***Good, if rather uneven at times. Some of these studies are great. The opening section on Elizabeth is fantastic. Others . . . involve more speculation than I am comfortable with. However, where he restricts himself to reliable information (from the bible or from historians as opposed to is own speculation), Kuyper's thoughts are informative and challenging. I, for one, knew little or nothing about many of the women mentioned in passing in the New Testament. Many of them appear not in narrative tales but in mere passing references in the epistles. Indeed, it's fairly surprising that Kuyper thought them worthy of study, especially in his time period. I appreciated the chance to learn more about the backstories of these seemingly peripheral women--or I did when Kuyper actually presented their backstories and not his unsubstantiated thoughts about what could have been. Of course, the real tragedy is that so few of these women have names which could in good conscience be bestowed on a child. Drusilla? Dorcas? Eunice? I think not.
All in all, not a bad read. The sections are short enough to be manageable--on average, each woman is discussed from four pages or so. Reading a section a day is quite doable.
Despite Kuyper's tendency to "imagine" rather than interpret scripture, I am looking forward to reading Women of the Old Testament: 50 Devotional Messages for Women's Groups.
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