Today IVP Academic announced we have a launch date: October 10. And a book cover I can finally share forNobody's Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament!

Here's how they describe it:

Some Christians think Paul's reference to "saved through childbearing" in 1 Timothy 2:15 means that women are slated primarily for delivering and raising children. Alternate readings, however, sometimes fail to build on the best historical and textual evidence.

Sandra Glahn thinks that we have misunderstood Paul by misunderstanding the context to which he wrote. A key to reading and applying 1 Timothy, Glahn argues, lies in getting to know a mysterious figure who haunts the letter: the goddess Artemis.

Based on groundbreaking research and new data about Artemis of the Ephesians, Nobody's Mother demonstrates how better background information supports faithful interpretation. Combining spiritual autobiography with scholarly exploration, Glahn takes readers on a journey to ancient Ephesus and across early church history. Unveiling the cult of Artemis and how early Christians related to it can give us a clearer sense of the type of radical, countercultural fellowship the New Testament writers intended Christ's church to be.

This book is for those who want to avoid sacrificing a high view of Scripture while working to reconcile conflicting models of God's view of women. Through the unexpected channel of Paul's advice to Timothy—and the surprising help of an ancient Greek myth—Nobody's Mother lays a biblical foundation for men and women serving side by side in the church.

Review:

"In this masterful literary, epigraphic, architectural, and exegetical study, Sandra Glahn brings the significance of Artemis worship to bear in the interpretation of being 'saved through childbearing' (1 Tim 2:15). This text is critically linked to the seemingly transcultural prohibition of women teaching men (1 Tim 2:12). However, anyone seeking to be faithful to Scripture should remember that these texts were first God's Word to others before they were God's Word to us. By understanding who Artemis of the Ephesians was and how this likely influenced these texts, Glahn exposes the context of 1 Timothy to apply these words more accurately today. This book is a game changer."

—Christa L. McKirland, theology lecturer at Carey Baptist College and executive director of Logia International

I received an email from InterVarsity Academic, my publisher, back in December that included the proposed cover. I took one look at the image and thought, "I'll be at the museum with that very art this month!" I was teaching a course in Italy, and for the first time we were adding Pompeii and the Archaeological Museum in Naples.

So while at AMN, my husband and friends took the photos below for fun. They also bought me swag and celebrated with me. Today we can finally make it all public. So fun to share this with you!