Reviewed by Linda Benninghoff for Reader Views (11/07)

In "Jesus Was a Feminist," Leonard Swidler makes the case that Jesus respected, cared for and even advocated for the rights of women, not in the sense of Betty Freidan, but in the highly personal relationships he formed and the subtle societal changes he was able to bring about through them.

Swidler discusses the times in which Jesus lived, and states that in Palestine women did not have many rights and their status was not high. Although men could divorce, women could not divorce their husbands. The woman taken in adultery was about to be stoned to death. Prostitutes were pariahs. Widows were viewed as worthless because their husbands, who conferred worth on them, were dead.

Jesus was kind to widows. He felt men should not be able to divorce and gave equal rights in marriage to women. He befriended Mary Magdalene, sister to Lazarus. One of the non-canonical gospels even suggests he kissed her on the mouth.

In fact, Swidler goes on to suggest that two of the gospels had as their major source proto-gospels written by women. Mary, Jesus' mother, was probably the source for Luke, with its numerous references to women. The source for John, the book suggests, was written by Mary Magdalene, who was the beloved disciple.

The book "Jesus Was a Feminist" makes a convincing case for Jesus' feminism. According to Swidler, the church as we know it couldn't have come into being without women leaders at its beginning. A well-researched, illuminating book, it asks, is our feminism today as deep as his?