Periods are a hot topic – tax, poverty, endometriosis, sustainable products, the stigma in India where girls often drop out of school. There is now more public menstrual chat than there’s ever been. But a Christian voice is often missing.
Rachel Jones’ brilliant discussion of periods is full of biblical references. She begins by explaining why it’s important to talk about the theology of periods, not just because others are but because we’d be missing something about God’s character – and the gospel – if we didn’t ask why he designed half the population this way.
If everything speaks of God’s plan, the blood from our wombs does too, argues Jones. She writes about the pain, shame and emotions of periods and the menopause and uses scripture to show how each of these are intended to point us towards our need for a saviour.
The difficult passages in Leviticus are tackled in a way that makes you value the gospel more, not love the Old Testament less. The book is incredibly funny and light-hearted, even describing the events in women’s ovaries each month as hormonal cocktail parties where the hormone FSH “bowls in” and “gets all the follicles all riled up for a competition (like drinking games, or in Christian ovaries, board games)”.
This book isn’t just for women. Men will benefit from the opportunity to better understand the women in their lives, and the God who created them.
Cara Bentley is a qualified news journalist who presents the Friday afternoon show 2-6pm on Premier Christian Radio and covers politics for Premier.
