Women in the New Testament shows how the stories of women are an integral part of the Gospel and its meaning for us. It also relays how we can respond to the challenge these women represent, whether we are men trying to understand or women trying to find our voices within the tradition of faith found in the New Testament.

Chapter one discusses three women of expectant faith. Chapters two and three deal with women who are changed by Jesus. Chapter four focuses on New Testament women of influence. Chapters five and six show how women disciples spread and gave shape to the gospel message.

Chapters are Women of Expectant Faith," *Women Changed by Jesus, - *More Women Changed by Jesus, - *Women of Prominence, - *Women and Discipleship, - and *More Women and Discipleship. -

Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan, PhD, teaches at St. Vincent College and St. Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, Pennsylvania. She is the author of First and Second Corinthians from the Collegeville Bible Commentary series, author of the God Speaks to Us series of children's books, and editor of the Zacchaeus Studies: New Testament series published by The Liturgical Press.

Chapter one introduces the search for meaning in suffering. Chapter two defines the experience of pain and suffering from current and historical perspectives. Chapter three surveys how women within a Christian context have spoken about suffering and how these expressions might be similar to or differ from the ways men theologize about suffering. Chapter four considers how an incorporation of a tragic Vision of reality might enhance theological considerations on evil and radical suffering of women. Chapter five focuses on the role of Christian spirituality in responding to the experiences of women's suffering. The conclusion provides a response to the question, is there a value to suffering for women, and incorporates the poem Rowing by Anne Sexton to convey that response.

Women and the Value of Suffering contemplates whether women can find value in their suffering - individually and effectively - so that they are empowered to work for change while acknowledging their need for and openness to God's activating presence in transforming their suffering. Woman and the Value of Suffering shows that through suffering and despite al expectations to the contrary, people can come to an encounter with One who knows our suffering with love, grace, and even joy.

Chapters are "Attempts to Define the Experience of Pain and Suffering," "Selected Women's Experiences and Theological Reflections on Suffering," "Tragic Vision and Suffering," and "Elements of a Proposed Spiritual Response to Suffering."

Kristine M. Rankka holds a bachelor of arts in religion in symbolic expression and a master of Library science from the University of Washington. She has also completed another graduate degree at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

Claire Wolfteich, an eminent and prolific writer and theologian, brings women's changing experiences in the workforce into dialogue with religious leaders, insisting that religious groups need to prepare ministers to understand evolving societal roles. She says: "The church needs spiritual guides who can walk with women as they encounter new tensions, define their identities, wrestle with vocation, and seek to live faithfully with God."

This book offers:

-- a broad-based historical perspective, from Rosie the Riveter in World War II, through Betty Friedan and the women's movement, to current models of holiness.

-- examples of the changing lives of women, both cultural and spiritual, as seen against ever-evolving societal norms.

-- personal stories by women of faith as they struggle to redefine their place in the world and their spiritual lives.

-- constructive theological insights into questions of vocation, discernment, fragmentation, time, and spiritual models.

-- pastoral guidelines for clergy, spiritual guides, and therapists to understand and help both women and men struggling with new and expanded roles.