Source: Huffington Post
There are 93 women who speak in the Bible, 49 of whom are named. These women speak a total of 14,056 words collectively — roughly 1.1 percent of the total words in the holy book.
These are the findings of the Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman, an Episcopal priest who three years ago embarked on an unprecedented project: to count all the words spoken by women in the Bible. With the help of three other women in her church community — as well as highlighters, sticky notes and spreadsheets — Freeman painstakingly dissected the Bible’s New Revised Standard Version.
“I wanted to know what women in the Bible really said,” Freeman told The Huffington Post. “I was stunned to see that nobody had done this before.”
The women met in the basement of Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior, Minnesota, where Freeman served as rector at the time the project began. They worked to identify each woman who makes a speaking appearance in the Bible, how many words she utters and what her larger role is. Their efforts culminated in a final book, Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter, which was published in September 2014.
Some of the biblical women are prominent and well-known, like Jesus’ mother, Mary, who utters just 191 words. Mary Magdalene says 61 words, while Sarah, the wife of Abraham, says 141. Many of the female characters in the Bible go through what Freeman called “tremendous trauma,” and have largely been silenced over the centuries.
“We have for whatever reason overlooked the witness of women in the Bible for all these thousands of years and all the contributions they’ve made to the faith and to world history,” Freeman said. “We are just finally finding out their stories.”
Freeman is also the author of The Scarlet Cord: Conversations With God’s Chosen Women, which analyzed the stories of 12 women in the Bible.
Greg Carey, a New Testament professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary, agreed with Freeman, and said her book performed “a valuable service” by elevating these women’s stories.
“The Bible was written by men largely for men, and women’s contributions are scattered pretty thinly through its pages,” Carey told HuffPost. “By bringing these women and their stories into one place, Freeman opens an opportunity for us to see them as a whole.”
Freeman dedicated one chapter to her book to each book of the Bible, and the chapters are further divided into sections for each woman who appears in a given book. In Genesis, for instance, Freeman and her team found that 11 women speak, compared to 50 men.
Reading and analyzing the women’s narratives brought their stories to life, Freeman said, and helped her start to see them as “neighbors” with important wisdom to offer.
“I think they have a lot to share with us about what it means to believe, what it means to have faith,” Freeman reflected, noting the effect the work has had on her team.
“We have been transformed, our little group of four people,” she said. “We have cried over these stories, we have laughed over these stories. Our faith has been increased.”
Categories: Bible, The Muslim Times
What percentage of the words in the quran are spoken by women? It will be interesting to do a comparative analysis.
Whereas, there is a chapter out of the total of 114, in the Holy Quran, named after Mother Mary and she is mentioned as a role model for all Muslim men and Muslim women, she, who is “mother of God,” according to standard christian doctrine, only utters 0.01% of total words in the Bible.
Something is seriously missing.
There is a long chapter titled, “women,” dealing with many issues pertaining to family values. There are several verses in the Holy Quran, describing the equality of men and women. Please see the following article for details:
Gender Equality in the Holy Qur’an – In the Beginning Man and Woman Were Equal
One of those verses gives the husband the right to flog his wife.
There are chapters in the Bible named after women: Ruth and Esther. These are specific instead of being left anonymously.
Women have played major roles as leaders in the military, judiciary and in other areas of governance.
The question still remains, what percentage of the words in the quran are attributed to women?
All the words in the Qur’an are attributed to Allah, neither to men nor to women.
Lady Who Only Spoke From The Quran ᴴᴰ | *True Story* | Mufti Saiful Islam
TheProphetsPath
http://www.alislam.org/v/2014.html
2 year old Muslim Girl reciting Quran.mp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJmwfMS0dk0
Do We Need Religion To Create A Moral Society? (The Big Questions)
Dr. Sheraz Ahmad Bajwa and Dr. Naureen Rasheed, Multan (14th March 2009)
Martyrdom
http://www.alislam.org/v/48.html
Maryam Bibi shaheed, Chobara Dist. Layya, Pakistan (5 Dec 2011)
Zinda Log – a documentary about the martyrs of Islam Ahmadiyyat. Maryam Bibi shaheed was martyred on 5th December 2011.
http://www.alislam.org/v/3568.html
Rana Dilawar Hussain Shaheed, Dera Golianwala Sheikhupura (1st Oct 2011)
Zinda Log – a documentary about the martyrs of Islam Ahmadiyyat. Rana Dilawar Hussain Shaheed (who accepted Islam Ahmadiyya a year ago after a thorough research) was martyred on 1st October 2011 in Dera Golianwala, Sheikhupura, Pakistan
http://www.alislam.org/v/2492.html
Naeem Ahmad Gondal shaheed, Karachi Pakistan (19 July 2012)
http://www.alislam.org/v/6951.html
Mirza Ghulam Qadir Ahmad shaheed, Rabwah Pakistan (14 Apr 1999)
Zinda Log – a documentary about the martyrs of Islam Ahmadiyyat, Mirza Ghulam Qadir Ahmad shaheed was martyred on 14th April 1999 in Rabwah Pakistan.
http://www.alislam.org/v/2014.html
HOLY QURAN: SURAH AN-NAML (THE ANT) CHAPTER 27
Anonymous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVui9A54nyg
The Holy Quran : Chapter 27: Al-Naml النَّمل
English Translation by Maulvi Sher Ali (ra) اردو ترجمہ [حضرت مرزا طاہر احمد، خلیفۃ المسیح الرابع
http://www.alislam.org/quran/search2/showChapter.php?ch=27
Q7. Host: Dr. Labib, How many women, by name, are mentioned in the Quran? (1:56)
http://www.thespiritofislam.com/bible-quran/19-women-mentioned-in-the-quran.html
This low number of words spoken by women in the scriptures compares very well with the Quran. In the Quran only one woman is even given a name (Mary). Further, after Adam and Eve (and Eve is not named in the Quran) women drop out of the stories of the Quranic prophets. When women are mentioned in connection to the prophets they are simply “the wife of…” Even Moses’ sister Miriam who is so important in the Biblical account of his life, is nameless in the Quran. The Bible records women who received prohecy by divine inspiration and teaches the mutual need of men for women and women for men. It also commands husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Your article is badly unbalanced.