What do you believe about God and why do you believe it? If you are a woman who can answer this question confidently, you are in a minority. And churches need to do a better job of addressing the lack of theological foundations that affects women’s ability to articulate, defend, and share. At least, that is the premise of Mary Jo Sharp’s Defending the Faith: Apologetics in Women’s Ministry.
Sharp found herself frustrated by the “fluffy” women’s ministries that she encountered in many of the churches that she attended, especially after earning a master’s degree in Christian Apologetics from Biola University (an unexpected major for a woman who grew up essentially unchurched in a non-religious home). Recognizing that most women today — busy with concerns of home, work, and family — are living lives of “practical atheism” despite their professed devotion to the Christian faith, Sharp began to ask questions of the women around her. She found that many of them recognized their lack of theological knowledge and felt the poorer for it. Some found it frustrating (and a source of shame) that they could not defend their beliefs when confronted by those of other faiths or by non-believers.
Defending the Faith makes the case for a robust theological approach to women’s ministry because our beliefs dictate the way we live, and what we believe and live affects the lives of those around us. Sharp challenges pastors to “… have a specific and articulated goal for your women’s ministry, one that includes apologetics as part of its educational plan.” Sharp suggests a number of excellent resources for beginning apologetics instruction in the church, and she gives clear direction for determining what sort of instruction is needed and desired by church members.
Above all, Sharp challenges her sisters in the faith to stop settling for the “simple, childlike faith” that avoids controversy and that shirks the challenge of grappling with difficult theological concepts. She rightly points out that Jesus’ admonition that His followers must have a childlike faith does not mean that they are to remain infants in theological matters. It means that they are to be open, trusting, and humble, to admit that one is not self-sufficient, but that one needs the help of One who is greater than oneself to navigate life successfully.
For those women who have recognized a lack of sound theological underpinnings for their beliefs, Defending the Faith is a convicting book. But it offers hope. It offers practical solutions for addressing the significant gaps in women’s theological training, if only we are wise enough, and diligent enough, to accept the challenge.
(I received a review copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)