1They could be your neighbors, cousins, sisters, mothers. But even though they lived in another world at a different time, they share our human condition. These are the women whose lives of challenge, courage, and faith appear in the Bible. They include the familiar and the unfamiliar, the powerful and the powerless, the married and the widowed, the saintly and the sinful. Of course, our businesswoman today is quite different from Martha of Bethany or Tamar of Canaan back then. Or is she? Sister Carol Perry invites us to see these women and to imagine them asking us, "What might you have done had you been me?" We will have to make our own decisions in our own circumstances, and the women of the Bible can serve as models. They lived in a patriarchy because that is all their world knew. But they found a way to shape their lives, some with success and some without, and we cannot ignore them. AMONG WOMEN tells the story of a kinship that defies time and place. Carol M. Perry, SU, is the Resident Bible Scholar at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. She is the author of WAITING FOR OUR SOULS TO CATCH UP, one of AARP's "Best Books of 2014," and the coauthor of CALLED AND SENT. She has been a recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities grants, was selected as an Educator of the Year by the Association of Teachers of New York, and has lectured across the country on scripture, Christian feminism, and the role of women in the Biblical world. A Sister of St. Ursula, she is a graduate of Fordham University and earned an MA in theology at St. Mary's, Notre Dame. Sister Carol's blog can be found here: www.marblechurch.org/connect/blogs/sister-carol-perry Praise for WAITING FOR OUR SOULS TO CATCH UP by Carol M. Perry, SU: "Of the hundreds of books we have read in 2014, this slim little volume by a Roman Catholic nun has affected us most. Written with warmth and wit, WAITING FOR OUR SOULS TO CATCH UP offers specific, simple ways to help people find God in everyday life. A delight for the believer or the seeker on your list." - Deirdre Donahue and Christina Ianzito "The Best Books of 2014," AARP