By Robert C. Linthicum

Young Lee Hertig, Chloe Sun (eds.), Mirrored Reflections: Reframing Biblical Characters (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2010)

Recently, I was involved in a conflict between people associated with the implementation of a multi-student internship.  The disagreement was over the question whether the grant was to be used to pay the students or the institutions at which these students were studying.  The matter was resolved when it became clear to all involved in the matter that the document supplied by the granting organization that was used to determine the parameters and conditions of the grant was flawed.  It became clear that the document was worded in such a way that it could equally be interpreted to state that each student or each institution should receive the grant.  We realized, consequently, that each person could read the document from his/her own particular perspective and conclude that either the student or the institution should be reimbursed.  As one person put it, once the matter was resolved, “That’s why there are lawyers – to discern when the wording of a document is inadequate to the task assigned to it!”

The same is true when reading the Bible.  No one reads the Bible from an objective perspective.  Each reader brings to the Bible her or his personal convictions.  If, for example, a person is a Jew or a Christian, she will bring to the Bible an entirely different perspective than if she is an atheist.  And that, in turn, will profoundly influence how a given Biblical passage will be understood.

This reality is what makes Mirrored Reflections such a valuable book!  Since its very origins, the Bible has been primarily read from a masculine perspective.  That reality has resulted in an overwhelmingly masculine interpretation to it.  Mirrored Reflections, on the other hand, is a book written by women biblical scholars and practitioners, all of whom write from an evangelical perspective.  Further, all are Asian-American, and therefore write from an Asian perspective.  That makes this book perhaps the only anthology which is evangelical in theological orientation, culturally Asian and also decisively feminine.  Consequently, it makes for a very stimulating read!  Read full review–>