xviii  |  ROBERTA M. DAMON named anew. We become “Christian,” from the Greek: “Little Christ.” Now, there is a name to emulate. The name is one of the first things parents think about when they know a child will be born to them. Even abandoned babies are often given a name by their birth mothers. This act of naming provides evidence that a child without a name is a nobody. Across the multiple centuries and cultures of what we often lump together as “Bible Times,” we find many women who are not named. That does not mean they did not have names, but rather, the names were not recorded as part of their story. We know these women by some identifying phrase: “the woman with the issue of blood,” “the woman at the well,” or “the widow’s mite.” Or, we identify them in relationship to a male relative: “Job’s wife,” “Lot’s wife,” “Peter’s mother-in-law.” We encounter many men in the Bible who are not named—the ten lepers, the blind man of Bethsaida, the Greeks who came to Jesus, but considering the genealogical records in the Bible, we remember that Israel was patriarchal. Mentioned in “the begats” were sons of fathers through multiple generations. In the genealogies of Jesus, given by Luke and Matthew, only four women, besides Mary, were called by name: Rahab, the prostitute; Ruth, the foreigner; Tamar, the rape victim; and Bathsheba, the adulteress. On these pages you will not find Mary Magdalene, Phoebe, or Dorcas. They were called by name. You will find here, however, other Bible women whose stories are familiar but whose names we do not know. Here they receive names—suitable names—that give their stories greater resonance, providing space for reflection and adoption of meaning that enhances our names and stories.