Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us about Freedom by Kelley Nikondeha

Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us about Freedom Reviews

• 
  D.L. Mayfield

  Gorgeous prose, deep theological insights, and the 12 (often forgotten) women of Exodus. Kelley Nikondeha is one of my favorite theologians, both for her rich insight and her work as an on-the-ground practitioner of liberation. This book is a must-read for our times which currently require not a small amount of defiance in the face of injustice and evil.
• 
  Kristina

  This deep, meditative introduction to the liberation theology of Exodus is strong, modern, and phenomenally presented. Seamlessly linking ancient past to stark present is not easy, however, the author manages to do so chapter by chapter as she profiles twelve women and their modern contemporaries working for freedom and social justice. Having yearned for deeper discussion on the “forgotten” women of the Bible, this excellent collection is perfect for anyone wanting to further their understanding of the power and presence of these ancient matriarchs. Highly recommended.
• 
  Amber

  I can not recommend this book. While the accounts of modern women working for liberation and several of the liberation concepts explored were excellent, much of the source material the author grounds her concepts and stories in comes from her own imaginings about the women of Exodus—imaginings she seems to consider on par with divine revelation. She would have been better to split this content into two books: one on the modern day women working for liberation and how they are fulfilling biblical liberation concepts, and one that is the historical fiction novel she is trying to present here as close to—if not actually—biblical fact.
• 
  Cara Meredith

  Oh, Kelley, what a gift! Kelley NIKONDEHA is a brilliant practical theologian turned liberation theologian. I needed to read this book of the 12 women of Exodus, so I could remember those whose stories haven’t always been told first. So good.
• 
  Richard

  This is a work of passion; borne out of time spent pondering ideas of liberation drawn from the Hebrew enslavement in Egypt.
  The author found a sole mate in Miriam which echoed with her own appreciation of Mary, the mother of Jesus and her expression of faith and God’s will as declared in the Magnificat.
  Over time the wider role of the women in the Exodus story leading to the crossing of the Red Sea became her focus. The author argues the value of women in each step of the role of Moses in leading the exodus.
  No only we’re their stories often brief but the spiritual value of their intervention is often ignored.
  Encourage to turn these thoughts and earlier sermons Kelley was led to write those ideas into this book.
  The result is a theological masterpiece placing the response and contribution of the women to the fore. Although based on the scriptures the imagination of the author reflected in her own life, experiences, biblical and spiritual journey allows her interpretation to be inspirational and motivational to all readers, especially women to realise their essential work in bringing social justice and freedom to our communities. Furthermore, although the role is best seen in co-operation with other sisters a woman compliments and endorses the ministry of men.
  This is taking the conservative positions of tradition women in church work behind the scenes and refuting such passive occupations to enlist a female cohort into a movement of liberation.
  
  As a bloke you would feel I might find this writing unsettling and not intended to my ears. I believe we are all saved in Christ and renewed into a body that needs all its parts functioning. I therefore believe the work is shared and Kelley outlines some strong agreements over gender roles beyond motherhood where women are key. She points out repeatedly how Moses’ life was saved by actions only women could take. I therefore enjoyed seeing this event with a fresh perspective and it brought a rich blessing.
  
  I love the honesty and integrity of this piece. The strength and support the author drew from friends and her partner. I found her book, easy to read with clear and re-enforced arguments. She draws from her own experiences, personal history and recent historical events. She champions the place of women in these news worthy events that perhaps fail to share the fuller truth. From NASA to Black lives matter. From Israel to Burundi and the inequalities in North America displaying social injustice, displaced peoples and inequality based on sex, race etc.
  
  I also liked that although this is an intelligent book with strong ideas and political ideals the writing is grounded in faith and motivated by scripture. At the end there are notes with 4-6 questions on each chapter. This is good for groups to work through and see need and opportunities within their own sphere of influence. It does show an openness not to just dictate but bring prayerful study to the original account in Exodus. In this way each reader will find consensus within a shared mission or personal calling to acknowledge privilege and see where God is leading one to pray and serve the Kingdom.
• 
  Robert D. Cornwall

  When we think of the Book of Exodus, we immediately go to Moses, and for good reason. He is the lead character in the story. He is the one whom God calls to lead the people out of Egypt and toward freedom. While this is true, women play an essential role in the story. It's not just a background role, it is a definitive role. Without the women in the Exodus story, there would be no exodus.
  
