Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs

I recently signed up for Blogging For Books. It is a website for Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing that provides free books to bloggers in exchange for an honest review posted on our respective blogs. Free books, people! Hells yes!

My first book arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, much to my giddy excitement. When you sign up, you are asked to provide your reading interests and your provided selection of books to review is then based off these interests. I chose all but a few categories, which probably wasn't smart. When I logged in to chose my first book, the only options given to me were religious and inspirational selections. I enjoy reading religious history, especially Catholic history as I am a newly minted Catholic myself. However, these selections were not religious history. They were mostly of the "how to live a godly life" or "chick in a bonnet and prairie dress on the cover" variety. You know the type I'm talking about. I know now that I need to narrow my selected interests to a few top categories in order to be provided with a selection that actually fits my interests. We live and we learn, I guess. I'm hopeful the selection will be better the second time around.

So, of all the religious fluff that was provided to me, I chose the one that I thought would be the most interesting. It sounded fun, gossipy and dishy. I chose Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs. The cover, as you can see, sports a picture of just the eyes of a heavily made-up woman throwing us a come-hither glance. Racy! Provocative! Captivating! Nope, not so much. It turned out to be your run-of-the-mill preachy bullshit.

We start with Eve, whom the author describes as "the original bad girl". Eve's major sin was eating the apple of the Tree of Knowledge despite God having told her not to. We move on to other bad girls such as Lot's wife who was turned into a pillar of salt for turning around for one last look of Sodom and Gomorrah as her and her family fled it's destruction; Sapphira was dropped dead because her and her husband failed to donate all the proceeds from a sale of their farmland to the local religious leaders; and of course, Jezebel, the Big Kahuna of bad girls.

For each story, the author kindly points out each woman's sins and how we can learn from them today. That's all fine and good. The Bible is good for that, after all. But when the author tells us that the lessons we can take away from the story of Potiphar's Wife (who attempted to lure Joseph and, presumably his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, into an affair with her) are to"leave the office door open when we meet with a male coworker" or "make sure we are appropriately dressed" (actual quotes, page 59) to protect ourselves from committing adultery. You know what, screw you lady! I can talk to whomever, wherever I like. I can wear whatever I like. You know why? Because I'm an adult and I have self control over my primal urges. My virtue should not be so easily questioned. And men's virtue should not be so easily questioned, either. She is suggesting that all men and just waiting for a closed door or a short skirt as an invitation to jump me. I would like to think not, in this day and age. And if so, then you are associating with the wrong people, young lady!

Needless to say, the book did not suit my feminist tastes. If you're a man who likes to put your woman in her place, or you are a woman who enjoys being put in your place, this is the book for you. You will get all the ammunition in the world for why women are the downfall of society and humankind. If you are an intelligent human being, then take a pass on this one. No bows today for Bad Girls of the Bible. It was complete and udder crap. Thank god it was free. Here's to hoping my next Blogging for Books selection is much better.

Oh and in accordance with FTC guidelines I must disclose that "I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review." So there.