red Tent. Narrated from Dinah's perspective, Diamant's novel presents a feministic interpretation and retelling of the story of Dinah, her mothers, and her sisters. Dinah's life in the Book of Genesis is relegated to just a few ambiguous sentences, since she was a woman and the principle authors of the Bible were men with their own bigoted agendas. Had Dinah been given the opportunity to share her story, trials and tribulations, and actual experiences, her account would have doubtlessly been different from that which is commonly accepted. As evidenced by the stories of Dinah, Mary Magdalene, and any number of marginalized genders, religions, and ethnic groups, those who maintain power write history, eclipsing the perspectives of the powerless and the weak and crushi...

    Read More

  • Gender Construction in "Book of Showings"

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kraemer, Ross Shepard, and Mary Rose D'Angelo. Women and Christian Origins. New York: oxford University press Inc., 1999.

    Read More

  • Exploring Women’s Role in the Bible

    2412 Words  | 5 Pages

    The stories about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Women were slaves, concubines, and child bearers; they were also wives, matriarchs, and prophets. Although, some women had less important titles than others each served a purpose. Even if the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates the love and dedication women had for Him. The scriptures describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.

    Read More

  • Sociological Video Review: Bitch Better Have My Money

    485 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lastly she committed an illegitimate opportunity by becoming a hitman. She played as a criminal who was paid to take out some dudes wife and when the dude didn’t want to pay she ended killing him. So it was pretty clear she meant to be the bad girl whom committed crimes for money. I also inferred that somewhere along the line her fictional character life a way to success was blocked so she turned to

    Read More

  • Susan Goodson Research Paper

    491 Words  | 1 Pages

    I think this sparked my interest after reading the section in the book about women and their roles. It was odd for me to read that women were expected to remain “silent in company” and treated as if they treat as equal partners in work but not in decision making. Her powerful diary is one of a kind. It opens a window into a woman's consciousness and conscience and touching the tormented inner life. She left a great legacy through her writings as a farm wife and mother through the Revolutionary war. It offers a view from an American woman's experience of role they were expected to play in that era of time. It talks of spiritual struggles, her

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Susanne Beacker's Monster Culture

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Like the Good Other Woman, the Evil Other Woman often spends much of her life hidden away in the castle, secret room, or whatever, a fact suggesting that even a virtuous woman’s lot is the same she would have merited had she been the worst of criminals. The heroine’s discovery of such Other Women is in the one case an encounter with women’s oppression-their confinement as wives, mothers, and daughters-and in the other with a related repression: the confinement of a Hidden Woman inside those genteel writers and readers who, in the idealization of the heroine’s virtues, displace their own rebellious

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Greek Mythology

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women have given birth to new generations for centuries and have the common stereotype of being caring and gentle. But in the creation myth, women were given to man as a punishment. In the book of collected Greek tales, " Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes", by Edith Hamilton, women take up important roles that shape each story. Although women are usually characterized as being helpful and motherly, Greek mythology, on the other hand, portrays them to cause distress, fear, and anxiety to numerous men. Women’s actions are shown to be influenced with jealousy and vengeance which gives them an evil nature.

    Read More

  • The Thousand And One Nights Vs Medea Analysis

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.

    Read More

  • Womanist Biblical Scholarship Analysis

    400 Words  | 1 Pages

    Womanist biblical hermeneutics also challenges both male and female Eurocentric perspectives and Black theological perspectives. Cheryl Sanders, an ethicist, and Junior outline ways that womanist biblical scholarship has been influenced by traditional European biblical scholarship and the theological and biblical scholarship of Black males. Both scholars also note however that although feminist and black male biblical scholarship provided an impetus toward methodological reorientation in biblical studies, their interpretations fail to regard the intersectionalities of sex and race as meaningful in biblical interpretation and constitutive of Black women’s struggles. Biblical scholar Renita Weems’s scholarship accentuates the ways that Anglo-Saxon

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Wife Of Bath

    1533 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women are discriminated against, taken advantage of, and not protected by those who claim to do so. The friars and knights of the world are not nearly as heroic as they claim to be, nor are they knowledgeable about a woman’s experience. She tailors her Prologue and Tale to deliver very specific messages to her audience, who are mostly men, some of whom are part of the clergy. The Wife of Bath clearly demonstrates in her Prologue and Tale that women cannot be satisfied in a world dictated by male opinions and rules; their opinions are not valid in determining what can make a woman happy in life. The Wife of Bath realizes that no woman can be happy without seeking out equality or sovereignty in a

    Read More

  • Status Of Women By Elaine Lawless

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the very beginning of time, women had been put into a specific position where they could not simply escape. Especially religious attempts to “categorize” or match them into a certain classification has a long tradition. Elaine T. Lawless explains in her work that the biblical story

    Read More

  • Treatment of Women in Ancient Literature

    2408 Words  | 5 Pages

    Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Gender Equality In The Creation Story

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    She defends the position that one immoral women does not make all women the same. Not only does this argument lack logical value, it also confines women to a biased stereotype. On the other hand, Judith Plaskow incorporates elements of women’s inequality through discussion of the Torah. She identifies areas for improvement that cultivate gender equality to be in creating equal distance to God, being able to tell their own stories and ultimately allowing women to claim the Torah as their own. Further, the aspects of Lilith involving her rebellion of divine intervention are understood as the society being unable to understand or interpret the actions of a strong woman. Therefore, her actions are innately attuned with demonic aspects of existence in order to provide efficient explanation. Overall these two examples show how immoral implications of one woman influence the ultimate discernment of all women in an unfair way. They represent two aspects of creation story that cast a stigma without clear enumeration or valid examples beyond single

    Read More

  • Feminist Criticism Of Feminism

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Why has this book become so popular in rapid time? Why are women flocking to buy the book and why are they talking about it with their friends? More importantly, why was I a part of the craze? These are all valid questions I would like to find answers to. In my opinion, the book negatively portrays women, and yet women, and some men, are still reading it. It is alarming that so many readers are blinded by the message of the book because they are so wrapped in the content. This is why I find the book worth studying. In order to find answers to my questions, I will look to feminist criticism to better understand my topic.

    Read More

More about Bad Girls Of The Bible and What We Can Learn from Them

Open Document