  Kelley Nikondeha is a skilled and thoughtful storyteller who serves with her husband as the co-director for Communities of Hope in Burundi. In that position, she also serves as chief story-teller.
  
  As revealed in her earlier book
  Adopted: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World. She continues that same ability to weave personal stories with biblical story to create a compelling narrative that enlightens and inspires. In her earlier book, Nikondeha shares her own story of being adopted and of being an adoptive parent, explored the concept of adoption in the Bible. Here, she focuses her attention on the Exodus narrative, teasing out the stories of the women of Exodus. But this is not just about a book in the Bible, it is a book about women, biblical or otherwise, who push boundaries to bring freedom to their communities. In reading the book you will discover insight into the biblical book of Exodus, but also into the strength displayed by women who give themselves to the pursuit of freedom.
  
  In this book, Nikondeha offers the women in the Book of Exodus as archetypes for modern women. At one level, she writes that women "can defy the pharaoh's (and pharaonic policies) of our day; we can subvert ordinary tasks for salvific purpose; we can organize for resistance and work in solidarity to repair our neighborhoods." Secondly, these archetypal women "challenge us to consider our social location." That is, she asks concerning the women in this story, which include Hebrew midwives and Pharaoh's daughter, how social position might influence one's actions. (pp. 6-7). She writes that she engages in this work as both a student of scripture and as "a woman hungry for justice." Both are evidenced in this book.
  
  As she begins the story in chapter 1, she seeks to balance the typical story of twelve me with twelve women. There were twelve sons of Jacob, and thus twelve tribes, and more. But here we're asked to imagine twelve women as parallels. But we're introduced not only to biblical women, but also the Batwa women of Burundi, with whom Nikondeha has worked, along with other modern women who have demonstrated courage and leadership.
  
  This conversation sets the stage for the rest of the book. We're invited to consider the lives of Shprah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives who resisted Pharaoh and saved the lives of male Hebrew babies. There is Jochebed, the mother of Moses, who contributed to freedom by relinquishing her beloved son to the daughter of Pharaoh, all of which was aided and abetted by Moses' older sister Miriam. Then there is Bithiah (she's not named in Scripture, but in Jewish tradition, she was given a name). Thus Pharaoh's daughter, who rejected her father's murderous acts and conspired with Jochabed to save Moses. In other words, she leveraged her privilege. Then there's Miriam, who assisted in the transfer of Moses to Bithiah's care. She might have been young, but she was courageous and thoughtful. In this chapter Nikondeha brings into the conversation the students from Parkland, Florida who stood up for gun laws, bravely taking on the NRA, among other stories. There is a chapter on the relationship between Jochebed and Bithiah, as they conspired together to save Moses, suggesting the power fo motherhood. In this chapter she shares her own story of being an adoptive mother to children from Burundi, mixing her family story with the story Trayvon Martin, and the reality that her own son could have been Trayvon.
  
  We move then from Egypt to Midian, where Moses meets the seven sisters, who are strong and determined, herding their flock for their father. Moses will rescue them, but they will teach him as well. The story of the sisters is mixed in with modern stories of women who pushed boundaries, reminding us that women have pushed against injustice. Among those seven sisters was Zipporah, who became Moses' wife, and his savior, when for some reason God attacked him. She is pictured circumcizing their son and using the foreskin to ward off the attack. This leads to a reflection on the story of Mary's anointing of Jesus, which Nikondeha provocatively, but I think rightly suggests anoints Jesus as Messiah. Zipporah and Mary both engage in sacramental, even priestly acts.
  
  When Moses and Zipporah return to Egypt, Nikondeha envisions them encountering a Nile Network of neighbors from two sides of the river, linking Hebrew and Egyptian women in a network that resists Pharaoh. It is this network that leads to the Hebrew women gaining access to Egyptian good for the exodus. This invites us to consider the freeing power of neighborliness.
  
