This book opened my eyes more to how women and children have been devalued and minimized. Much is expected but little is provided for compensation, valuation and validation of women and all that they provide to the family and society.

The focus of Mothers, Children and the Body Politic is the undervaluing of mothers, motherhood and children. We are letting the culture skew our (biblical) view, as has happened throughout history, and the only way to remedy this is to return to God.

We need selflessness, which is often epitomized by mothers. Where has the value for human life gone?

I haven't finished this book, as it is weighty, but I have appreciated it thus far.

I received an eARC from NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

One can learn a lot about a society by considering how they treat the least and weakest among them: women and children tend to fall into that group.

In Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic: Ancient Christianity and the Recovery of Human Dignity, Nadya Williams explored a comparison and contrast between ancient Greek and Roman treatment of women and children with the ways ancient Christians spoke of and generally treated women and children, with a view of considering what it might mean for our society today.

The work is quite strong in terms of its ancient evidence and its presentation. The author well exposed how the Greeks and Romans maintained viewpoints in which women and children were not highly regarded; they were reckoned as less than, and those belonging to “the other,” all the more so. Evidence for these claims is well reinforced: we meet the horrors of ancient war and the wanton killing of women and children just because. We see the degrading, dehumanizing treatment and portrayal of women and children in these contexts and societies.

And ancient Christianity did present a significant contrast. Jesus taught Christians to see Him in the least of those among them, which would mean to see Jesus all the more in women and children. The author presents compelling ancient Christian witnesses attesting to the imago dei in each person and demonstrations of love and hospitality toward those Greco-Roman society despised and/or rejected.

The challenges of the work come with the assumed “Christendom” framework which the author unwisely imported into her applications to modern society, presuming American society at some point maintained “Judeo-Christian principles” like the valuation of the least among them without any defilement or influence from its own Greco-Roman heritage, and the need to return to such a perspective. It is incredibly difficult to take such a claim seriously in light of how those who imagined themselves as upholding Christianity treated the Indigenous American populations, Black people, and many others. The author is rightly concerned about the utilitarian valuation of life in our modern secular context, and rightly warns about the dangers thereof. But this does not mean that our forefathers were really that much more enlightened about how they treated the least among them. In this the Preacher is right: there is nothing new under the sun. The challenges may be different, but society continues to disregard the value of at least some of the least among them. Who might be disregarded may be different today than who was disregarded in the past, but both then and now, people were disregarded.

And for Christians, that should be a problem. We should certainly not rush to disregard those being disregarded today, but neither should we give implicit endorsement of an imagined more enlightened past which was nothing of the sort, and confess and lament how many, many people professed the name of Jesus while treating many made in the image of Jesus very shamefully. Western society was as shaped by Christianity and its insistence on the imago dei in humanity as it was by the ruthless philosophical logic of the Greeks and Romans. Christians should thus resist treating and valuing people the way the Greeks and Romans did. Our ancestors in the faith should have done so as well.

If Nadya Williams’s first book Cultural Christians in the Early Church Church (that I also recommend) is a survey of cultural questions early Christians struggled with, her just published Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic is a seminar engaging the big question of human dignity or worthiness that challenges us today. Specifically, part 1 points to 21st-century devaluing of pregnancy, child bearing, the maternal body, “assembly line life,” and the privileging of the “creative life” over against motherhood. Part 2 sketches lives of “worthless” and “useless” ones of antiquity and moments of their redemption in Judeo-Christian tradition. And, Part 3 moves to “healing words” (borrowed from Judeo-Christian scriptures, the early church, and contemporary author Wendell Berry) and that point to “the importance of valuing bodies, minds, and souls in caring for the lives of mothers, children, and all image bearers [as the Judeo-Christian epithet would consider humans to be]” (p. 155). She asks, “what does it look like to be not merely pro-life but pro-human flourishing” and insists that these “overwhelming, big-picture questions” require “local, concrete, rooted answers” (pp. 210-11).

Williams’s caringly provocative questions offer much to the typical reader of an Intervarsity Press Academic book. I suspect they will be similarly fruitful when read by other thoughtful readers who also grapple with our “utilitarian” 21st century and find that joyful relationships with family, children, friends, and “meaningful work” promote human flourishing (p. 211). For Williams, love for all human beings is “revolutionary fruit” of the imago Dei that calls humanity to “extraordinary, lavish action…to love” (p. 221).

