5 out of 5 stars. Illuminating and balancing, 30 Oct 2009 By A. Dunlop (uk) (REAL NAME)    This review is for: Harlots, Victims, and Rulers Well researched and informative showing how, overtime, women lost position economically, socially, and by inference, spiritually. It explores evidence for a matriarchal society which protected both men and women and how its gradual loss and the rise of patriarchal systems led to violence and abuse. Such a devastating decline cannot be representative of a creator who brought us into being in love. This book will help women understand and be able to explain, their experience within the 'church'. It would enable men to empathise with much of the disillusionment and hurt experienced by women as they try to express their sense of vocation and spirituality. For both sexes it illustrates the importance of the New Testament description of there being 'neither male or female' in Christ. Some of the early chapters require an attentive read as the various familial relationships discussed get quite complex. The later part of the book examines the lives of specific women and discusses the experience, often distressing and constraining, of women within the churches today. This is the most powerful part of the book. Reading this helped me understand my own encounter with the church; the origin of so much muddled thinking and prejudice and the inaccuracy of attitudes and distinctions. It is not an easy read in the sense that it makes you engage with the extent of the 'fall out' this imbalance of the sexes has had over millennia and how both men and particularly women, have suffered and continue to suffer as a consequence. A good read and a useful reference tool drawing on Patricia Erlandsen's research and obvious experiences.     The Source New Testament Just as Jesus connected with people and especially the despised and rejected, so The Source New Testament does. It is the translation for the people. It never caves into the kind of religiosity that compromises so many other translations. Open the Source Bible, take in a deep breath and experience a new dimension with God. I do. It thrills me every time.   David Bruce, www.hollywoodjesus.com “Nyland’s careful and exhaustive study of contemporary Greek papyri and inscriptions renders other New Testament translations obsolete. The implications of her work threaten to undermine much of current New Testament scholarship. I am still reeling from the shock. “ Dr Lisbeth S. Fried, University of Michigan. "The Source New Testament is an elegant generic translation that follows the Greek text tightly without becoming a slavish word-for-word rendition.  Because of the translator's evident freedom from dependency on older versions, the richness of the original text is brought out in ways that are often arresting and always illuminating. This work constitutes a version of the New Testament that can be used for devotional reading as well as for research and Bible study purposes as an authoritative reference tool.  The companion annotated volume is a marvel of pertinent and reliable inter-disciplinary research.  It provides a mother-lode of linguistic, literary, theological and historico-cultural background information that serious readers of the Bible cannot afford to ignore.  A brilliant and God-honouring achievement." Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian, Wheaton College “Dr Ann Nyland’s translation of the New Testament is meticulous, scholarly, and impressively informed by the most recent philological, lexicographical, and archaeological research. It is also beautifully readable and lucid. But most importantly, it corrects many of the inaccuracies and opacities of previous translations to give English readers new insight into the living word.” Dr William D. McDonald, University of New England.  More Than Meets The Eye: The Campaign to Control Gender Translation in Bibles "This book constitutes a lively exposé of the reactionary politico-religious plot-like coalition that attempted to suppress the publication of gender accurate translations of the Bible.  It provides a detailed account of the rogue movement that will go down in historical records as one of the theological vagaries that inadvertently ended up promoting the validity of the very cause it had intended to  oppose. " Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian, Wheaton College                   .