Choosing the Good Portion, Women of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, ed. Patricia E. Clawson & Diane L. Olinger, Willow Grove, PA: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2016, 470 pp.
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has done a far better job than any other presbyterian church I know of in recording its history. Until now, however, the role of the women in the church has been largely overlooked. Choosing the Good Portion fills this void with 52 essays on the lives of various women in the church. The essay subjects range from women who were large financial donors in the early years to others who served as missionaries, school teachers, Sunday school teachers, wives, mothers, and in various other roles.
The book is hefty at 470 pages, and in places makes for slow reading. Many of the stories, however, are greatly encouraging and the book is certainly a welcomed break from the regular flow of materials the church produces about J. Gresham Machen. The book also helps to show the extent of OPC foreign missions as a number of essays relay stories from missions in Eritrea, Korea, and other countries.
Choosing the Good Portion is probably most profitably read just one short essay at a time. Although some of the essays are pretty good, others are just brief biographical sketches. I suspect it is not wrong to think that the vast majority of the readers of this volume will have interest in it because they are acquainted with one or more of the persons covered.
