From the Publisher
“Many have written about Jesus’s views and actions towards women. In this engaging book, McGrath takes the opposite approach, asking what Jesus—as a historical figure and a narrative character—learned from women, from his mother Mary to Mary Magdalene. With ample doses of empathy and historical imagination, McGrath deftly navigates the tensions between historical Jesus minimalists and maximalists, and challenges the assumption that Jesus only taught but did not learn. Highly recommended!”
—Adele Reinhartz, University of Ottawa
“Could Jesus really learn anything at all, let alone from women? What a sparkling question! James McGrath reveals to us in a brilliant historical journey that indeed Jesus was a human being who the Scriptures tell us time and again learned from the women in his life. This went beyond the normal socializing of boys by their mothers, to include showing Jesus how structural injustices disadvantage (and even ravage) the poor, the sick, foreigners, and women. Beautifully written to engage our imaginations and to remind us that if Jesus listened and learned from women, well, perhaps modern Christians bent on keeping women submissive and scholars intent to dismiss feminist critique ought to listen to them too.”
—April D. DeConick, author of Holy Misogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter