Category Archives: Books

Book Review: Voyage of the Dawn-Treader

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I love the way Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis begins: “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrub, and he almost deserved it.” Eustace is an obnoxious cousin of the Pevensie children of the previous Chronicles of Narnia books. Lucy and Edmund are having to stay with Eustace’s family while their parents and Susan are in America and oldest brother Peter is preparing for an exam with the professor in whose house LWW took place.

It’s been a year since their last visit to Narnia, and they’re missing it and reminiscing about it in Lucy’s room when they notice a ship in a picture on the wall looks very Narnian. The ship begins to look like it is actually moving, they feel the spray of sea water, and suddenly they find themselves in the ocean near the ship…along with Eustace, who happened to come into the room. The ship turns out to be Caspian’s, and he pulls them out of the water. Three years have passed in Narnia, peace reigns throughout the land, and Caspian is making good on his vow that he would search for the seven lost lords of Narnia whom his evil uncle had sent away in Prince Caspian.

Lucy and Edmund join Caspian, Reepicheep, and the rest of the crew on the search: Eustace has no choice but to come along, complaining the whole time. Their adventures, discoveries, temptations, and lessons make up the bulk of the book. And I can’t say much more than that without telling you too much and spoiling the story for you if you’ve not read it.

I saw somewhere that this book was thought to be “darker” than LWW and Prince Caspian. I don’t know that I would say that, but it does seem each major character struggles more with personal temptations.

We did watch the film version of this book a few months ago, and I liked it well enough at the time, but now that I’ve reread the book, I am disappointed that they made several unnecessary changes. When will filmmakers learn that when they veer farther away from the plot of well-known, beloved books, their film suffers?

One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Aslan relieves Eustace of his (small spoiler here) dragon skin (and that scene was a big disappointment in the movie).

And one of my favorite lines is when Aslan tells the children that in their world he has another name and “You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.” That to me encapsulates the Narnia series as a whole.

Though neither Caspian nor Dawn-Treader quite measures up to LWW  for me, they are only a small notch or so below it. I did like and enjoy them very much.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Book Review: Prince Caspian

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Prince Caspian is the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia series (in publication order; in story it is the fourth.) The book begins with the four Pevensie children at a train station waiting to go back to boarding school when they’re suddenly pulled back into Narnia. Before too long they discover that time in Narnia moves much differently than in their world, and multitudes of years have passed since their last visit.

It takes them a long time, actually to encounter anyone, and finally they meet a dwarf who tells them that men called Telmarines are in power, chiefly a King Miraz, uncle to the rightful heir, Prince Caspian. No one knows anything about talking animals and most everyone thinks the time of  Kings Peter and Edmund and Queens Susan and Lucy and even Aslan himself are just myth, or at least so far back in history as not to be significant anymore. Miraz has just had his own son and desires to seal his succession to the throne by killing the rightful heir, Caspian.

Caspian, meanwhile, in the course of his escape discovers there really are “Old Narnians” who, once they realize who he really is (it takes more convincing for some than others), side with him. He realizes there is more at stake than his own life: for the sake of Narnia he has to overthrow his uncle’s rule.

My only complaint with this book is that it takes a while for anything to happen: it’s about three-fourths of the way into the book before the Pevensies even meet up with Caspian. But everything leading up to it is necessary to lay the foundation and background.

Aslan returns as well, seeming larger (though not because he is older, he tells Lucy, but because she is), but I think he and the Pevensies are the only returning characters from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: new beloved characters emerge, such as Trumpkin the Dwarf, Trufflehunter the Badger, and noble mouse Reepicheep.

Two of my favorite quotes from this book:

Aslan asks Caspian, “Do you feel yourself sufficient to take up the Kingship of Narnia?”

“I — I don’t think I do, Sir,” said Caspian. “I’m only a kid.”

“Good,” said Aslan. “If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been a proof that you were not.”

And when Caspian, upon learning something of the history of his people, wishes he came of a more honorable lineage, Aslan replies:

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve, and that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth.”

