(Originally published on the Christians for Biblical Equality blog on October 1, 2024, https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/book-review-three-wise-women/)
By Elizabeth Millar
In the typical nativity creche, the three wise men are key figures, along with the shepherds, Mary and Joseph, and of course, the infant Jesus. However, Dandi Daley Mackall turns our attention to the three wise women of the nativity story. In her book Three Wise Women: 40 Devotions Celebrating Advent with Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna, she walks the reader through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany while focusing on the lives of these wise women.
Considering that women in the biblical text and throughout Christian history are often ignored, dismissed, or deemed as supporting characters only, Mackall offers a refreshing emphasis on three women who participated in one of the key events of the biblical narrative—the Incarnation. As one carefully reads the nativity story, women play a surprisingly significant role considering the patriarchal historical era. In fact, the expected prominent male voices are either in the background (such as Joseph) or silenced altogether (as in the case of Zechariah.) As our current age continues to be haunted by patriarchy, Mackall’s book is timely.
Written as a devotional book, Mackall starts each daily reading with a compilation of Scriptures, offers a short re-telling of a segment of the nativity story from one character’s point of view, and concludes with several reflective questions and a short breath prayer. The format is easy to follow and naturally leads the reader through a thoughtful and inspirational time of Scripture reading and meditation. The questions and prayers guide the reader as they move through the church seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Mackall has designed a comfortable reading experience that is smooth and beautiful, mindful of details like page margins, illustrated page details, and the flow of each meditation.
Considering that the lives of Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna are not explored in great detail in the Scriptures, Mackall employs the assistance of biblical commentaries to further understand their historical, geographical, and cultural contexts. She uses this information as she describes what the women ate or wore, knowing that such details of their lives help the reader enter their world. In her words, she has tried to “never let their imagined voices stray from what we are given in the Bible.”[1] Her commitment to the Scriptural text is evident while she explores the lives of these three wise women.
While immersed in the biblical account of the nativity, Mackall engages her own imagination as she wonders what these women might have been thinking or feeling as they move through the story. Mackall assures her readers that her wonderings are based on what is presented in Scripture and supported by historical sources as she attempts to “get inside the heads of these wonderful women.”[2] Her goal is to remind the reader that these women are very much like you and me: human and followers of Jesus. Though Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna are biblical heroes, they are not two-dimensional cardboard figures. Instead, there is a common humanity that we share.
As Three Wise Women is designed for devotional reading through Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, it opens the door to perhaps something new for many readers. Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna are women most of us have encountered before but perhaps have not taken the time to think more about. The word “ponder” that Mary uses when she consents to be the mother of Jesus is a helpful posture for the reader to adopt during this church season, as Mackall suggests. Instead of rigorous Bible study, Mackall invites readers to sit with these women for a while, to engage their imaginations, and to wonder what it might have been like for Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna as they encountered God in their own stories. This book might even prompt the reader to consider their own life and how God is present and active in their own story.
As one might expect, it is difficult to fully or even rightly imagine what someone might have been thinking or feeling a couple thousand years ago in a foreign country based on a short passage of ancient text. I suggest that the best way to fully enjoy this book is with a sense of openness and curiosity that this is one possible interpretation of the inner lives of these women. Its purpose is to provoke the imagination and to stimulate wonder, rather than to offer a firm argument or apologetic position. For some readers, this will be freeing and life-giving. For readers eager for deep theological discussion, hungry for historical and cultural context, or simply looking for the “right answer,” then a different book is probably a better choice.
The lives of women matter to God. Even further, as Three Wise Women clearly shows, women have played important roles throughout Scripture and Christian history—just as they do today. Mackall nicely honours these women and brings them to the foreground of our attention, particularly as we begin the journey through Advent.
[1] MacKall, Three Wise Women, 10.
[2] MacKall, Three Wise Women, 10.
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