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A review by lalatut
Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin
5.0
I appreciate this book so much. It didn't really offer anything new to me now, but the way she concisely and accessibly walks through HOW to study the Bible is so needed. The reality is that very few women, even those who have spent their whole lives in church know how to do this well.
My favorite section was toward the end with the encouragement for teachers. I love that she encourages us to explore whether we might be gifted to teach and suggests ways to gauge that. I also appreciated that she makes a point to distinguish between people who are gifted public speakers and those who are gifted to teach the Word. I was encouraged by her claim that the best teachers are not those who know the most, but those who are able and willing to ask the hard questions of scripture and to let our own curiosity guide our study. She also points out how teaching/leading can be the best way to motivate and provide accountability for personal study. That, really, is the only reason I ever started doing it - I wanted to study scripture deeply and knew that doing it in community was so much more valuable than doing it alone. So I gathered a group, dove in, and somewhere along the way discovered that I really love it.
Also, I just want to mention that her Bible studies really teach you how to do this well. She never spoon feeds you truth, interprets, or offers commentary. Rather, she gets the reader into the text and teaches us how to think about it. It really is a Bible study, not a Bible lesson. I highly recommend her Bible studies - some of which are published and some of which are available for free online.
My favorite section was toward the end with the encouragement for teachers. I love that she encourages us to explore whether we might be gifted to teach and suggests ways to gauge that. I also appreciated that she makes a point to distinguish between people who are gifted public speakers and those who are gifted to teach the Word. I was encouraged by her claim that the best teachers are not those who know the most, but those who are able and willing to ask the hard questions of scripture and to let our own curiosity guide our study. She also points out how teaching/leading can be the best way to motivate and provide accountability for personal study. That, really, is the only reason I ever started doing it - I wanted to study scripture deeply and knew that doing it in community was so much more valuable than doing it alone. So I gathered a group, dove in, and somewhere along the way discovered that I really love it.
Also, I just want to mention that her Bible studies really teach you how to do this well. She never spoon feeds you truth, interprets, or offers commentary. Rather, she gets the reader into the text and teaches us how to think about it. It really is a Bible study, not a Bible lesson. I highly recommend her Bible studies - some of which are published and some of which are available for free online.