05/06/2026
A comment was recently made that early Church believers were never named in Scripture.
In reality, many are named. And strikingly often, they are women like Phoebe (the deacon Paul praises in Romans 16:1), Junia (Paul names her as an outstanding apostle in Romans 16:7), Priscilla (a teacher and missionary who instructed Apollos in Acts 18:26), Lydia (a key house church leader in Acts 16:14-15), and Joanna (a disciple who supported Jesus' ministry in Luke 8:3).
In all of the 2,000 years of Christian history, the spotlight has stayed almost entirely on men. This leaves most of us unaware that women, many of significant community stature, were there from the start named right alongside the men.
This happened for a few reasons:
- Scripture is androcentric. It is written from a male perspective. The fact that women break through and surface with their names in the stories shows just how vital they were.
- For many Catholics, their only exposure to Scripture is at Sunday Mass. Because only an exclusive set of men determine lectionary readings, proclaim them, and interpret their meaning, most of the stories of women have largely been sidelined.
We don’t even know they are there. When we do hear about them, they are often unnamed. And their portrayals have often been twisted to paint them as sinful like the Samaritan Woman at the Well or Mary Magdalene.
Scripture scholar Marg Mowczko has done stellar work raising awareness as to the identities —including names — and stories of women in scripture.
Some links from her work to explore are here:
- about Jesus and Women: https://margmowczko.com/jesus-and-women/
- the ministry of Women in New Testament Churches: https://margmowczko.com/tag/coworkers-book-chapter/
- Men and Women in Ministry in First Century Churches Part 1: https://margmowczko.com/women-ministry-first-century-churches/
- Men and Women in Ministry in First Century Churches Part 2: https://margmowczko.com/women-ministry-first-century-2/
- Men and Women in Ministry in First Century Churches Part 3: https://margmowczko.com/women-ministry-first-century-3/
- Every Woman in the Gospels: https://margmowczko.com/every-woman-gospels/
- Every Woman in the Book of Acts: https://margmowczko.com/every-nt-woman-acts/
- Every Woman in Paul's Letters to the Romans and to the Corinthians: https://margmowczko.com/every-nt-woman-romans-corinthians/
- The Ephesian Widows in 1 Timothy 5: https://margmowczko.com/widows-1-timothy-5-part-1/
- Every Woman in Galatians to Revelation: https://margmowczko.com/every-nt-woman-galatians-to.../
Marg notes: 'Some New Testament women were involved in significant ministries. Every list of ministry gifts in the New Testament does not exclude women in any way (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:7-11, 27-28; Eph. 4:11-12; Heb. 2:4; 1 Pet. 4:9-11; cf. Acts 2:17-18)
Art | Junia the Apostle, Sarah Beth Art