Though perhaps not quite as exciting as LWW (to me), the book still has many beloved elements of the first: Lewis’s inimitable style, good versus evil, memorable characters, quests that take characters beyond themselves, and moral lessons such as Lucy’s need to follow Aslan even though others don’t see him or understand or agree.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Book Review: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

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As I have mentioned before, somehow I didn’t encounter Narnia until about twelve years ago, in my early forties. I read the whole Chronicles of Narnia through at that time and loved them. Somehow I must have read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe more than once, or maybe a couple of viewings of the movie helped cement the details in my mind, because this reading was like visiting old friends whereas I don’t even remember the characters of some of the other books in the series.

I chose to read the series in the order Lewis published the books rather than the story order. Maybe next time I’ll do it the other way — that probably would help keep elements of the story in order, But I can’t imagine beginning with anything other than LWW, and I like exploring the stories as they as the public first discovered them.

If you are not familiar with the series, Narnia is another land that you could call enchanted: time moves much more slowly, animals talk, fauns, centaurs, and dwarves abound, and, in this book, Narnia is in a perpetual winter without the benefit of Christmas. Lucy, the youngest Pevensie child, accidentally discovers Narnia while playing hide and seek with her brothers and sister during a stay in an old professor’s house. She hides in a wardrobe and tries to get as far back into it as possible when she discovers snow and trees, and on further exploration, meets a fawn who tells her, among other things, that Narnia is under the control of the White Witch who has deemed it always winter but never Christmas.

When Lucy comes back through the wardrobe, her siblings don’t believe her until they have their own encounters with Narnia. The Narnians call them Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve and tell them of a prophecy in which four humans will rule on the thrones of Cair Paravel. They also tell the children of Aslan, a talking lion, the King of Beasts, son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea. In one of my all-time favorite literary passages, Lucy asks Mr. Beaver whether Aslan is safe. He responds, “Safe?…’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

There follows all the best elements of a fairy tale: classic battles of good versus evil while they learn about themselves and Aslan along the way.

And although LWW is not meant to be an exact allegory with every minute element being symbolic, there are numerous parallels to Christianity. In the article “What’s Christian About Narnia?” Lauren Winter writes:

[Lewis] preferred to think of the Chronicles as “supposals”–“Let us suppose,” he wrote in his essay “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said,” “that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen.”

Lewis also uses elements from mythology, and some have seen pagan elements in these writings as well. I discussed this more in Narnian Magic and concluded that I see those as fairly tale elements and have read enough about Lewis’s Christianity to feel secure that its overarching truths are the underpinnings of the series though I would not agree with every little point.

Two words kept coming to mind during this reading: delicious and delightful. Lewis is a master storyteller. Imaginative names and elements mingle with the very real and human struggles and characters. I love the way Lewis describes things to the children reading using examples of what they might know. One example, when Lucy and Susan were riding on Aslan’s back:

That ride was perhaps the most wonderful thing that happened to them in Narnia. Have you ever had a gallop on a horse? Think of that; and then take away the heavy noise of the hoofs and the jingle of the harness and imagine instead the almost noiseless padding of the great paws. Then imagine instead of the black or grey or chestnut back of the horse the soft roughness of golden fur, and the mane flying back in the wind. And then imagine you are going about twice as fast as the fastest racehorse. But this is a mount that doesn’t need to be guided and never grows tired.

In fact, one of the marvels of this book to me is that a learned Oxford scholar who never claimed to be  theologian but was one of the greatest thinkers in recent times could write such marvelous tales that are easily accessible to children and yet delight grown-ups as well.

Chronicles of Narnia Reading ChallengeI had originally committed to only reading this book for Carrie’s Chronicles of Narnia Reading Challenge, but I had forgotten the books are not all that long. I’ve actually already finished Prince Caspian as well. My original desire was to read LWW, Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and then see the corresponding films of each again. I don’t know if there will be time to get to the films before the challenge is over, but I’ll easily be able to finish these three books.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Narnian Magic

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I started to write about the magical aspect of Narnia in a book review of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but it then took on a life of its own, so I decided to make it a separate post.

I came to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis via a slightly different route than many of you. I don’t remember reading or even hearing about the Chronicles of Narnia until about twelve years ago. A lady in my church who is very gifted in art and drama was talking about being in a local stage production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe along with her daughter. This lady herself was playing the White Witch. I was very surprised.

