Women of the Nativity

This month’s recommendation is for a podcast, which caught my attention because it features an interview with Dr Paula Gooder, a New Testament scholar and Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London who is also the author of numerous best-selling books.

Some of us at St Peter’s might remember that during Lent last year we studied one of her books for our Lent Course. That book was Women of Holy Week: An Easter Journey in Nine Stories. 

This connection is what drew me to investigate the podcast. The interview is hosted by former Bishop of Kensington and current director of the Centre for Cultural Witness, Graham Tomlin, and he is joined by his regulars Jane Williams and Michael Lloyd, where they discuss Dr Gooder’s latest book, Women of the Nativity: An Advent and Christmas Journey in Nine Stories.

Although by the time you read this, Advent will have given way to Christmas and then Epiphany, for the Church of England it will still be the Christmas season, and so I think it will still be worth listening to.

The interview is a very interesting discussion of Dr Gooder’s work in New Testament studies, and her particular concern to make people aware of the role of women in the Bible. Dr Gooder exudes a passion to make the Bible known to everyone. She also addresses some of the common misconceptions and objections that are raised about the New Testament, such as that the Apostle Paul disliked women, or that the Bible was written mainly for a male audience.

The interview contains interesting details about women in the Bible you may not have heard of, such as the very important prophetess Huldah, in the Old Testament, as well as those more familiar to most, like Phoebe or Mary the mother of Jesus.

Overall, this was a very interesting discussion and I encourage you to listen to it. It can be found here: https://www.seenandunseen.com/paula-gooder-women-nativity