  Finally, we come to a chapter titled "Descendants of Miriam." Here she reminds us that Miriam was a partner with her brothers in moving out of Egypt. Nikondeha pictures Miriam leading the singing and dancing as the Hebrews crossed through the Reed Sea. While Moses may have led the singing, Nikondeha notes that there is good reason to believe that it was Miriam who wrote the songs. Along the way she played the drums. Miriam, as noted here, is the first woman to be declared a prophet. She is the forerunner of those who beat the drums of freedom in the ages to come.
  
  This is one of those books that will open one's eyes to the broader movements of scripture, bringing forth persons who normally are left in the background, giving them a voice in the story. As a good storyteller, she knows how to weave ancient and modern stories into a compelling narrative. You will want to read it. You may well want to study it in groups. With that in mind, the publisher has provided a study guide. I can assure you the Exodus story will never be read the same again after reading it through this lens.
• 
  Sandy Hay

  Decades ago in Egypt, thousands of people were slaves under the ruler, Pharaoh. These people, the Israelites, were miraculously released from bondage and started a 40-year trek across the wilderness to their new land. Most writings about this time tell us about Moses, the leader and his brother Aaron with little mention of the women who made this journey. Kelley Nikondeha changes this in her new book, Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us about Freedom .
  
  Kelley tells us about twelve women, each with a critical role. Shiphrah and Puah were midwives who were ordered to kill every boy who was born but didn’t. Miriam, Moses’ sister rescued him from certain death. Read further how ten other women, many who were never named, made decisions and took chances that saved the lives of their people
  
  Ubuntu is a South African word that teaches I am because you are. Kelley shows how ubuntu runs through the lives of these women who influence others even decades later. They had no idea how the small things they did would change so many lives. This interconnection of women was a contributing factor in the future of all people.
  
  Kelley Nikonedha helps us fill in the gaps that have been missing for decades by looking at the lives of the women who influenced history.
• 
  Joe Terrell

  Kelley Nikondeha's Defiant is an exploration of the story of Moses and the Exodus from the perspective of the roles women played in the narrative. Though short (my copy clocks in at less than 180 pages), I found Defiant to be richly satisfying and revelatory examination of a story I thought I knew. Nikondeha hones in on one woman (or group of women) per chapter, and brilliantly interweaves her own story, current events, and history to show how women are frequently the overlooked backbone of social justice movements.
  
  I wish she would've spent a little more time deconstructing some of the more well-known aspects of the Exodus story (the plagues, etc) and pushed a little further into the aftermath of the Israelite's escape from the Pharaoh, but I think Defiant would be a great introduction into Liberation Theology, prophetic imagination, the ways in which we can look upon familiar stories with fresh and exciting eyes.
• 
  Carmen Imes

  Nikondeha's prose is captivating. She explores the stories of the women of the exodus with vivid imagination, weaving them together with stories of activist women around the world today. Her retelling of the biblical text is rooted in scholarly research but she goes far beyond what we know to write about what might have been. Such work is what Wilda Gafney called "sanctified imagination." I am a biblical scholar by training and by trade, and I usually found her reconstruction of events plausible and inspiring, though I do not always imagine these events in the same ways. Nikondeha has made me think. More importantly, she models the way Scripture is meant to provoke us to action, waking us from our slumber. The women of the exodus stare us down, challenging us to follow their example by working subversively to end injustice in our day. It is a timely word.
• 
  Rachel | All the RAD Reads

  It’s a beautiful and relevant and timely book paralleling the women of Exodus with women in our world today (and in recent history) and it is COMPELLING. This is what I love about reading widely and diversely— Kelley, as an adopted woman with a husband of a different ethnicity and adopted children, who has lived in America and Burundi, who has deep knowledge and a unique perspective, can illuminate things in and about Scripture in a way that others couldn’t. And I am better for having read her words from her heart and her thoughtful and thought-prov
• 
  Megan Westra