There was a time when I avoided any book, program, cartoon, anything that had anything remotely to do with witches, magic, etc., for a couple of very good reasons. First of all, back in the ninth or tenth grade I had done a group research project in English class on the occult. This was before I became a Christian, and some time after I became a Christian a few years later, I realized how foolish that was and rejoiced that God had protected me from getting any further involved. I discovered dire warnings in the Bible against witches, wizards, and the like. Secondly, when my kids were younger, we picked up a truly horrible book. The title had to do with a magic carpet, and as my son showed it to me at the library, I felt what I can only describe as a check in my spirit, kind of a warning signal that this might be a problem. But we had had a different book about a magic carpet before and it was just a sweet reference to a rug where a girl and her grandmother or aunt had sat and told stories. So I let my son check out the book with the thought that I’d look at it before we read it. As I got into it, I discovered it was written from a New Age viewpoint complete with a “spirit guide” (who had his own chapter in the back), and the book advocated things like throwing books at your teachers if they didn’t let you do what you wanted, hinted at an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister, and urged the reader to throw off everything he had ever learned before from his parents. I can’t adequately describe the revulsion and horror at the book I had in my hands.

So naturally I was a bit skittish at the thought of anything “magical.” But somewhere along the way, I can’t remember just how, I came to the conclusion that fairy tale magic usually is a different thing than the actual occult. Usually the witch in a fairy tale is just the representation of the bad guy in the “good versus evil” plot. When we watched The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the Lord of the Ring series (I had also missed these books growing up. My education was sadly deficient of classics), I struggled a bit with the wizardry in them, but eventually concluded that the wizards were more like Middle Earth super heroes than actual occultish wizards. Real life wizards, after all, don’t ride on the backs of giant birds or fight each other with power blasts (at least as far as I know).

One definition of “magical” in Dictionary.com is “mysteriously enchanting” and one of “magic” is “any mysterious or extraordinary quality or power.” I did read the Chronicles of Narnia and a biography of Lewis not long after the encounter with my friend at church, and I think when Lewis speaks of the “deep magic” of Narnia, he is meaning this “mysterious or extraordinary quality or power.”

Yet I recently read (and I wish I could remember where) of a modern-day pagan who claims Narnia every bit as much as Christians do. And “Googling” “paganism in Narnia” results in many articles and posts discussing the issue from both sides. Such pagan ideas existed in Lewis’s day: did he have any idea pagans in days to come would champion elements from his work as much as Christians do? Or is it a matter of the principle that “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15)? I don’t know: perhaps some of you who have read more of the background of the books can lend some insight.

I’ve read that Lewis never meant Narnia as an exact Christian allegory, but Christian elements are definitely there: Christ is referred to as “the lion of the tribe of Judah”; Aslan, the Christ figure of Narnia, is a great lion. Aslan dies for one who betrayed him just as Christ did, and he is similarly resurrected. I mentioned in yesterday’s post that the way the children felt about Aslan being good and terrible at the same time mirrored our feelings of God.  (See What’s Christian About Narnia” for more.)

Having read a biography of Lewis, his Mere Christianity, and snips of his other writings, I am content to say, like Lauren Winner, “That an unmistakably biblical narrative emerged is perhaps a testimony to Lewis’s own formation, a reminder of how deeply steeped he was in the Christian story.” Though I don’t know how to reconcile all the elements of the stories, I know enough about his Christian beliefs to trust that they really are there in the stories.

I would say, however, to anyone who has a doubt or a question about this or any other book or program, don’t violate your conscience. Read about them, talk to others, pray about it before going ahead, and if you decide not to read them, that’s fine. And those of us who do read them shouldn’t scoff at those who don’t. We each need to remember the principles of Romans 14 when it comes to differing convictions: that we shouldn’t despise or judge each other on these kinds of things, that we should each be “fully persuaded in our own minds,” that whatever we do or don’t allow needs to be done as unto the Lord, that we will all give account of ourselves to God, that we shouldn’t put stumblingblocks in each other’s way, that we should “follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another,” that we shouldn’t condemn ourselves in what we allow, and that if we can’t do a thing in faith, we shouldn’t do it.

