Rewriting Eve: Rescuing Women's Stories from the Bible and Reclaiming Them As Our Own

by Ronna Detrick

Overview

We wouldn’t consider letting Isis, Medusa, Pandora, or Persephone slip from our lexicon. To somehow forget the legend of Harriet Tubman, Anne Frank, or Mother Teresa would never cross our minds. And yet when it comes to the stories of Eve and other biblical characters, they are rarely known, barely appreciated, and ostensibly “lost” by most of us not deeply entwined within organized religion. Trapped in patriarchy and theological argument, dismissed as irrelevant, or viewed as unchangeable even as times change, these women’s voices, desires, and hearts have too often been silenced through misunderstanding and neglect. As result, we are as well. But when they are reimagined, deconstructed, disentangled from doctrine and dogma, and heard on their own terms, these stories become powerful inspiration and a source of discernment that reconnects us to a feminine lineage and a sovereign sense of self we’ve never known to call on or trust. In Rewriting Eve: Rescuing Women's Stories from the Bible and Reclaiming Them As Our Own Ronna Detrick invites us into the presence and power of ten sacred women, revealing the endlessly relevant ways in which they speak today and showing how they can heal, embolden, and transform our stories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647425616
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ronna Detrick left the church and its dogma nearly twenty years ago but took the stories of women with her. She has combined her love of writing with a diverse and winding career that has included coaching, spiritual direction, professional development training, corporate leadership, and entrepreneurship. She shocked and delighted her audience in a provocative TEDx presentation on an Eve who inspires and empowers women instead of shaming and silencing them. She holds both a Master of Divinity degree and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and a B.A. in Business and Communications from Whitworth University. After living most of her life in the Pacific Northwest, she is now just minutes from the Atlantic Ocean in Hampstead, NC, where she continues to write, drink strong coffee, have beautiful conversations with her clients, and cannot be dissuaded from the belief that her two daughters are the most amazing humans on the planet. Learn more at ronnadetrick.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi 
 Chapter One: Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

 Chapter Two: Cain’s Wife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 

 Chapter Three: Hagar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 

 Chapter Four: Th e Midwives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 

 Chapter Five: Jael . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 

 Chapter Six: Vashti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 

 Chapter Seven: Esther . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 

 Chapter Eight: Th e Canaanite Woman . . . . . . . . 147

 Chapter Nine: Th e Woman at the Well . . . . . . . . 169 

 Chapter Ten: Th e Woman of Revelation 12 . . . . 193 

 Chapter Eleven: A Chorus of Voices . . . . . . . . . . 213 

 Afterword: Rewriting You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 

 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 

 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 A

bout the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Editorial Reviews

Rewriting Eve is the long-awaited companion for women (and men) wanting to hold onto the stories of their faith tradition during deconstruction and beyond. Ronna thoughtfully and carefully rescues ten key stories from the patriarchal container they’ve been trapped in and breathes new life into them—and into those of us reading them."
—Monette Chilson, founder of WomanSpirit Reclamation and author of Sophia Rising and My Name is Lilith

“In Rewriting Eve, Ronna Detrick boldly reclaims stories of biblical women - stories we know, stories we only thought we knew, and for some, stories we’ve never heard. Her retellings challenge us to view these women, and ourselves, in a different, more expansive light. Along the way, Detrick weaves in hard-won revelations and insights drawn directly from her own life experiences. This is a powerful read, especially for those steeped in the Christian tradition.”
—Liz Childs Kelly, host, Home to Her podcast, and author of Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine

“While this book holds a gift in the retelling of voices reclaimed, it also invites a bigger question for me: what other voices are missing? That is the invocation. To bring those voices forward...and mine too. Brilliantly written, lovingly crafted, this book is a calling forth and a revelation.”
—Tanya Geisler, Leadership Coach and Speaker

“ReWriting Eve is a treasure. Ronna Detrick is part archaeologist and part astronaut. She writes to excavate ancient stories and make them fresh, alive, and meaningful again. She journeys to the wild edges of imagination to dance with these women under an expansive star-lit sky. In reclaiming these voices of wisdom and hope she offers each of us the gift of showing the way back home to our own deepest knowing.”
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, online Abbess of AbbeyoftheArts.com and author of twenty books including Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal

“Ronna is a modern-day demigoddess. Part-soul priestess, part-tenderhearted feminist, her words are a divine benediction to all who hear them. She has an instinctive knack for prying you open with the utmost compassion—and she helped me recognize my resistance to reconciling with the beliefs impressed on me throughout my childhood. Ronna is someone I trust implicitly and she is the perfect intermediary for this soul work.”
—Nikki Groom, Author of A Power Of Your Own

“When Ronna Detrick speaks, you can see her pulling down wisdom from St. Theresa to Simone de Beauvoir . . . to give you a gem of grace—or grit. And she can write—like a poet on a practical mission. Like a feminist with faith.”
—Danielle LaPorte, author of The Desire Map and How to Be Loving

“As I read Rewriting Eve, I kept thinking of all the women who have grown up in churches that don’t allow women to be pastors, preachers, or priests. Then I thought about all the women who have gotten as far away as possible from Christian churches because of Christianity’s widespread anti-feminism. Rewriting Eve is a tremendous gift to both groups. It opens up the Bible in a fresh, liberating, stereotype-challenging way. Whoever you are, you will feel that Ronna Detrick is your pastor in these pages, and the best Bible teacher you ever had.”
—Brian D. McLaren, American pastor, author, speaker, and leading figure in the emerging church movement

“Hope is a courageous discipline these days, and to revision a limiting story is a bold and hopeful act. A story can create and destroy worlds. A once-upon-a-time can be a battering ram that breaks a long-held dam, one that kept the most medicinal, archetypal rivers from feeding and healing us. To that end, Ronna's book is an epic achievement and essential addition to any apocalypse-savvy library.”
—Danielle Dulsky, Founder of The Hag School, author of The Holy Wild, Seasons of Moon and Flame, and The Sacred Hags Oracle

“The stories we've been told and tell ourselves about who we are as women shape our future, opening and, too often, closing possibilities. Ronna has written a stunning reimagining of our sacred stories using groundbreaking research. I savored this beautiful book and hope it will free us to rewrite all the stories that have silenced and shamed us.”
—Jennifer Louden, author of Why Bother? and The Woman's Comfort Book 

“This book will help you rewrite your own story. If you've carried the weight of a patriarchal religion on your shoulders, this book will lighten the load and give you the freedom to dance. I wish I’d had it in my twenties, but I’m glad I have it now.”
  —Heather Plett, author of The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership

 “Ronna's book is an inspirational guide to awaken and renew your engagement with the stories of women in the Bible that often have been, like the 10 Commandments, fixed in stone. Many of us learned to accept without question what we were taught and did not welcome our own imagination. Ronna, like Eve, bites into the apple and breaks the rules as she helps us imagine the gifts wrapped in the rich and often hidden stories of biblical women. She gives us full permission to see, weave and claim our own stories, realizing we have a lineage of women who have traveled before us and are cheering us on.”
—Gail Warner, MA, MFT, author of Weaving Myself Awake: Voicing the Sacred Through Poetry

From the Publisher