The Preacher’s Wife

The Preacher’s Wife
The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities
by Kate Bowler
Published in 2019 by Princeton University Press

When I heard about this book on the podcast “Everything Happens”… I knew I had to read it. I purchased it when it came out in 2019, began reading late spring of 2021, and finished it August 24, 2021.

Oh this book!!! I have a love/hate relationship with this book! First of all, it is brilliantly written and fabulously and thoroughly researched. And it is a VERY necessary book of modern history for people inside the Church and even outside the Church. Kate gathers data, states, reveals, and attempts to help the reader to understand—if that is even possible—the complexity of this VERY odd culture and modern power arena. After having many of these “early days” evangelical women celebrities on television in my home growing up, I felt drawn to read this book. So, even though Kate is a super writer, very clever and captivating in how she presents these real humans and this culture, I wanted to STOP reading it so many times! The content is like a real life horror story ~ not Halloween Horror, but the grief-kind that comes with patriarchy, complementarianism, the lure of capitalism, and the infatuation with power inside the Church. It really is SUCH an important read if you dare try to stomach it.

Why do we WE continue to set people up as idols?! Perhaps, systems upheld in Church culture need reimagining?

*If you choose to read this, and you want additional books similar to this topic, please contact me in the contact section of the website… happy to engage, connect, or share some other important reads.