THE idea for this book sprang from a story I wrote on Lydia, the businesswoman described in Acts. For more than twenty-five years I had edited a woman’s department for a metropolitan newspaper and written a daily column, “From a Woman’s Corner.” One day a prominent layman of the Southwest suggested that I devote a column to Lydia, who, according to the record in Acts, was the first person in Europe to be won to Christianity by the Apostle Paul.
The Lydia story brought letters from readers, who suggested a series on women of the Bible. This idea challenged me. Today the Bible, churches and religion have become big news. In our regional libraries I found many books on women of the Bible, but none was comprehensive. The demand for these books was great, for I saw that many were well-worn; others, though written decades earlier, were still in use. One of these — and one of the best — had been written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
When my articles on twenty-five prominent women of the Bible appeared they were thought to be the first series on this subject to appear in any American newspaper. The interest manifested by our local ministers as well as by other readers encouraged me. Letters came from many areas, suggesting that the articles be published in book form. I realized, however, that the need was not for another book on a few prominent women but for a comprehensive encyclopedia or dictionary including all of the women of the Bible.
About this time I read a history of the publishing house of Harper. On the first page of this book, published in 1910, I found the names of Lydia, Phoebe and Rebekah, all Bible names of women in the Harper family prior to the Revolutionary War when James Harper, grandfather of the four brothers who founded the house of Harper, emigrated from England to America.
Remembering that Jesus had said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed…nothing shall be impossible” (Matt. 17:20), I wrote to Harper & Brothers, asking if they would be interested in a book on all of the women of the Bible. Their response was immediate and the project received the careful attention of the late John B. Chambers, whose skill and patience lightened my task. While I was preparing the manuscript, William Schoenberg, southwestern sales representative for Harper, visited our home several times and showed real personal interest.
Our task soon became engrossing. My husband helped me, often working in our home library from dinnertime until the early morning hours, searching out all the named and nameless women of the Bible. This was pioneer research for no single source book included them all. Meanwhile, I worked on the Searching Studies of women in the foreground, some fifty of whom were now on my list.
We built an extensive collection of Bible and religious books so that we could do much of our research in our home. Dr. L. R. Elliott, librarian at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary, aided us in many ways. We searched for books on women of the Bible in bookstores and libraries, wherever business took us from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast, from the north to the south. I worked in the Congressional Library and the New York Public Library as well as libraries in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and St. Louis. I found material in the libraries of the Pacific School of Religion and Texas State College for Women, where I am a member of the board of regents.
These women of antiquity became my personal friends and daily companions as I worked month after month from 5:00 A.M. until bedtime writing, rewriting and studying. Often it seemed that such vivid personalities as Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, were actually in my sunny yellow study. I discovered their stories are among the most exciting on record. Here in this Bible portrait gallery — the greatest in all literature — are women of our common humanity.
While attempting to re-create these women, so that they might be seen as real human beings, I had one purpose: to try to understand and interpret their spiritual experiences, their faith and their relationship with God. Even with such women as Jezebel, Potiphar’s wife or Herodias, their very lack of faith was significant. The lives of the women of the Bible made patterns of light or of darkness. Our friend Dr. Elton Trueblood, the eminent Quaker-philosopher, had said to me, “Watch for the phrase in Kings and Chronicles, ‘And his mother was.’” This, he emphasized, was usually followed by the phrase, “And he did that which was good in the sight of the Lord” or “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” In placing the name of a king’s mother and the evaluation of his reign side by side the Hebrews showed how powerful they regarded the role of a mother.
The book divided itself quite naturally into three parts. Section I contains Searching Studies of more than fifty women in the foreground. Section II comprises alphabetically arranged sketches of the more than one hundred and fifty named women in the background. In Section III other sketches, arranged chronologically, describe more than one hundred nameless women in the background, some of whom appear in groups under such headings as daughters, wives, mothers, widows.
In the completion of this book, I owe a debt of gratitude to many people. I wish to thank all of them here though I can mention the names of only a few. First is the late John B. Chambers, whom I mentioned earlier. Next is Alice Parmelee, author of A Guidebook to the Bible, who helped me with the final checking and revision. Julia Stair, who styled the manuscript, gave it her training and knowledge. Dr. William L. Reed of Texas Christian University, one of the ablest Old Testament scholars in the United States, read some of the first studies and offered helpful suggestions. The two pastors in our family, my own pastor, Dr. Granville Walker of University Christian Church, and Dr. Guy Moore of Broadway Baptist, have inspired me in my efforts. I am indebted to our skilled typist, Peggy Fleming, who from my scribbled and typed notes produced a beautiful and accurate manuscript.
Our capable home helper Versie Roberts, wife of a minister, created the quiet and order in our home, thus enabling me to work without needless interruptions. Her spiritual insight and knowledge of the Bible brought a sense of calm to my busiest days.
Another who aided me in the early part of these studies is Mamie Walker of the English faculty of Texas State College for Women.
To these and many others I shall be unceasingly grateful for their part in the making of this book.
I look back over almost thirty years of journalism and see them as years of preparation for this task. In 1934 my journey to the Holy Land gave me my first glimpse of the world in which these women of the Bible lived.
Now I send forth these pages, praying that through greater knowledge and understanding of the lives of all of the women of the Bible many people will exalt the power of God and turn eagerly to the Bible, the great record of our search for God and His revelation to us.
Fort Worth, Texas EDITH DEEN
May, 1955