Book: Nobody's Mother by Sandra Glahn, Ph.D

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Nobody's Mother by Sandra Glahn. Dr. Glahn is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. 

Nobody's Mother started off when Glahn was studying deeply in 1 Timothy, especially the passage in 1 Timothy 2:12 about women being "saved through childbirth." As it does for many of us, that line just hit her as odd.

So, she did the logical thing: dug into an extended study of Ephesus, Artemis of the Ephesians, and how all of the cultural factors weigh on Paul's writing to Timothy.

I mean, that's the logical choice to make when you do not understand something: get the information you need to understand it better. Fortunately, going forward, you or I can grab a copy of Nobody's Mother from Amazon (or direct from IVP) to do our in-depth study. That way we only have to have one footnote instead of multitudes.

Glahn's work in Nobody's Mother points the reader to the cultural climate of Ephesus in the 1st Century. She starts by correcting a commonly-held misconception, that "Artemis of the Ephesians" from the New Testament era was likely a fertility goddess. Instead, the evidence shows that Artemis, also called Diana, was more the goddess of the hunt and an advocate for birthing mothers and virgins. (How the Greeks thought "both" here is something developed in the book, and takes a few pages.)

The evidence cited includes non-biblical writings from the era, inscriptions in the archaeological remains of Ephesus, and examinations of architecture and art. Glahn also notes when the "Artemis as fertility goddess" ideas first seem to appear in the historical sources, and notes that this occurs more than a hundred years after Paul wrote.

She then builds an excellent case for how to understand Paul's intent as he wrote Timothy, with some notes that can expand our understanding of much of the New Testament.

Why do I think this book, overall, is helpful?

First, Glahn writes from the assumption that the Bible is right and that we must work to understand the Scripture rather than discard those parts we find hard to grasp. Too many times, a weird passage like 1 Timothy 2:12 will simply be explained away, rather than examined and given a clear light on its original perspective. That's one of the critical steps in biblical interpretation.

Second, Glahn has worked to dig into major recent scholarship on Ephesus and Artemis. One thing that is hard to admit, but does happen, is that many of our "interpretative helps" for the Bible are not new and also not old enough. Rather, they came into common usage between the 17th and 19th century, and have since been repeated to the point of being unquestioned tradition. Artemis as "fertility goddess" is one of those, much like the oft-repeated (and completely wrong) "needle-eye door" understanding of Jesus' teaching about wealth. Someone picked it up, it got passed on, and now to question it will drive some people batty.

But those things which are not definitively in the text should be questioned. The assumptions we make about the culture surrounding the text should be questioned, and we have to realize that newer research can overturn older ideas in history as much as in chemistry or physics.

Do yourself a favor: pick up a copy of this book and stretch yourself a bit in your learning about the background of the Bible. Then, get your pastor/main Bible study teacher a copy, too, and talk about it. Talk about what you aren't sure about, ask a few good questions and go into detail. It can help a lot.