The Friendship of Women: The Hidden Tradition of the Bible

I was very impressed with this book Joan Chittister takes lives of 12 women from the Old Testament and demonstrates their outstanding qualities ... among them wisdom, strength, tenderness,empathy etc. Joan talks about the need of feminine qualities. She makes it easy to identify with these 12 outstanding women. It's a gentle book easy to read. It has that forthright Chittister quality of getting right to the point. Great book !

I finished a large number of unfinished books and in the midst of all that I read this little gem by Joan Chittister. It's entitled The Friendship of Women: The Hidden Tradition of the Bible.The introduction of the book starts with a number of spiritual and philosophical points to friendship and the friendship between women. It ends with this quote by Emily Dickinson. "My friends are my estate." Friends are the only wealth we really have in the end. Friends are the treasure one accrues in life. It is of a high spiritual order to celebrate the Sacrament of Friendship.She goes on to write about Lydia (growth), Prisca (self), Deborah (wisdom), Phoebe (support), Esther (leadership), Martha of Bethany (truth), Veronica (presence), Elizabeth (acceptance), Ruth (availability), Anne (nurturance), Miriam (joy), and Mary Magdalene (trust and love). She looks at their stories in the Bible and pulls out gems.Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book."The friend who stands by is the friend who get us through life - at times without doing anything but being there. Yet the knowledge that a friend like Ruth is there - waiting, willing, available at any hour, under any circumstance - what can make friendship more important than family in an age of the 'Great Diaspora of Relatives'." (page 61-62)"The Esther quality of friendship can change a war-torn world, can bring peace, can engage the whole world into one common human enterprise, can link the world rather than entangle it in the endless search for power and superiority." (page 36)There are other quotes but I should let you do some of that treasure hunting yourself. This is a keeper that I will return to and read the many beautiful quotes in a slim little book. It celebrates friendship and love and it celebrates Christ.

This book is a must read for all women. Friendship with women is more than camaderie. Joan Chittister shows it as vital to our well being. I see her words on the neccessity of friendship as being better than therapy. I'm so glad I discovered this book.

A wonderful little book about women in the Bible. Names each one and shows their strength and devotion as well as their unique traits. Dispels the silly idea that God wants women to be weak and submissive, passive and colorless inferiors. That's been man's opinion throughout history but it didn't come from God. Men and women are different but equal before God. The tendency in certain churches for men to keep women underfoot as secod-class citizens to be controlled and told to show up and shut up is based on a misunderstanding of the scriptures. Joan Chittister is a remarkable woman, writer and thinker. It's no surprise that the Vatican would like to shut her up! So would a few others.

A quick but meaningful read! Sr. Joan Chittister provides interesting interface for understanding the abiding friendships that women forge with each other.

A short, yet revealing read into the friendship of women in the Bible, relationships that affirm, support and nurture each person's wisdom, presence and talents.

This small book is packed with information about the women in the Bible and how each personifies as aspect of friendship. There is a chapter on Ruth, a chapter on Anne, and some women that have received very little attention. There are interesting thoughts about each of them and how they represent different aspects of friendship. I am enjoying it so much that I only allow myself a chapter at a time to read and ponder. I think this will be the book I give to women friends this year. This is a keeper.

I will recommend this book to all of my women friends. Some ISee weekly, some I rarely see, but they fit the category of friend! So insightful about the types of friends and how our lives intertwine,and the references to women of the Bible, I will be reaching out to some old friends tomorrow morning.

Joan Chittister's The Friendship of Women is a book you can go back to time and time again. She uses the female characters in the Bible to emphasise the positive characteristics of women's friendships and the importance of them to society in general. She makes you think about the impact you have on others and how they interract with you. I am reading this book for the second time