The Woman's Bible

The Woman's Bible. New York, European Publishing Company, 1895-98. 2 v. 23 cm.

The Woman's Bible is a collection of essays and commentaries on the Bible compiled in 1895 by a committee chaired by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), one of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention (the first Woman's Rights Convention held in 1848) and a founder of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Stanton's purpose was to initiate a critical study of biblical texts that are used to degrade and subject women in order to demonstrate that it is not divine will that humiliates women, but human desire for domination. In "denying divine inspiration for demoralizing ideas," Stanton's committee hoped to exemplify a reverence for a higher Christian "Spirit of all Good."

Additional images:

Part 1, Title Page

Woman's Bible: Preface of Part 1, p. 1

Preface of Part 1, p. 2

Members of the Revising Committee

Sources of information:

Boles, Janet K., Diane Long Hoeveler, and Rebecca Bardwell. Historical Dictionary of Feminism. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, c1996.

Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.