Book Review: No Distance Too Far

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No Distance Too Far is Book 2 in the Home to Blessing series by Lauraine Snelling. Dr. Astrid Bjorkland, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants, has planned to help her doctor sister-in-law in their home town of Blessing, North Dakota in 1904. But after hearing the needs of Africa, she feels perhaps God is calling her there. With a great measure of reluctance but a desire to be obedient and to test whether this is really God’s call, she enrolls in a missionary school. There she enjoys classes from godly teachers, makes wonderful friends, has her faith challenged and stretched, but she also encounters negative responses both from male students and some board members who feel that a woman, especially an unmarried one, has no place as a missionary to Africa. Further complicating her efforts to discern her call are the needs back home as Dr. Elizabeth falls ill, needs that Astrid seems uniquely fitted to meet, as well as the desperate needs of an nearby Indian reservation, and the attentions of Joshua, a young man who works with her brother.

Though it’s been over 30 years since I was in college, it doesn’t really seem that long ago that I struggled with discerning God’s call and wondering whether that call meant the mission field. I empathized with Astrid’s struggles and thought the author portrayed them genuinely.

In some Christian books, the pastor is sometimes brought in as the voice of authority or the one with the answers to the dilemma, but I found Astrid’s discussion with her pastor quite natural. He doesn’t tell her what to do but helps her as she wrestles through questions.

I thought I was reading the book that immediately followed the one I had previously read, but I discovered afterward there was one book in between. That contributed to my feeling like I was missing something from references to events I couldn’t remember, but after a while I was able to piece together enough to comprehend the implications of those past events.

The only very minor negative was that there were so many people it was hard to keep them all straight. There were two sets of series before this one concerning the whole family when they first came to the States, and therefore there was a lot of history and family expansion leading to this book which I had not read. But early on I decided not to try to keep straight who everyone was and how they were related and just to concentrate on the main characters, and eventually those other relationships did become clear. I do think this book could be read as a stand-alone book without having to read all the ones that came before to understand it.

I didn’t necessarily agree with every little point made throughout the book, but overall I did enjoy it and did agree with the overarching principles, and I am happy to recommend it.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Narnia Reading Challenge

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Chronicles of Narnia Reading ChallengeI’m joining Carrie‘s Narnia Reading Challenge for the month of July. I somehow had not read or even heard of these books until maybe twelve years ago — I don’t now how I missed them. I did read the series through along with a biography of C. S. Lewis. I’ve been wanting to revisit Narnia and this is a perfect opportunity.

I always struggle between wanting to read new books or reread good old ones, and I have a lot of new ones sitting here, so I am only going to commit to reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. What I’d like to do is read that and Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the rewatch each of the corresponding Disney movies. But if I did that I’d likely not get anything else read. So for now I’ll just go with the one, and then we’ll see. I may get so caught up in Narnia I won’t want to stop with just the first one. 🙂

I was trying to decide whether to read them in the order in which Lewis wrote them or the story order (evidently that is a bit of a controversy out there), and this article gives good reasons for doing the former.

I’m looking forward to it!

What’s On Your Nightstand: June

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What's On Your NightstandThe folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

This will overlap my Spring Reading Thing Wrap-Up a bit, but there is a little bit of difference, and different visitors.

Since last time I finished:

The Judgment by Beverly Lewis, second in The Rose Trilogy, reviewed here. Two Amish sisters  make very different choices and then have to deal with the consequences.

Mine Is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs, reviewed here. Second in a series based on the story of Ruth but set in 18th century Scotland.

The Deepest Waters by Dan Walsh, based on a true story of a newlywed couple whose ship sunk on their honeymoon, reviewed here.

Women’s Ministry in the Local Church by Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt, reviewed here.

Goforth of China by Rosalind Goforth (original version),  a missionary classic, just finished, hope to review soon.

I’m now reading No Distance Too Far, Book 2 in the Home to Blessing series by Lauraine Snelling. This book is about a young female doctor in 1904 trying to discern where the Lord is calling her to use her talents. thinking perhaps it is Africa but not being quite settled about it.

Up next: Carrie is hosting a Narnia Reading Challenge in July and I am committing to reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I’m not sure yet whether I’ll continue on in the Narnia series or go back to the stack of books waiting for me. I’ll have to see what I feel inclined to do when I get to that point. 🙂

Spring Reading Thing 2011 Wrap-Up

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It’s hard to fathom that summer is just now officially starting since life has been feeling pretty summery for a few weeks now. But the end of spring brings with it the end of Katrina‘s annual Spring Reading Thing! It’s time to share how we did with the goals we set back at the beginning of spring and link our wrap-up posts here.

