The Woman's Bible - Kindle Non-Fiction

The Woman's Bible 
by Elizabeth Cady Stanton 


Famous suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) undertook to compile this work after the 1870 revision of the King James Bible was made by an all-male committee. She recruited commentators and essayists (identified by their initials at the end of the article) such as Matilda Joslyn Gage (author of Woman, Church and State), Ursula Gestefeld, Olympia Brown, Mrs. Robert Ingersoll, etc.

The book is divided into two sections: 'the Pentateuch,' and 'Judges, Kings, Prophets, and Apostles.' Stanton herself writes the Introduction to each section. She states in her Preface to the second section, "'The Woman's Bible' is intended for readers who do not care for, and would not be convinced by, a learned, technical work of so-called 'higher criticism.'"

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"I do not believe that any man ever saw or talked with God, I do not believe that God inspired the Mosaic code, or told the historians what they say he did about woman, for all the religions on the face of the earth degrade her, and so long as woman accepts the position that they assign her, her emancipation is impossible." (V1, pg. 12)

"Accepting the view that man was prior in the creation, some Scriptural writers say that as the woman was of the man, therefore, her position shold be one of subjection. Grant it, then as the historical fact is reversed in our day, and the man is now of the woman, shall his place be one of subjection?" (V1, pg. 20)

"Indeed the Pentateuch is a long painful record of war, corruption, rapine, and lust. Why Christians who wished to convert the heathen to our religion should send them these books, passes all understanding." (V1, pg. 66)

"The fifth commandment will take the reader by surprise. It is rather remarkable that the young Hebrews should have been told to honor their mothers, when the whole drift of the teaching thus far has been to throw contempt on the whole sex." (V1, pg. 83)

"It is truly pitiful to see the deceptions that have been played upon the people in all ages and countries by the priests in the name of religion... No other class of teachers have such prestige and power, especially over woman." (V1, pg. 133)

"Is it not astonishing that so little is in the New Testament concerning the mother of Christ?" (V2, pg. 143)

"The best thing about the Catholic Church is the deification of Mary... The cruelty of Jehovah is softened by the mercy of Mary." (V2, pg. 144)

"Until the feminine is recognized in the Divine Being, and justice is established in the Church by the complete equality of woman with man, the Church cannot be thoroughly Christian." (V2, Pg. 173)

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