  Nikondeha takes the familiar narrative of Exodus and blows it wide open by reading it through the eyes and experiences of the women. Defiant is theologically rich yet accessible to a broad range of readers--from pastors and scholars to those who are just looking for a resource for their personal Bible study. This book is a gift to the Church.
• 
  Suzi Sherriffs

  I really enjoyed this book - the imagery was thought provoking and inspired my imagination. A really helpful reading of, and narrative around, the women of exodus.
• 
  Jessica Dunn

  Unfortunately the Biblical truths in this book were so steeped in the author reading into and imagining what might have been part of the Exodus women's lives, that the truths were nearly lost. It is a dangerous thing to add to the Bible, and that's what this book did constantly. Beyond that, the author wrote her political and social beliefs and initiatives into nearly every chapter, again burying Biblical truths behind her own agenda. The women of Exodus have an incredible story and should inspire us to do great things, but the author missed the point by covering the truth in modern social issues and by adding to the Word so that it better fit her agenda.
• 
  Emily Anderle

  Yesterday, Donald Trump vowed to use the military on his own people in order to restore law and order and then held up a Bible to pose for a photo. Today I finished reading “Defiant.” If there was ever a time when we needed this book, it is right now! If you looked at that photo of Trump, you might be tempted to think that the Bible endorses a national religion designed to keep the powerful in power. Kelley Nikondeha shows us that that you would be wrong. Far from being a book used to maintain law and order, the Bible tells a powerful story of a great reversal. The Bible contains the subversive stories and songs that fuel the movement when liberation seems so far away.
  
  Nikondeha doesn’t merely retell the exodus stories. She puts the women at the center of the story and shows how the movement, God’s great rescue, would not have been possible without the women. From Moses’s sister, mother, and adoptive mother, to Zipporah, and even the Egyptian neighbors who financed the flight from Egypt, the women are key birthing, raising, and sustaining the movement. Nikondeha also connects modern day organizers to the story, showing how we are descendants of these powerful women. She calls us to big and small acts that overthrow all the pharaonic forces in the world today and to enlarge our vision of justice and shalom.
• 
  Nikayla Reize

  An excellent pastoral read
• 
  Leslie

  What if we read the Bible with an activated imagination? Through a narrative retelling of the Exodus story, Kelley Nikondeha emphasizes notes of the story not usually stressed as she focuses on key women in the tale. Along the way, Kelley integrates liberation stories of gutsy women activists such as Mahalia Jackson, Emma Gonzalez, Ahed Tamini, Dolores Huerta, Emilie Schindler, Rosa Parks, and many other justice-seeking women. Kelley artfully threads her own unique story as an adopted daughter born to a Mexican mother, a mother to two children by adoption, and her intercultural marriage to a man from Burundi. Kelley is a talented writer and intelligent Bible scholar, so readers who appreciate great literature will admire her expertise in storytelling. Of the many women mentioned in the book, I found Kelley’s personal story as compelling as the other women she profiles. More than anything, Defiant is first and foremost a celebration of women.
  
  As a former teacher myself, this book would be an excellent resource to discuss in a classroom since students could learn about various women in history who have made an impact through activism. Along with this, people of faith would benefit from reading a book using the Bible as a springboard to discuss personal responsibility as a catalyst for social change. Rather than divorcing social activism and religious faith, this book reflects the value of living out faith in practical ways in society.
  
  While some conservative critics may consider the book to be “extra biblical,” or too heavy on creative storytelling, followers of Jesus often need a fresh look at Scripture to resuscitate familiar Bible characters to life. In the case of Defiant, I had never heard of many of the women Kelley focused on, though I’ve read Exodus many times. Growing up in patriarchal church structures, the male pastors rarely preached about women. But as dissection specimens are injected with blue or pink dye, Kelley’s retelling illuminated the hidden women of Exodus, while causing the more-often celebrated men to fade into the background. As a woman used to hearing from and about men, this was extremely refreshing.
  
  Defiant is creative, smart, and revolutionary. Not only will you glean new knowledge of old truths as you read, you will be swept away in story and the power that storytelling can achieve in the world.
  