Here is what I completed:

Fiction:

On my original list:

A Walk In the Park and A Long Walk Home by Barbara Andrews, reviewed here. Very sweet, tender story.

Faithful by Kim Cash Tate. Excellent! Three friends in different situations learn what it means to be faithful despite the serious problems they face, reviewed here.

Leaving by Karen Kingsbury, first in a new series with Bailey Flanigan from previous series. A short review is here.

The Judgment by Beverly Lewis, second in The Rose Trilogy, reviewed here. Two Amish sisters  make very different choices and then have to deal with the consequences.

An Unlikely Blessing by Judy Baer, about a new pastor over two churches with eccentric characters who don’t always get along. Short review here.

Love Finds You in Camelot, Tennessee by Janice Hanna, cute romantic comedy about a city official who tries to save her town by putting on the musical of the same name, short review here.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, an all-time favorite, reviewed here.

Added:

Mine Is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs, reviewed here. Based on the story of Ruth but set in 18th century Scotland.

The Deepest Waters by Dan Walsh, based on a true story of a newlywed couple whose ship sunk on their honeymoon, reviewed here. Sounds depressing, but it wasn’t. 🙂

Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner, “a tale of two Janes,” a modern-day Jane who finds a ring in her antique store that may have belonged to Lady Jane Grey. One of my favorites from this year. Reviewed here.

Words by Ginny Yttrup excellent, one of my favorite books so far this year, reviewed here. The first pages grabbed me and the rest of the book held me. Though the subject of child abuse is a hard one to read, the redemptive story is excellent.

Non-fiction:

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, compiled by Nancy Guthrie. Excellent.

A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know about Writing Inspirational Fiction, reviewed here.

10 Gospel Promises For Later Life by Jane Marie Thibault, reviewed here. Sadly, I cannot recommend this due to serious theological errors. Greatly disappointing especially since the premise was good.

Women’s Ministry in the Local Church by Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt, reviewed here.

I’m also about half-way through Goforth of China by Rosalind Goforth, not on my original list. I’ve read it multiple times but just wanted to read it again: this is one of my most highly recommended books.

So, in summary, I did finish my original goals plus I added in a few others. I know some people read way more than I do, but I am satisfied with my list. If I read faster I wouldn’t get as much out of what I read. I did enjoy discovering several new authors as well as visiting with familiar ones. My two favorites were Words by Ginny Yttrup and Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner. The least favorite was 10 Gospel Promises for Later Life by Jane Marie Thibault.

I always enjoy the opportunity to be a bit more purposeful in my reading goals through this challenge rather than just grabbing whatever I am in the mood for (though I enjoy doing that, too!)  And I enjoy visiting with other readers to see what they read and what they thought about it. I almost always find new titles to add to my to-be-read list. Thanks to Katrina for hosting this fun challenge every year!

Two reviews: The Judgment and Mine Is the Night

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The Judgment by Beverly Lewis is the second in The Rose Trilogy about two Amish sisters, Rose and Hen, whose lives took very different turns due to their choices. Hen married an Englisher, an outsider, but now that her little daughter, Maddie, is getting older, Hen becomes concerned about the worldly influences her husband Brandon allows and she misses the wholesome influence of her heritage. In the last book she took Maddie and went to her parents’ home, going back to Amish dress and customs. Brandon is infuriated and unwilling to compromise on any point. Hen struggles with her vows before God to her husband when honoring those vows would be detrimental to Maddie.

Rose has become secretly engaged to Silas, but her heart still hurts over the departure of her best friend, Nick, adopted son of the bishop. Nick never came completely to terms with Amish ways in his heart, and an accident resulting in the death of his brother has the whole town sure Nick was at fault. So Nick leaves, and his adopted father is under the threat of being removed from his office as bishop due to Nick’s behavior. Meanwhile, a former member of the community, Rebecca, has come back to help a young mom with twins, and Rose can’t help but notice her own fiance’s enthusiasm as he renews his acquaintance with Rebecca and can’t help but wonder what it means.

I enjoyed this book very much and appreciated that it brought up some different twists to the genre. Hen’s struggle, in particular, is very relevant to the problems that arise when a person of faith marries an unbeliever, problems with no easy answers. I’m looking forward to the third book in the series due out this September.

