The Woman’s Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The Woman’s Bible was Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s attempt to present and analyze each passage of the Bible that referred to women.

Why did Stanton write The Woman’s Bible?

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention, which is often seen as the beginning of the women’s movement in the United States. She spent the majority of her life arguing that women should have increased rights, including the ability to vote. After her eightieth birthday and approximately fifty years dedicated to the women’s movement, Stanton published The Woman’s Bible (1895, 1898), a two-volume collection of biblical passages about women with commentary. Stanton recruited other women to contribute essays for The Woman’s Bible. However, as editor and majority contributor, the project has always been seen as hers.

Describing her reasons for writing The Woman’s Bible in her autobiography, Stanton said, “I had long heard so many conflicting opinions about the Bible—some saying it taught woman’s emancipation and some her subjection.… The thought came to me that it would be well to collect every biblical reference to women in one small compact volume, and see on which side the balance of influence really was.” Stanton states that the Bible had been used throughout history to degrade women and keep them in a position of inferiority to men. She thought analyzing the Bible directly could lead to greater freedom for women.

What does The Woman’s Bible say?

When The Woman’s Bible was written, the evangelical church had recently been strengthened by the Second Great Awakening. However, it was also a time of intense theological debate. Darwin and evolution were seen as threats to Christianity. Americans were also grappling with the aftermath of the Civil War, during which the Bible had been used to justify both slavery and abolition. Many, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, questioned the value of a book that could be used to support such contradictory stances. Stanton’s own book struggles to make a cohesive interpretation of scripture. At times, The Woman’s Bible claims that scripture is misogynistic and must be rejected, while at others she claims that the Bible contains good examples for women if they are interpreted and understood correctly.

In The Woman’s Bible, Stanton uses an approach to the Bible known as historical criticism. This approach views the Bible as a historical document written by men rather than a timeless book inspired by God. For example, Stanton says that The Women’s Bible was written because “the time has come to read [the Bible] as we do all other books, accepting the good and rejecting the evil it teaches” (2:8).

Through volume 1, Stanton’s approach to the Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Old Testament, reflects a largely negative view of scripture. Volume 2 covers the remainder of the Old Testament and all the New. As Lisa Strange noted, the difference between the two volumes is that, in the second, “Stanton seemed less concerned with debunking traditional views than with recovering positive female role models from biblical stories.” For example, Stanton praises the parable of the ten virgins in Matt 25. In this story, the women who come prepared are rewarded, and Stanton’s commentary emphasizes the value of self-reliance over self-sacrifice. In volume 2, Stanton emphasizes that the Bible contains good examples for women if they are interpreted and understood correctly.

Nonetheless, The Woman’s Bible is primarily remembered for the passages that criticize scripture, such as her analysis of the wives of the patriarchs and the laws of Moses. It shocked the predominantly Christian public. Many people distanced themselves from Stanton and/or the women’s movement because they were offended by Stanton’s critique. After her death, Stanton’s children deleted references to the work in her autobiography. The National American Woman Suffrage Association, of which Stanton was honorary president and founder, passed a resolution denouncing the work.

Today, The Woman’s Bible is appreciated as a work of biblical criticism. Many contemporary critics, such as Kathi Kern, argue that the conservative backlash it generated harmed the movement. Others, such as Lisa Strange, claim that Stanton wrote the book in a deliberate—and successful—attempt at broadening the woman’s movements and goals. These highly divergent interpretations are possible, in part, because of the contradictions within The Woman’s Bible.