Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 23:2 (Spring 2009)
Article: Book Review: Removing the Veil: Revealing God’s Truth for Women
Author: John P. Lathrop

Book Review: Removing the Veil:
Revealing God’s Truth for Women

Margaret English

(Bridge-Logos, 2008)

Reviewed by

John P. Lathrop

John P. Lathrop is an ordained minister with the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies and pastor of the Christian Pentecostal Church of Newton, Massachusetts. He is a regular contributor to Vista Magazine, the official publication of the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, and the Pneuma Foundation’s journal, the Pneuma Review. He is also the author of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers Then and Now (Xulon Press, 2008).

Removing the Veil was written to affirm the place of women in God’s economy. Author Margaret English gives special attention to the subject of women in ministry and maintains that women should be permitted full participation in ministry on an equal basis with men. The author draws from Scripture, her own personal testimony, and facts from church history as she presents evidence in support of equality in ministry. Anyone interested in the subject of women in ministry might read this book, but it was written with pentecostal/charismatic women in mind.

English is the senior chaplain of women at Orange County Female Detention Center in Florida. In this capacity, she oversees a ministry to more than three thousand women every year. While English’s ministry brings her face to face with many women who are literally behind bars, this book is written in the hope that some of her non-incarcerated sisters in Christ who are currently “behind bars” will be set free to serve their Lord unhindered.

The book is divided into three sections consisting of four chapters each. Section 1, “Unveiling Our History,” mentions some women who had significant ministries in the early pentecostal movement—women like Aimee Semple McPherson and Maria Woodworth-Etter. The author also addresses the issue of why the initial openness to the ministry of women during times of revival has subsided and how patriarchy came to be embraced. In addition, she discusses the matriarchal and patriarchal systems of marriage that existed in the Old Testament and how they impacted what we read in the Bible concerning women. Section 2 is called “Unveiling Our Hearts.” Here, English addresses some of the issues related to passages that are often used to bar women from some types of ministry: texts like 1 Corinthians 14:33-38, 1 Corinthians 11:1-17, and 1 Timothy 2:9-15. English also gives some attention to the subject of elders on the island of Crete from the book of Titus. In section 3, “Unveiling Our Hope,” the author gives considerable space to looking at...