Bad Girls of the Bible and What We Can Learn From Them

Excellent, interesting, at times humorous, always thought-provoking, this book contains lessons on nine of the "bad girls" in the Bible, from Eve to the "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus' feet with her tears. Higgs, closely examines the verses describing each woman and her actions, and gives the reader ideas for ways each story can connect to our modern lives. (There is an excellent accompanying DVD, but unfortunately I don't own that.)

I look forward to reading and watching more Bible studies from Liz Curtis Higgs. She is a delight!

The Bad Girls of The Bible And What We Can Learn From Them by Liz Curtis Higgs is a wonderful devotional, and the title says it all. The book takes an in-depth look at ten of the Bible’s women; Eve, Potifar’s Wife, Lot’s wife, the woman at the well, Delilah, Sapphira, Rahab, Jezebel, Michal, and the sinful woman, separating them into the categories Bad to the Bone, Bad for a Moment, and Bad for a Season, but Not Forever. Each chapter discusses a different woman, opening with a fictional story set in present-day with the plot of the original story, goes into a verse-by-verse look at the story, and closes with the Lessons We Can Learn and Good Girl Thoughts Worth Considering.

I absolutely loved reading this book. Liz is so thorough show more in her evaluation of each woman’s account! She explains what is really happening, the deeper meanings of things, translations, the customs of that day, and reads between the lines of the dialogue. I never knew what a lot of their names meant, how symbolic the meanings are, and I certainly never really understood what went on in the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well until I read this book!

She also looks at the actions of others in the stories, how their actions showed their true selves, and how or if those actions influenced the woman’s overall decision making. Liz also relates things to modern days, whether to tell a story about her own life, to use someone well known today to compare with a biblical figure on ability or looks, to show how satan still uses a certain misled idea in our culture, or to get the reader to consider questions asked in Good Girl Thoughts Worth Considering. In addition to doing all that, the whole book is just completely full of clean, tasteful humor and written in a way that gives it a light and enjoyable read, even as the messages of the stories left me with tears in my eyes. This book has my heart felt recommendation, and a 5 out of 5 stars.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. show less

I enjoyed this book both for the modern stories and then the analysis of the Biblical women in each chapter. Liz Curtis Higgs has a way of writing the non-fiction to not be boring in anyway, and because I watch her devotions on Facebook, I and hear her voice in all of this. I glanced at the Bible Study questions, but didn't take the time to answer but a few. Maybe another time.

Title: Really Bad Girls of the Bible
Author: Liz Curtis Higgs
Publisher: WaterBrook
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"Really Bad Girls of the Bible" by Liz Curtis Higgs

My Thoughts....

I loved this author's goal of writing this book..."My goal is simple: to help women embrace the grace of God with joy and abandon!" and I think she did a wonderful job at it. I will say I was able to learn from the read. Some of these characters I hadn't read about and it was quite interesting reading about them in the modern day version. I was definitely found opening up my Bible to read about these 'bad girls' and definitely looking at their stories quite differently seeing how God pulled them through it all.

It was quite interesting in seeing so show more many of these traits that were portrayed by these 'bad girls' can be found in us today. Wow, some things just don't change! This author does a wonderful job at relating the 'Biblical archetypes to the what is going on now,' giving us some 'humor, empathy and intellect.'

There is also discussion questions and study guide for ones personal use or for your a study groups that are included.

If you are looking for a informative and interesting read about 'Really Bad Girls of the Bible' I would recommend read to you as a good read.

I received this book from Blogging for Books to read and review. show less

I purchased this book from Amazon to #buddyread with @kaylasonlyheart. All opinions are my own. Bad Girls of The Bible and What We Can Learn From Them by Liz Curtis Higgs. Oh how powerful women are. The author takes a biblical story ties it into a modern day story and a section to walk through all the steps of learning just how much of a valuable lesson we can take away from each woman separately. I loved the style in which this book was written. Sometimes while reading the bible you can almost displace yourself because it was so long ago, but with this book and putting a modern spin on a story makes you think wow! Even the problems of biblical times only disguise themselves in today's world. Review also posted on Instagram @borenbooks, show more Library Thing, Go Read, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Amazon, Twitter @jason_stacie and my blog at readsbystacie.com show less

An AWFUL book. BAD romance novel masquerading as Bible study. With worse theology. Apparently, all we "girls" need to do to be "good" is obey pappa/God and be loyal to our husband. The only reason this feminist pastor didn't throw it across the room is because it was a library copy.

Higgs is explicit about her authorial strategy in the introduction of her book; she tells the reader that she will begin each chapter (a character’s story) with “. . . a fictional retelling of the biblical story . . .” These “retellings” are contemporary, and couched in the cultural terms of the modern American reader. One of the more creative of these fictional accounts is her metaphoric comparison of Lot’s wife to a housewife who resists leaving her dream home in the Cascades. Unfortunately, one of the nearby mountains turns out to be Mount St. Helens, and the consequences of her character’s hesitation are lethal. Higgs then turns to an exposition of the NIV text where she interprets each character and her story. At the show more close of each chapter, Higgs emphasizes lessons that follow from the life of this particular woman, and then provides a series of discussion questions. Higgs’ strategy relies on her experience as a storyteller and public speaker.

Higgs writes as a Christian American from an American perspective. She does not have personal background in biblical scholarship, but has admittedly relied on the perspective and input of her husband, who has had such training. This is not to say that Higgs is devoid of insights into the biblical text, but that her comments are frequently critically naïve. She has spent a significant amount of time researching her stories using the resources at hand (“. . . more than fifty commentaries . . . with ten different translations of Scripture.” ), but she rejects out of hand any view of her biblical heroes that disturbs her triumphalist view. One example of this is her naïve dismissal of one unidentified commentator who suggested the possibility that the two spies who visited Rahab at Jericho might have “partook” of her services. It seems that Higgs can understand the concept of “temporary bad girls,” but not “temporary bad boys.” Although she claims the middle ground between the masculine point of view and that of the feminists, her perspective is typically more consistent with philosophically modern, male evangelical thought. Consequently Higgs would reject the feminist perspective altogether, and affirm the Bible as God’s inerrant scriptures.

Higgs’ books have sold thousands of copies and have pleased many non-scholarly, critically naïve audiences. This book about women in the Bible, though, does not compare well to the work of women who are biblical scholars: Sakenfeld and Brenner, for example. show less