Our companion book for our new worship series is Angela Hunt’s second book in her Jerusalem Road Series. The Shepherd’s Wife retells the gospel stories through the eyes of two sisters.
The sisters have one thing in common. Their older brother is a traveling prophet spreading controversy wherever He goes that He claims to be good news. But for whom? The sisters live at different ends of the economic and social hierarchy.
Pheodora married a shepherd. A man who cares for livestock and spends weeks at a time away from home. They live in poverty and are vulnerable to a system that preys on the less powerful. Shepherds and the families of shepherds are not invited to proper social gatherings.
Damaris married into money. Her husband, Shimon, is on the path toward becoming a Pharisee. A powerful group of prestigious and influential men held in high regard by society and suspicious of her older brother.
The wives of Pharisees aren’t supposed to socialize with shepherd’s wives.
Pheodora’s husband is forced to borrow money to pay an arbitrary tax at an exorbitant interest rate. Failure to pay his debt results in imprisonment, leaving Pheodora to provide for her children while finding a way to free her husband. Where is the good news that her brother is talking about for her?
Although Hunt’s book is fictional, her attention to details in scripture challenges our knowledge of the Bible. With each character, we meet the questions that percolate inside us. What parts of her description are likely genuine, and which are made up?
Angela Hunt has published over 100 books, selling nearly 5 million copies worldwide. Angela, a New York Times bestselling author, received the Times Book Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. She has a Ph.D. in biblical studies in theology and is well-versed in biblical text. Angela can be found online at www.angelahuntbooks.com.
Our Book Club is not meeting as a group this summer. Stay tuned for more Book Club news towards the end of summer. You can contact our office with questions, by phone or simply type your question or enter a prayer request on our website’s homepage — FlintAsburyChurch.org.
Pastor Tommy
Angela Hunt. The Shepherd’s Wife. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2020.