Women in the Bible aren’t shy or retiring; they’re fierce and funny and demanding and relevant to 21st-century people.

Women in the Bible, some of their names we know, others we’ve only heard, and others are tragically unnamed.

Pastor and provocateur Alice Connor introduces these women and invites us to see them not as players in a man’s story as victims or tempters nor as morality archetypes, teaching us to be better wives and mothers, but as fierce foremothers of the faith.

These women’s stories are messy, challenging, and beautiful. When we read their stories, we can see not only their particular, fearsome lives but also our own.

Alice Connor is an Episcopal priest and a chaplain on a college campus. She is the author of Fierce: Women of the Bible and Their Stories of Violence, Mercy, Bravery, Wisdom, Sex, and Salvation and How to Human:An Incomplete Manual for Living in a Messed-Up World.