A skilled andragogue, Williams walks the proverbial line between telling you what she thinks and offering you the opportunity to ponder and respond to questions yourself, questions that may well beget other questions in your own mind, questions that might further human flourishing, one reader and their relationship circle at a time. I heartily recommend this book.

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic explores the devaluing of children, mothers, and women in current Western society. Author Nadya Williams does this by giving examples of policies surrounding maternal healthcare, maternity leave, and education. With a unique background as a history professor and a Christian, she shows how the literary works of ancient cultures demonstrate their view on the value of women and children, and how the introduction of Christianity changed the world in that regard. Sadly, as Western society becomes increasingly post-Christian, we are seeing a devolving of the concept of human rights, as indicated by how we treat "the least of these."
This book is pretty academic in tone, but I did appreciate the arguments and connections the author made. It reminded me a lot of Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey and The Air We Breathe by Glen Scrivener, but with the added viewpoint of literature. I would recommend this to anyone looking to further equip themselves to advocate for the value of women and children, especially from a Christian worldview.
Thank you to Netgalley and IVP for the advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

While this book was well written and an interesting topic, I am not sure what I gained from reading it, and I am not sure who even to point to as a possible recommended audience. Williams is obviously an expert in her field of the early church and her explanations of examples from Roman society were well researched and provided clear context to the relational points she was trying to compare to our society. But, there was very little scripture in it besides example stories she was using from the Bible. Why make a compelling argument about motherhood and childhood and what our society gets wrong based on imago dei and barely reference scripture and interpretation that argues for the points you are making around the pro-life movement? I think it hurts both the believer and the unbeliever reading this even if there is already some context to Christian values around the ideas of abortion and motherhood. Part of a necessary step in this topic is provide the reasoning behind her beliefs, and that can only be done by scripture if it is going to come from a Christian, which to be fair is said multiple times within the book. I feel like this book is the kitchen sink for such a divisive topic and for me, needed a lot more focus to be effective to the points she was trying to make. She is a brilliant writer and scholar so hope to see more from her in the future.

Human life matters. even so many empires dehumanize mother and children, we can know that Christianity give a holy place for them. With this book, Nadya Williams tell us a history with contemporary significance in our time.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic is a wake up call to the American people to consider how exactly the modern culture values women and children, human life, and the broken systems of education, medicine, and spirituality in the nation. This book is quite frankly, haunting and terrifying. Williams did her research, and the data at least is verifiable facts. This book may lose people, even despite how honest it is, because the author is very openly Christian and that informs 99% of this book and its points. I am in fact one of the actively religious pagan, childless women that this book rails on and on about and against. I haven't been a Christian a day in my life, and I probably will never have kids. HOWEVER, even though the author and I don't see eye to eye on spiritual matters, I still stuck with her book to the end because--

This is important.

It's important to be able to listen to differing points of views and come to civilized, measured conclusions, together. That's what's lacking in the West; the ability to Love Thy Neighbor. This book is important, and God willing, it's able to kick start a much needed discussion across all sorts of different religions, creeds, and political backgrounds about, how exactly do we put the focus back on humanity itself? This book doesn't shy away from being controversial and I respect that. It delves into heavy, relevant topics like lab grown babies, declining birth rates, abortions, how the American education system makes robots of us all, changing attitudes in the Christian church, and so many other important topics. The author is educated, succinct, and would've been a great research attorney if that's what she wanted. She wanted to be a Mom in a culture that devalues Moms on everyday but Mother's Day, and she had the courage to write about her frustrations with the societal attitude about this choice. This book gets nothing but respect from me, even when I strongly disagreed due to my own religious background and upbringing. Christian women ESPECIALLY would benefit from reading this book, and I would recommend it to Christian friends for sure. I think there's a lot though, that non-Christians like myself can get out of this book and hopefully, conversations can lead to change that benefit all sides.

I must start my review with two confessions. I requested this book, based on its description and title, on my first day on NetGalley, and upon receiving the copy, I realised my mistake; this book was not for me for personal reasons. My second confession is that I let the publisher know that I will not be giving feedback and explained the situation, but I had read part of the first chapter then. After days, I thought, despite something being not immediately appealing, I should give it chance. Depending on how you align yourself in the world, this book would be between 2 and 5 stars. I liked that at the core, the emphasis is on helping new mothers and their children. I also appreciated the way the author built their argument, and the consistency in citing their resources. This is a good book for those with similar worldviews to the author. Otherwise, it is still a persuasive writing style and I was happy to spend time on learning the other ways of thinking/opinions than mine.