Five Women

Synopsis: Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah are women often condemned to be only the shadow of their male opposite numbers. However, each one of them had a privileged role, often a decisive role, in the formation of the people of God. Their place was not only in the bosom of their family, but also at the heart of Israel's history. God chose them as full-time partners in the work of salvation. In this little book Christianne Méroz proposes to recount these women's lives of passion and rivalry, hopes and deceptions, faithfulness and freedom. Not a biblical commentary, this work is a sensitive and tender narrative that, with the sometimes surprising enlightenment provided by traditions of the Jewish and Islamic communities of faith, furnishes us with highly textured portraits of these women. It is a narrative in which we develop a quick sympathy for these free women whose names begin practically to dance in our hearts. Author Biography: Christianne Méroz is a sister of the Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland. Trained as a psychologist, she publishes poetry and books in the field of biblical spirituality. Five Women is the first of these to appear in English. Dennis Wienk is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, having retired from serving as Director of Pastoral Care with Episcopal SeniorLife Communities in Rochester, New York.