• 
  Ali Anderson

  I was really excited by the concept behind this book, but I must admit I was left disappointed and think that this book misses the mark in many ways.
  
  My biggest issue with this book is the way Nikondeha recounted the Exodus and supplemental Bible passages/women without differentiating between what is actually present in the Biblical narrative and her speculative editorializing. If this was a work of historical fiction or Bible-based fiction, then sure, create conversations and name characters and fill out the story. But as this is a work of nonfiction, there are way too many liberties taken with the Scriptural narrative. There are no clear lines between the author's imaginings (which is not at all a bad thing to do if it's noted that "I imagine it this way" or "the conversation may have gone something like..."); but instead, she presents her own imaginative gap-fillings and things passed down through tradition as fact in a lot of places. Although I am very familiar with the Exodus narratives she references, I still found myself going back to the Scripture passages to make sure I knew what was fact and what was speculation in what she was narrating. For someone newer to scripture or unfamiliar with the Exodus narratives, I think her narration could be really confusing.
  
  There's an undertone of Universalism to her writing. I am not sure if it was intentional or not, but just putting that out there as for some that would be really important to know before reading it. Also know that Nikondeha has no qualms clearly expressing her opinions on hot-button and polarizing issues going on in the American political landscape. Again, just something to be aware of.
  
  All of that being said, there were parts that I enjoyed. It reiterated my drive towards justice and making our communities better places. I greatly appreciated how she emphasized the role women have in changing the world, as oftentimes in conservative Christian circles, the women do 80% of the work and yet hold no seats at the table. The stories of modern-day world changers that she shared (some known to me, some new) were captivating.
• 
  Leah

  The author is a proponent of Liberation Theology, and while I don't have a problem with that, exactly, it does affect the way she writes. Rather than focusing solely on the women of Exodus and allowing them to be their own heroes, she tries to connect them to modern activists like Greta Thunberg or Linda Sarsour. I think the text suffered from this; perhaps she should have written two books - one about the women of Exodus, and another about her favorite activists. I couldn't help but notice that many of them women she tried to connect to biblical heroes were not Christian or Jewish, and didn't fight similar fights to biblical women. All of this made the whole thing feel a little unfocused.
  
  I have one more big quibble with the author, which is that she uses Islamic tradition to flesh out the lives of the women of Genesis and Exodus. The problem there is that because Islam is such a new religion, the oldest Islamic texts date to the 7th century AD; by contrast, the oldest texts we have of Genesis and Exodus are from the 2nd to 3rd century BC, and they're copies, meaning they indicate other manuscripts that existed before. With at least a thousand years separating the two traditions, it is just not good historiography to use Islamic writings as sources on Hagar and Bithiah. Imagine using Philippa Gregory as a primary source on William the Conqueror - absurd, right?
  
  Overall, this wasn't a bad read and I got some interesting things out of it. I don't mind the author using her imagination the flesh out the story so much, I just wish she had buckled down and tried to focus a little more. I was left at the end not quite sure what she wanted me to get out of it, and not sure that I wanted to get it.
• 
  Nora Hacker

  The title kind of says it all. It's a book about the women in the book of Exodus and what their stories can teach us about pursuing freedom and liberation now in our time. I can't imagine not being excited by that topic! The book did not disappoint. As we weaved through the stories of Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, and Miriam we heard stories of modern day women prophets leading people to pursue justice in our capitalistic, white supremacist world. And we were inspired and encouraged to find our own place in the drum line of justice.
  
  I'd say this book is a great choice for anyone who reveres the Hebrew Bible and wants their justice work to be inspired by their sacred texts. Anyone who still struggles to see how the Bible preaches liberation and justice for all would find some valuable insights, too, as would anyone still pondering if social justice advocacy has anything to do with Christianity.
  