Mine Is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs is the sequel to Here Burns My Candle, both books based somewhat on the life of Ruth in the Bible but set in 18th century Scotland. This books begins with Elizabeth and her mother-in-law, Marjory, arriving back in Marjory’s home town nearly destitute, hoping to prevail on the good graces of her cousin for a place to stay, yet they are both tainted by their previous affinity for the Jacobite cause. Ruth finds employment in the household of a handsome admiral, and her industriousness and kindness (as well as her beauty) draw his notice. Of course, as this is based on the Biblical Ruth, the reader knows where this will lead, but it is still an enjoyable story in finding out how they get to their destiny. As I said with the first book, it’s probably best enjoyed as a story on its own merit without comparing it too much to the Biblical version except for the “bones” of the story. For instance, we have no record that the Biblical Naomi found another love interest after the death of her husband or that she was proud, haughty, and unkind before being humbled by circumstances as this story’s Marjory was. I don’t begrudge Marjory finding happiness in love, but that whole subplot as well as three different women proposing to their intended husbands in that era seemed a little implausible. It’s a lengthy book at 480 pages, but it didn’t take long at all to read. Liz is an excellent storyteller, and it was easy to get caught up in and enjoy this tale.

Here are trailers for both books:

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

Book Review: Women’s Ministry in the Local Church

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I finished Women’s Ministry in the Local Church by Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt a few weeks ago, but it is hard to know how to condense everything I’d like to say about it. I typed out many of the quotes I marked so I could have them handy to refer to without flipping back and forth through the book, and just those quotes took up almost three pages, which is much too long for a blog post! So I think I’ll just give you a brief overview of the book and then mention a few things I really liked about it and a couple I didn’t like so much.

The authors first set out the need for such a book to help women to teach other women as Titus 2 instructs, to present the Biblical role of womanhood as opposed to the feminist view promoted by the world, and to promote the necessity and nobility of women’s roles. The authors had found resources teaching many aspects of a woman’s relationship to Christ and women’s groups a para-church organizations, but not one integrating the women’s ministry to the church ministry as a whole. Furthermore, in some churches which do have some type of women’s ministry, that ministry is “event-, task-, or personality-driven. An inherent danger is that any ministry that is not Biblically informed will eventually become competitive and divisive” (p. 31). Ligon Duncan has an excellent section on “Why a Church Needs a Women’s Ministry” in pages 37-42.

After discussing the need and motives of women’s ministry, the authors lay out the foundations and tasks of a healthy women’s ministry and the relationship of the women’s ministry to the rest of the church.

The authors promote a complementarian position, the view “that God created men and women equal in being but assigned different — but equally valuable — functions in His kingdom, and that this gender distinctiveness complements, or harmonizes, to fulfill His purpose” (p. 32), and part of that distinction is “male spiritual leadership in the home and believing community, the Church” (pp. 32-33). A couple of quotes I especially appreciated along these lines were:

Submission has nothing to do with status. Submission is about function. Equality of being and differentiation of function characterize the Trinity. The Persons of the Godhead are ‘the same in substance, equal in power and glory,” but each has a different function in the accomplishment of our salvation (p. 73).

Submission does not restrain women. Submission frees us to accomplish our kingdom purpose (p. 78).

Domestic duties are not a hindrance to sanctification; they are essentials of the common life. The family is a context in which to develop godly character that will qualify women for service beyond hearth and home. When love for Christ is the matrix of domesticity, those duties become an aroma of Christ, the fragrance of life (2 Corinthians 2:15-16) (p. 106).

Since I’ve started sharing quotes, let me see if I can pick out a few of the most pertinent from the three pages I gleaned:

When young women learn more about womanhood from TV, movies, magazines, and the Internet than they do from mature older women, they will often make unbiblical decisions. (p. 53)

Christ, not womanhood or the women’s ministry, must be the reference point. Unless a woman’s ministry is an overflow of the gospel, women will become hinderers and nor helpers in God’s Church. Those who plan for and implement a women’s ministry must be intentional in maintaining a gospel orientation in their hearts and lives (p. 58).

