{"id":208,"date":"2013-08-19T21:30:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T02:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/?p=208"},"modified":"2013-09-07T18:13:39","modified_gmt":"2013-09-07T23:13:39","slug":"the-case-for-apologetics-in-womens-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/?p=208","title":{"rendered":"The Case for Apologetics in Women’s Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s ability to articulate, defend, and share. At least, that is the premise of Mary Jo Sharp\u2019s Defending the Faith: Apologetics in Women\u2019s Ministry.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sharp found herself frustrated by the \u201cfluffy\u201d women\u2019s ministries that she encountered in many of the churches that she attended, especially after earning a master\u2019s 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 \u2014 busy with concerns of home, work, and family \u2014 are living lives of \u201cpractical atheism\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Defending the Faith<\/em> makes the case for a robust theological approach to women\u2019s 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 \u201c\u2026 have a specific and articulated goal for your women\u2019s ministry, one that includes apologetics as part of its educational plan.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Above all, Sharp challenges her sisters in the faith to stop settling for the \u201csimple, childlike faith\u201d that avoids controversy and that shirks the challenge of grappling with difficult theological concepts. She rightly points out that Jesus\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

For those women who have recognized a lack of sound theological underpinnings for their beliefs, Defending the Faith<\/em> is a convicting book. But it offers hope. It offers practical solutions for addressing the significant gaps in women\u2019s theological training, if only we are wise enough, and diligent enough, to accept the challenge.<\/p>\n

(I received a review copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s ability to articulate, defend, and share. At least, that… Continue reading The Case for Apologetics in Women’s Ministry<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[100,4,75,98,102,38,101,73,99],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-non-fiction","tag-apologetics","tag-books","tag-christianity","tag-mary-jo-sharp","tag-non-fiction-2","tag-religion","tag-theology","tag-womens-issues","tag-womens-ministry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviews.editormum.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}