  My favorite part, especially during this current time of social upheaval due to COVID19, was about "the Nile Network" and the need for neighborly relationships for real, imaginative, change to be enacted. "Could it be that when our hearts turn toward one another and we see injustice and the cost it exacts, we might even recognize our own complicity and seek to right the wrong?...The divestment becomes a way to being restoration for oppressed and oppressor alike. The former Hebrew slaves leave with seed for their emancipated life outside Egypt--with the means to begin again--while the oppressor, through reparative giving, is freed from the chokehold of complicity." Defiant, p 160
  
  I was given an advanced reader copy to read before release date.
• 
  Natalie

  I developed mixed feelings about this book as I read it. I chose to read it because we have been reading the stories of Exodus in our church community as they are part of the Lectionary this year, and one of our children at church has been asking where the women are in the story. What I have learned from Nikondeha's writings is that the women are not just there, but they are central to the story, as they have always been, and as they continue to be: giving birth, saving lives, adopting children, being prophetic leaders. Once you start to look, you see the women everywhere in these stories. Without Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam, Bithiah, and Zipporah, there would have been no Moses leading the Hebrews to their Exodus from Egypt.
  
  Nikondeha writes as a storyteller, imagining and illuminating the lives of these women and the relationships they form. But do not think that she is writing a fairytale or "fan fiction", much of the detail contained in her stories are based on Jewish and Islamic traditional readings and writings. For centuries, these stories have been the subject of much discussion, and development of these stories by the Abrahamic faith traditions, and Nikondeha does a great job of weaving these historic readings into a larger, richer narrative. It's just that sometimes you need to read the footnotes to find the sources of her illustrations. Once I worked this out, I enjoyed the book much more.
  
  She will lead you to parts of the Exodus story that you may not have noticed before. One meaningful example for me were the idea of the Hebrews asking their Egyptian neighbours to give them their gold and silver. At times I became frustrated with her imagination - how can she say that Zipporah's circumcision of her son was an example of her role as a priestess? How can she say that Bithiah and Jochebed had a close relationship? Well, she can because that is what religious scholars have done for centuries. They have wondered, and asked the questions of "What would this have been like? What were the relationship like?". I liked that she illustrated these examples of ancient women character types with (familiar to me) examples from more recent history, and (unfamiliar) examples of people she knows. That kept the stories alive.
  
  I look forward to reading this book again in 3 years time when the Lectionary brings us back to Exodus. I look forward to savouring the study questions with a group from church (they look good!). Most of all, I have learned from this book to delve deeply into the stories again, and to look for the hidden stories, particularly those of women.
• 
  Beth

  I just read Defiant: What the Women of Exodus Teach Us about Freedom by Kelley Nikondeha. The book was enticing to me because I have been reading Exodus and enjoy learning from it. I’m also intrigued by the role of women in scripture even though at times their work is not highlighted in depth. I like how this author uses her “holy” imagination to help us understand the stories.
  
  Nikondeha is an adopted Latina American woman married to a Burundian man and mother to Burundian-born, American-raised children. She has a unique global view of the work of women and clearly has researched the work of women in acts of liberation.
  
  I love how Nikondeha makes connections between the work of the women in Exodus and the work of women in modern history. She explores the audacity of Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives who defied Pharaoh’s orders; the bravery of Jochebed, Moses’ mother; the leadership exhibited by Miriam, Moses’ sister, and the compassion of Bithiah, the Egyptian princess who adopts Moses. She connects their disobedience, alliances, motherhood with women from various cultures who have fought, are fighting cultural norms to bring healing to their families.
  
  The stories are enlightening for me, part of my education as I consider my own privileges. I highly recommend the book - definitely a though-provoking read!
• 
  Fiona

  Kelley Nikondeha is one of my favourite theologians, and ever since she was writing her "She Ponders" posts for She Loves Magazine, I have been saving and savouring her words. But this book is my favourite yet.
  
  Kelley invites us into the lives of the 12 women of Exodus, and their critical role in the liberation of the Hebrew people. Supported by her extensive knowledge of the text and the culture, she invites us to engage our imaginations, to see what is hidden between the lines of the text and be inspired and challenged by the stories we discover there.
  
  "The deliverance of God is like these women hidden in the Exodus story, often unnamed and unnoticed. Pharaoh did not see them and often we have not - but they are there quietly working liberation one risk at a time. They are birthing, hiding and even crossing rivers of injustice to deliver children from death. They are forming alliances and trying new ways to enact small salvations."
  