Paul put heavy emphasis on sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is the antidote for error. Sound, which is the key word in these letters, is translated from a Greek word that means whole or healthy. “Christian doctrine is healthy in the same way as the human body is healthy. For Christian doctrine resembles the human body. It is a coordinated system consisting of different parts which relate to one another and together constitute a harmonious whole. If therefore our theology is maimed (with bits missing) or diseased (with bits distorted) it is not ‘sound’ or ‘healthy'” (pp. 59-60).

Titus 2:3-5 instructs the pastor to equip older women to train younger women. If this mandate is disconnected from a biblical perspective of discipleship, it can easily become purely a relational model that magnifies relationship rather than God’s glory, or an academic model that elevates knowledge over the application of the gospel into life (p.60-61).

Without in any way discounting the regular pulpit ministry of the church, we should recognize that there are certain matters more aptly addressed and applied in the context of a specific discipleship of women, whether in large groups, in small groups, or in situations of confidentiality, as women minister to women (p. 84).

The goal is not to get every woman to participate in the women’s ministry, but for the women’s ministry to serve and encourage every woman in the church (p. 111.)

Commenting on Psalm 144:12b: “that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace”: These corner pillars were both beautiful and functional. They gave grace and dignity to the structure even as they supported it. If these pillars weakened, the structure was in danger. David considered these corner pillars to be gifts from God…Unless corner pillars stand on a firm foundation, they will topple. p. 138.

At the end of each chapter is a short testimony from pastors or women about some aspect discussed in the previous chapter. One of the most interesting and enlightening to me were a couple from women in reference to being in a church that did not see the importance of a women’s ministry, or, in some cases, did not even seem to love women:

How are women to love the church when they feel unloved by the church? I have found the answer in Scripture’s admonition to women who are married to unbelieving or disobedient husbands. The failure or weakness of male leadership does not absolve us of our responsibility. We are to run to the Author and Perfecter of our faith with our hurts, wounds, and disappointments. We are to see this season as part of our individual and corporate sanctification offered by our sovereign God who loves us steadfastly. (p. 52-53).

When women are scorned and disrespected by the philosophies of ministry that denigrate the design, calling, and roles of women, we are tempted to react with militant defensiveness. Scripture calls us to remember that Jesus, the King of the Church, delights in us. We are not called to defend ourselves but to defend Christ’s Kingdom through prayer and service. (p. 53).

The “militant defensiveness” stood out to me because I know of a handful of women who have that exact tone in pointing out perceived errors in the church and their voices and tone have become so shrill and bitter that they are doing much more harm than good. If the church is a family, a body, then dealing with problems is not best handled by “militant defensiveness.” That doesn’t mean those problems don’t need to be addressed, but there are better, more restorative and Christ-honoring ways to do it.

There are appendices in the back discussing some practical aspects of women’s discipleship ministries and Bible studies.

There were just a few things I either did not agree with or care for.

