The Study Bible for Women

One of my favorite book reviews to do is of Bible translations and ones that include study guides! It used to be that we’d have to buy all sorts of other resources to study scripture deeper and to get historical information or commentary.

Inside this new CSB Women’s Study Bible, so many wonderful articles on doctrine and biblical womanhood, historical information, and 101 character profiles on women of the bible are included. As a matter of fact, every woman in Scripture is listed in the concordance.

As a woman, I appreciate that the publishers had women theologians, authors, teachers and lay ministers as the primary contributors in the articles written and study materials provided.  It encourages me to continue in my own study and pursuit of biblical knowledge.

Many of the articles highlight biblical womanhood, a trait not promoted enough, but very God honoring. Many necessary topics identified and addressed within the realm of “what does God say”, such as female identity, motherhood, spiritual mothering, women’s worth and identity in Christ, and her mission as daughter of the King.

The CSB translation, (stands for Christian Standard Bible) has used the Optimal Equivalence translation philosophy. This is a marrying of the more traditional Formal equivalence and the Dynamic or Functional equivalence. This means that is has taken both the word for word literal translations and the “thought for thought” style of communicating the meaning and impact of a passage to translate. This has produced a very readable, but historically faithful style of bible translation.

This compilation opens with an introduction on how to study the bible. Dorothy Kelley Patterson highlights how to inductively observe, ask questions, view passages as a whole and then how to apply and meditate on Scripture. 

This Bible closes with an extensive explanation section for all of its teaching helps as seen here and an expansive concordance.

You can find this bible at Lifeway Christian bookstores, on their website, and on Amazon

Why do we Sing? ~ A book review

What causes you to burst out in song?

Do you have a swell of school pride and belt out your 

Alma Mater?

At our favorite sporting events, do we whoop and holler along 

with the rest in celebration?

What is this within us that causes us to have a rise of emotion that bubbles up and out of our mouths in a joyous melody?

Ever consider that it's a part of your very essence, part of the basic foundation of who you are as a human?

In their book, SING!, Keith and Kristyn Getty delve into why we sing, how singing changes our lives and where it comes from in our souls. In their second chapter, they identify that there are more than 400 scripture verses that say we are not only created to sing by a creative God, but also commanded to sing, that it is an act of obedience and worship.

More so than just singing in general, they focus in on the Church and how we sing together. They share that "It is hard- impossible, in fact - to sing what you are excited about in your spirit and grateful for in your heart in a way that is tepid, tentative, and withdrawn. Deeply felt thankfulness produces a sound from our voices that is robust and enthusiastic."

In many places in our world including our churches, somehow we've completely misplaced our robust  enthusiasm for singing, or singing with deep conviction with quiet apathy. Not one of us feels awkward or embarrassed when we cheer loudly for our kids or at a sporting event. As a matter of fact, we feel the air of camaraderie or belonging when we join the throng of voices. However, in many churches it's being discussed that we've lost our vigor for worshiping God Almighty.

The Getty’s have written a compelling and inspiring call to action! This book kicks off with an impressive 10 pages of rave reviews from many Christian leaders and singers from all walks of life. They’ve designed the format to even be a group discussion or small group study book with a few focus questions at the end of each chapter. At the back, they've written a section for pastors, worship leaders, song writers and creatives as well.

In the chapter “The Radical Witness When the Congregation...Sings!”, the authors talk about how “the sight and sound of a congregation singing praise to God together is a radical witness in a culture that rejects God and embraces individualism. Our songs are the public manifesto of what we believe.”

Contrasting that with the opposite type of witness that a visitor noted at one church saying “that what they were singing was either not true, or not wonderful or both.”  She questioned whether the people really took seriously what they believed or even believed it at all.

The charge given to us first by God in the Bible and echoed in this book is that we are a witness to the world and our singing is one way the world detects that we are different. The conviction that ought to be in our hearts over what Christ has done for us should be something that can’t help but to bubble up out of us when we worship Him in song. I cannot imagine passively sitting to sing the words “This the power of the Cross..Christ became sin for us..took the blame, bore the wrath...we stand forgiven at the cross!” or “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!”

It ought to be more like- He is Worthy of all my praise and all my expression, how can I not? If it pleases the Lord that I act a fool in my worship of Him, then I hope I can be counted among bible characters such as David who danced in the streets!

I highly recommend this book for everyone, especially worship leaders at churches. 

This book can be found on Amazon