Yesterday it was announced that actress Gal Gadot has been cast as Wonder Woman in Batman vs. Superman. Much like my reaction to the poster for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 poster, I’m worried that Zack Snyder is attempting to fit too much into his Man of Steel sequel. Although it’s possible that there will be more than enough time to develop his new Batman and Wonder Woman while telling a compelling story.
In light of Wonder Woman finally being cast, here are some biblical wonder women.
Rahab
I remember learning about Rahab and the spies when I was in Sunday school. I know we learned about her helping the Israelite spies and trusting in God. However, I don’t remember learning that she was a prostitute. For all of the prostitution in the Bible, there weren’t a lot of prostitute flannel graph characters. Rahab was wondrous because she allowed her fear of God to turn into wisdom. Instead of cowering from God she trusted in him. When the rest of the city fell around her, she and her family were safe because of her faith.
Hannah
Wonder Woman may be wondrous because of her super powers but Hannah was wondrous because of her super faith. Hannah was barren but faithfully asked God to provide her and her husband with a child. She promised that if the Lord blessed them with a child that she would dedicate the child to the Lord. God heard Hannah’s prayers and she gave birth to a son, Samuel. Samuel became the last judge in Israel and counselor to Israel’s first two kings. Hannah may not have had an invisible jet but she definitely placed her faith in things unseen.
Priscilla
Wonder Woman may be an Amazonian princess but Priscilla was a teacher and leader in the early church. She and her husband were some of the earliest Christians in Rome and Paul counted them among his closest friends and coworkers. Priscilla is one of the central figures in the debate over women in ministry. Complementarians, who want to limit female leadership in the church, seek to diminish Priscilla’s role as a leader and teacher. Egalitarians, who want to see women in all church leadership roles, use Priscilla as an example for godly women in leadership. I am firmly an egalitarian and would love to see my daughters or the girls in our youth group become teachers and leaders like Priscilla.
I wasn’t terribly excited about Batman vs. Superman in the first place and the addition of Wonder Woman hasn’t changed those feelings. Still, I enjoyed Man of Steel much more than I thought I would and Zack Snyder is a talented and visionary director. Hopefully he can pull together DC’s most popular heroes and give us a good and entertaining movie.
Who are some of your favorite biblical wonder women?
Deborah and Jael, definitely the closest analogues to a comic book Wonder Woman we have in the BIble! The Virgin Mary, whose wonderful “yes” to God’s choice is the model of human cooperation with divine salvation. Lydia, a wonderful woman entrepreneur who used her financial resources to support and opened her home to the early church in Phillippi.
Great post, Scott!
I love that we could keep listing all the wonderful, godly women in the Bible.
Deborah would be more interesting analogy to Wonder Woman. She was a fought in a war.
Deborah is a great example of a biblical wonder woman.