  • On page 75 a quote from a Dr. George Knight that “”Eve…brought herself into transgression by abandoning her role and taking on that of the man.” I don’t think that was her sin or even what led to her sin necessarily: her sin was simply disobeying God’s clear command; her motives: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.
  • This one is perhaps a minor point, but on pages 102-103 there is a section about widows which interprets I Timothy 5:3-10 as referring to two different groups of widows, those who receive church help and those who are a group qualified to minister to others. I had never heard that before, but I don’t see a distinction between two groups there: I believe it is all one group of widows and the lists actions there show what they have done, what they are being honored for, not what they are signing up to do (not that older women should not keep ministering in some way as long as they are able, but that’s another post I am thinking about).
  • On page 140 the authors say, “Bible studies should equip women to pass on the legacy of biblical womanhood to the next generation and should offer opportunities for them to have hands-on experiences in discipling one another.” I agree, but I don’t think that means Bible studies among women can only cover these topics or the passages that relate directly to women. I think studying books or other topics can be covered and is part of the foundation on which women’s ministry rests, and principles of womanhood can be brought out. Later they warn against a “prideful pursuit of knowledge…that stops short of true discipleship that moves from knowledge to wisdom — to the application of truth into life. They have perfected some Bible study skills, but they do not know how to love as godly, chaste single women, or love their husbands, or care for the sick and oppressed, or support the male leadership of the church…” and more (pp. 140-141). I do think that’s a valid concern.
  • Related to the above point, there is a section where a pastor compliments the women’s Bible study ministry in his church for coordinating with the pulpit ministry. For instance, when he preached a series on “David: A Man After God’s Own Heart,” the ladies’ Bible study ministry did a study on “A Woman After God’s Own Heart.” I think that’s really neat when that kind of coordination occurs, but again, I don’t think the ladies’ Bible study should be restricted to that kind of coordination any more than the Sunday School classes or children’s ministry or men’s meetings should. Sometimes it’s helpful when every aspect of the church is focused on a particular truth, topic, or section of the Bible, but in most cases it is helpful when the different groups study different parts of Scripture: it’s part of studying the whole counsel of God and balancing the different parts of Scripture. I’ve found that helpful even in my own Bible study or reading: if I am in a particular “heavy” section, like Job or the prophets, it helps to read a Psalm or something from the epistles as well.
  • I was surprised to find little mention of hospitality in the book. It’s implied but not really discussed much. As I mentioned in Mentoring Women, I think it hospitality is a primary way women can disciple and minister to each other; I don’t know that Paul primarily had classroom instruction and retreats in mind when he penned those verses, though I think it’s fine to use those.
  • Susan’s writing can be a bit clinical sometimes. I felt this way in her chapters of Becoming God’s True Woman as well (which I thought I had reviewed, but looking back, I just referred to it a number of times.)
  • This last point is one I want to be the most careful with because I don’t want to cause offense. Let me say first that, though I am in my particular denomination because I feel it best represents my understanding of what Scripture teaches, I know no denomination is flawless, and I can get along fine with people from other denominations if we agree on the major points: the Deity of Christ, the inspiration of Scripture, salvation by grace through faith and not by works we do, etc. Many blogs and books I read are by people from other denominations than my own. I can understand that good people can differ on some areas of teaching and application and still do everything they do as unto the Lord and be in right standing with Him.

One of those differences in some denominations is looking at God’s dealings with people through either a covenantal or a dispensational lens. This post is too long already to explain those two views and you can easily find them elsewhere, so I won’t go into all the differences. I can actually see elements of both: there are covenants God made with people throughout history that affected people for years to come, and the New Testament does refer to God’s relating to us through a “new covenant.” But, though God is always the same and people have always been saved by faith, there are different times in the Bible God had different specific requirements for His people. For instance, in our day we don’t have the same command as Adam and Eve not to eat of a certain tree, or the same requirements Old Testament Israel did with the ceremonial law. So while I would probably lean toward a more dispensational view, I certainly don’t discount the covenants and can see Biblical history through that lens as well. I can read books and blogs with those differences without a problem at all.

But this book is very, very, very heavily covenantal. Susan uses the phrases “covenantal community” and “covenantal consciousness” multitudes of times throughout the book to refer to the relationship believers in a church should have with each other. Those phrases are probably infused with meaning to her, but to me they just leave me a little cold. Just taken at face value, a covenant is a binding agreement between people. So relating to each other based on an agreement just doesn’t carry the same meaning to me as the Scriptural metaphors of the church being a family and a body, with different parts and functions all working together in a harmonious whole. Those metaphors are mentioned but not emphasized in the book. Susan  urges women’s ministry leaders to use those phrases to remind and emphasize to women their covenant relationship with each other, but the overuse of them in this book seemed to me to be an irritant and a shoving of the concept down the throat. I wouldn’t have had as much of a problem with it if she simply stated her view of the church as a covenantal community at the beginning and then went on without using those phrases so very often.

The time and space to explain all of that might seem to give it more weight than intended: it’s not really a major objection and not even an objection, really: I just think the emphasis of the type of community and relationship we’re to have with each other as believers would be better served with the more Scriptural phrases of the church being a body than the denominational phrases of “covenant community” and “covenant consciousness.” I think Susan probably means the same thing by those phrases, but to someone outside a covenantal type of denomination, it just doesn’t come across the same. Her writing is so heavily denominational, it might be off-putting to those from different denominations, but there is much good to glean if you don’t let that phraseology bother you.

It might look like I objected to more than I agreed with, but that is not really the case: it just took a bit more to explain the disagreements, and I didn’t bring out every single point I did agree with. Overall I found the book to be a rich resource and agreed with the great majority of the teaching and application. I would recommend it to anyone contemplating women’s ministry in the church.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)