Spirited Women: Encountering the First Women Believers

Rating:
Summary: Creative, Insightful and Thought-provoking!
Review: I found Spirited Women to be an encouraging and uplifting resource. I've imagined all of these women in much the same situations during the formation of the new testament church. And have come to similar conclusions regarding the individual character of each woman represented, their relationship to each other, and their subsequent "disappearance" from the scene of church history. There is no doubt that Jesus left His indelible mark of love and freedom on each of these women and it is a challenge to the leadership of today's church to truly follow in His footsteps.

Though I might not agree with everything Ms. Ashcroft presents, the bulk of her writing on this topic will continue to challenge me and draw to a deeper walk with Jesus!

Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointing
Review: I happened across Ashcroft's book previous to this one, "Magdalene Gospels." It was awesome. It was truly a celebration of women in faith. Spirited Women seems to me to be the author's crude expression of anger with the early church and the present Catholic Faith. While Ashcroft appears to truly identify with the personality of Mary Magdalene, she seems to want to justify that identification by putting down the meek yet strong characterization of Mary Mother of God. It is sad that the book came out the way it did. Ms. Ashcroft brings up good points like , "...what happened to the women disciples and where are they today as shepherdesses?" Unfortunately, instead of expanding on those thoughts positively, she misdirects her energy and comes very close to using it as a a medium for Catholic-Bashing. I pray for the author and hope that she rewrites another sequel to Magdalene Gospel, keeping it purely fictional. She has so much to offer modern-day women disciples but no one will listen if they sense a tone animosity.