What does it mean to be male and female Do women and men have different intellectual spiritual moral or emotional capacities Are women especially suited for serving and men for leading Are women and men equal While these may seem like relatively recent questions they have been a topic of conversation throughout Christian history. At the center of this conversation is the biblical character Eve the archetypal woman of Genesis 13. Not simply one woman among many Eve comes to represent all women defining the very essence of what it is to be female. As Eve was a woman so all women were Eve the conditions of her creation and her involvement in the Fall often serving as a justification for limitations placed on women and for their subordination to men. Over the centuries women themselves have read and interpreted the story of Eve scrutinizing the details of the text to discern Godampamp39s word for them. Often their investigations led them to insights and interpretations that differed from dominant views shaped as they were by men. The Gospel According to Eve traces the history of womenampamp39s interpretation of Genesis 13 readings of Scripture that affirmed womenampamp39s full humanity and equal worth. Biblical scholar Amanda Benckhuysen allows the voices of women from the past to speak of Eveampamp39s story and its implications for marriage motherhood preaching ministry education work voting and more.