When Christine Kohler reached out to me to let me know about her new poetry book about women in Bible, I was intrigued. I know little to nothing about poetry, but Christine offered to send me a copy of Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up, A Poetic Meditation so I could check it out for myself. I’m glad she did. I found it extremely interesting.
About the Book
Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up, A Poetic Meditation
Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up is a collection of 35 persona poems—free-verse, villanelles, sestinas, haikus, reader’s theater—in which women of the Bible tell their own stories. The poems reach into the heart of how women in Bible times might have felt emotionally about their situations. Most are from a time in the women’s lives not usually taught in Sunday School or sermons. This poetry book is ideal for use in Bible studies, church settings, devotionals, or individual enjoyment. These poems are good conversation starters to get people digging deeper into the word.
Book Review
Though I make no claim to understanding poetry, I was pleased to discover I didn’t have to understand the poetic mechanics in order to appreciate the beauty of Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up, A Poetic Meditation. Christine Kohler beautifully captures the anguish, struggles, and anxiety the Bible women must have dealt with during the dark days of their lives.
The Bible often paints the stories of Bible women with broad strokes, not going into the specifics. As such, we’re left to fill in the gaps of how the women might have felt. Though Christine Kohler’s interpretation of some of the women was different than mine, her views certainly gave me food for thought.
The title Silent No More expresses Christine Kohler’s approach. She gives the Bible women a voice, putting into words what they could have felt.
If you enjoy studying about women in the Bible (and I assume you do, if you’re here at All God’s Women) you should check out Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up, A Poetic Meditation for a unique and creative approach.
Christine Kohler Interview
Tell us about your book, Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up, a Poetic Meditation.
Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up, a Poetic Meditation is a collection of 35 persona poems—free-verse, villanelles, sestinas, haikus, reader’s theater—in which women of the Bible tell their own stories.
The poems reach into the heart of how women in Bible times felt emotionally about their situations. Most are from a time in the women’s lives not usually taught in Sunday School or sermons. This poetry book is ideal for use in Bible studies, church settings, devotionals, or individual enjoyment. These poems are good conversation starters to get people digging deeper into the Word.
Why did you decide to use poetry to share the stories of women in the Bible?
By using different poetic forms the women’s voices are distinct, one from another. Poetry also allowed me to hone into the heart of the situation, tap into the emotional core and motive of each woman. Poetry is an art of brevity. Several books of the Bible are written as poetry, and the narrative in the rest of the scriptures uses poetic devices in the prose.
Even though I have been published in poetry for many decades, this is my debut poetry collection. There are novels, nonfiction books, and devotionals written in narrative prose about women of the Bible. I wanted this book to be unique, to speak to women’s hearts from the Bible women’s own voices while in difficult, yet relatable, circumstances.
What do you hope readers will get out of your Bible women poems?
When I wrote these poems, I imagined the Bible women sitting on a stage with a microphone and a spotlight, telling their intimate stories. My desire is for these poems to be conversation starters to get people digging deeper into the Word and to think about these women as real people. I hope readers will hear their hearts.
How did you research the women?
My background is that of a journalist and author, accustomed to researching topics and digging for facts. When I wrote Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up I wanted to understand the geo-political situations of the time periods in which the women lived. I researched historical backgrounds and customs and studied an atlas as to their locations, whether in the land of Moab or beside the Sea of Galilee.
I wanted to understand the physical difficulties, the prejudices against different tribes, and the restrictions on women in their societies. The more I studied, the more these women became real to me.
I also wanted to know their names, so I turned to the Mishnah and Midrash, Hebrew texts that explain the law in the Torah and the gaps in the stories in the Pentateuch. It was from these sources that I found names for Noah’s wife, Naahah, and Job’s wife, Sitis. I also read theological debates by Bible scholars.
Did you learn anything about Bible women that caught you by surprise?
I researched when King Saul gave his daughter, David’s wife, to a second husband, Phalti. I have always felt sorry for Michal, whom I believe really loved her husband David. When I wrote “Michal, the King’s Eghah” (2 Sam 25:44) about this second marriage, I leaned on the Jewish tradition that Phalti laid a sword in the marriage bed between them and the couple never consummated their marriage.
Another puzzle I researched and pondered was whether Peter’s wife was alive or dead at the time his mother-in-law was healed. In “The Fishmonger’s Miracle” (Luke 4:38-39; Matthew 8:14-15) I sided with the scholars who said his wife was deceased because their logic made sense.
However, in “Weep for Michal, the Foster Mother” (2 Sam 21:8-9) I never could find out if Michal was dead or alive when her nephews, whom she reared since her sister died in childbirth, were murdered by the Gibeonites. I used the same logic scholars did regarding Peter’s wife and treated it as if Michel were dead at that time. If not, she would have interceded to her husband David to save the lives of the five young men, and, if not successful, then she would have mourned at their hanging like in “Rizpah’s Grief on the Execution of her Sons” (2 Sam 21:1-10).
Who is your favorite woman in the Bible?
Martha of Bethany. I admire how she kept her family together. It appears the siblings’ parents are dead. By cultural custom Lazurus would have been the patriarchal covering for Mary and Martha. Martha, though, appears to be the one who makes their family cohesive and their household run smoothly. She genuinely loves and wants the best for her brother and sister.
Martha is also generous and hospitable. She opens their home as a gathering place for Jesus and the disciples whenever they pass through Bethany. Martha sees to it that everyone has something to eat, and cleans up afterwards, too.
Martha has a personal relationship with Jesus, one you can tell she has taken time to cultivate. I identify with Martha’s faith, which she expresses when her brother dies. When I pray for something very difficult in the natural, such as for someone very ill, I pray like Martha, how she struggled internally. “Lord, I believe you are the Son of God.” (implied) Help me in my unbelief.
What woman is most like you?
As a young woman, my pastor’s wife once told me, “Chris, your problem is you try to be Mary and Martha both.” I have found that my personality fluctuates between being a doer like Martha and contemplative like Mary. I am a self-professed work-a-holic.
I am a problem solver, too, so I’m always finding ways to try to help people rather than sit back and do nothing. However, the other part of my personality spends time in meditating (like David instructed us to do) on the Word, time in prayer, and Bible study.
I have spent my lifetime reading and writing, which are quieter, reflective acts. I find the older I get, the more I try to retreat to be more like Mary, though the inner me still pushes to be a Martha.
What woman or women would you like to visit? What would you talk about?
Definitely Mary, the mother of Jesus. I would ask her to tell me from the beginning all about her life. What was her life like before the angel visited her? How did she feel and react about such astounding news?
I would want to hear about her visit with her cousin Elizabeth, but also how did she break the news of her divine pregnancy to her parents and sisters and Joseph?
I want to know when Joseph died and how Mary coped with being a widow. I want to hear every sorrowful and exhilarating moment. I would listen and listen and listen to Mary’s stories of her life and her son Jesus for as long as I would be allowed this visit.
Anything else?
My publisher, Wipf and Stock Publishing, priced Silent No More: Bible Women Speak Up, a Poetic Meditation at the retail price of $10, so it makes an affordable gift. If you contact the publisher and buy five copies or more, ask for a discount. https://wipfandstock.com/9798385236572/silent-no-more/
This book is ideal for Bible Study groups. On my website blog I posted a short exegesis on a key element in “Eve’s Lament” (Genesis 4:1-15), details about burial rites of Hebrews based on research from Jewish scholars. This is an example how when you read a poem, it goes deeper into the Bible story with my research.
Learn More About Christine Kohler
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