Seeing for Ourselves: Biblical Women Who Met Jesus

Rating:
Summary: Share their joy
Review: In Seeing for Ourselves, Katerina Whitley again pulls the reader into the thoughts of a number of Biblical women. In this collection she focuses on women who met Jesus, whether before or after his resurrection. In repeating her success in Speaking for Ourselves, Whitely again begins with a broad academic knowledge of the history and anthropology of the middle east. She then transcends knowledge with an understanding of how it feels to meet the divine. Her empathy with the women's feelings gives this reader the feeling that she is also a women who has met her Lord.

The anxious young bride who was wed in Cana is not mentioned at all in the Bible, except in the understanding that a wedding implies a bride. Whitley fleshes her out and gives her an engaging personality. We delight with her in her relief at finding a kind and understanding husband waiting for her. And we thrill with her when she realizes the greatness of the improbable wedding gift Jesus has given her and makes a commitment to follow him. All women illuminated in this slim collection live for us, whether Whitley is telling of someone who's story is fairly detailed in scripture, like the women at the well, or relatively obscure like Pilate's wife.

Whitley succeeds admirably in transcribing these women's thoughts for us to share. The book can be read as a collection of superb short stories by people of any level of Biblical knowledge and interest as well as an illumination to the Bible as part of a study program. Individual stories are brief enough to use as an introductory meditation for a study group or committee meeting. They are full of information and insight and, with or without the included discussion questions, will spark thoughtful reflection among readers or listeners.

Rating:
Summary: Share their joy
Review: In Seeing for Ourselves, Katerina Whitley again pulls the reader into the thoughts of a number of Biblical women. In this collection she focuses on women who met Jesus, whether before or after his resurrection. In repeating her success in Speaking for Ourselves, Whitely again begins with a broad academic knowledge of the history and anthropology of the middle east. She then transcends knowledge with an understanding of how it feels to meet the divine. Her empathy with the women's feelings gives this reader the feeling that she is also a women who has met her Lord.

The anxious young bride who was wed in Cana is not mentioned at all in the Bible, except in the understanding that a wedding implies a bride. Whitley fleshes her out and gives her an engaging personality. We delight with her in her relief at finding a kind and understanding husband waiting for her. And we thrill with her when she realizes the greatness of the improbable wedding gift Jesus has given her and makes a commitment to follow him. All women illuminated in this slim collection live for us, whether Whitley is telling of someone who's story is fairly detailed in scripture, like the women at the well, or relatively obscure like Pilate's wife.

Whitley succeeds admirably in transcribing these women's thoughts for us to share. The book can be read as a collection of superb short stories by people of any level of Biblical knowledge and interest as well as an illumination to the Bible as part of a study program. Individual stories are brief enough to use as an introductory meditation for a study group or committee meeting. They are full of information and insight and, with or without the included discussion questions, will spark thoughtful reflection among readers or listeners.