Not counting women and children - Megan McKenna

The title of this book is taken from the dismissive comment in Matthew's account of the feeding of the 5000. But what happens if you do start "counting the women and children", as well as the beggars and other outcasts who probably weren't counted among the 5000 men who sat down. The phrase, the author says, can be taken as "a hint, an intimation of something hidden in the text. For, if you do count the women and children (who always outnumber men in any crowd) - you can have a group of anywhere from 25,000 to 30,000 people! The whole scene changes. And what else might we have missed? Where did the twelve baskets come from? Who took the leftovers home?";This volume contains biblical stories about women and children, including the stories of Abigail and Sarah and Hagar, the women in the Exodus narrative, the widow Naim and others - all told in the light of the author's work which is mainly with women's groups of Mexican immigrants, Native Americans and others, and groups in England and Ireland.;The stories, she writes "are jumping-off places, a place to start from, a way to begin to work at scripture and life in the Kingdom now with others... The book was written for belivers, for the Church, for all those who struggle with the scriptures and who attempt to live out their faith in community in the world. It was written for the ordinary person in church, in scripture study groups...those who minister, preach and do adult education."