  I love what she writes about liberation lullabies, about the connection and reparations that can happen between neighbours, about the empowering of prophetic women who drum their songs of freedom, and the mystic strength of ritual to proclaim truth.
• 
  Becca

  * 3.75 stars
  
  (Book club read)
  
  I read this for a book club I recently joined and I have mixed feelings about it. I really enjoyed the deeper look into the women of Exodus with more modern stories from influential people tying in and I really did deepen my knowledge of Exodus & the personalities of different people, such as Miriam and Jochebed. This is the first book I’ve actually lifted a pencil and underlined quotes in and have tabbed and I definitely learnt a lot from this book.
  
  However, I did find the writing quite dense and hard to get in to. I felt it was a bit choppy at times, especially when jumping from Exodus narrative to stories from the author’s life and other influential figures. It took me a while to get my head around who we were reading about as it jumped about quite a lot, but I understand that this is the easiest way to get different perspectives across etc.
  
  I might come back to this book again at a later date and try to delve deeper into the passages and maybe try the study questions at the back - I did enjoy it and learnt a lot from it but just found the writing style to not be my favourite. This is entirely my own opinion of the book & I do recommend it for delving deeper into the Exodus narrative!
• 
  Gina Parrish

  I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I agreed with the message. It even made me think about social justice in new ways. I just wasn’t a fan of the author’s “sanctified imagination” and literary license. It wasn’t as academic or as bible-centered as I had hoped for. There are citations, but very little time is spent on the actual biblical text of Exodus or explaining her use of terms like “sacrament” and “oracle” that, even having been raised Catholic, confused me.
  
  This is a weird thing to say, but I finished the book feeling lonely. Like I don’t belong. It’s something I have felt in various ways throughout my life, so it is nothing new. But her definition of womanhood and the solidarity of women made me feel “other”, even as an egalitarian woman who agrees with her overarching message.
  
  I am not sure I will read another book by this author, though I may read some of her cited books.
• 
  Erica Woudstra

  This book is beautifully written. It takes the reader on a journey through Exodus from the eyes of the women. Kelly uses Prophetic Immagination to bring to life the lives and stories of the women of Exodus wand weaves it together with modern women who are undertaking the same drive for justice and liberation.
  This quote sums up well the trajectory of the book:
  We are all Miriam's descendants with work to do, songs to sing and liberation to practice until every pharaoh is dethroned and every captive set free. Women are not the soft side of church work. We aren't meant to educate only women and children. We are not serving well only when we are supporting the men in leadership. We are called to be Exodus strong and to work alongside men to set people on both sides of the Nile free from slavery, complicity, and all manner of injustice. Liberation work is part of our Exodus mandate.
• 
  Ruth Julian

  Throughout this book, Kelley Nikondeha encourages and challenges us, as women, to lean into defiance of empire, which is oppressive to the marginalized, in order to help bring about freedom and life.
  This is not to downplay the role men have, but to underscore the fact that women are essential for deliverance to take place.
  One nugget of gold I am carrying away from this read is that bridges can be forged between the privileged and the marginalized, and that these bridges form the road for freedom for both sides of the river.
  She brilliantly weaves current stories from various global contexts with holy imagination of the biblical stories of the women of Exodus with astute exegesis.
  I have already been encouraging leaders at my church and the *learning to be defiant* women's groups I'm a part of to read this book.
• 
  Kari

  In this book, Kelley Nikondeha details 12 women in the book of Exodus and talks about how they used what skills they had to defy the Pharaoh and help with deliverance.
  
  202 has been a year where many Americans have been learning about injustice more and more, and inevitably the question comes, “But what can I do?” I think this book provides a helpful way to think about resisting empire and oppression by providing examples of different types of resistance seen by the women in the story. Perhaps you are more inclined to civil disobedience, or to leveraging your privilege, or crossing boundaries to know your neighbors. This book provides examples and inspiration from women of Exodus and throughout history, showing the power and possibility of communities of women. Recommended for discussion!