Bible study

Review: Moms on the Way

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Cover image of "Moms on the Way" by Kathy Tuan-Maclean and Tara Edelschick

Moms on the Way

Moms on the Way (IVP Bible Study Experience), Kathy Tuan-Maclean and Tara Edelschick. IVP Bible Studies (ISBN: 9781514014202) 2026

Summary: A seven week Bible study for groups with personal readings on following Jesus through the challenges of motherhood.

Being a mom can be challenging. Kathy Tuan-Maclean and Tara Edelschick know this from their own experience as moms. Then they talked to seven hundred other moms to learn about the challenges they faced. In 2024, drawing on this research, they published their first group study book, Moms at the Well, to begin to address facing those challenges by finding nourishment in Christ and in community with other moms. But their research raised more issues than they could cover in just one book, so they’ve returned with a sequel.

In Moms on the Way, they address seven more topics through scripture-based discussions in groups coupled with five days of personal readings and study that amplify the group discussion. The topics are:

  • When we need a friend
  • When we feel ashamed
  • When we feel resentful
  • When we feel like we don’t have enough
  • When we’re caught up in the rat race
  • When God invites us to embrace vulnerability
  • When all we can taste is bitterness

Each week’s group discussions begin with text introductions and opening activities and a short video clip [QR code in guide to access]. They follow by Bible study with questions to engage and apply the text. Then they conclude with a breath prayer, a “Holy Spirit check-in” to listen for what the Spirit is saying, and a written leader benediction. The studies ideally take about 90 minutes but leaders can adapt them for shorter periods, like a lunch hour.

The five personal studies look at smaller segments of the passage or related passages combining biblical study, reflection questions, prayer prompts and invitations. The guide allows for plenty of room to write in responses.

While I’m not a mom, there are several things I like about this guide. Firstly, shaming is out! Moms struggle with this enough and the authors create a shame-free space where people can be honest about everything from how little of the guide they were able to read to struggles with loneliness, resentment, competition with other moms, and even bitterness. They even address shame and how God beckons us to break the cycle of shame with a cycle of spiritual transformation.

Secondly, Tara and Kathy are real! They share honestly and vulnerably about their own struggles, some continuing, and how they are leaning into their faith. For example, Kathy writes about her bitterness when diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in her twenties and Tara when God felt absent to her when she was grieving her father’s death.

Finally, women in narratives often don’t have names. In several narratives, the authors give them names that make contextual sense. The mother of the groom at the wedding feast at Cana is Yedida. The woman Elijah stays with at Zarephath becomes Zerah. Finally, the Shunamite whose son Elisha raises is becomes Shona. Such names foreground and make characters real, often women, who reside in the background of scripture.

While the guide can be studied individually, the authors believe the communal experience of honest sharing and mutual learning is immeasurably enriching. If you are part of a mom’s group looking for a study discussion guide that takes you deeply into scripture as well as into honest sharing and reflection, this is an outstanding resource.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

My review of Moms at the Well appears here: https://bobonbooks.com/2024/04/30/review-moms-at-the-well/

Review: Moms at the Well

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Cover image of "Moms at the Well" by Tara Edelschick and Kathy Tuan-Maclean

Moms at the Well, Tara Edelschick and Kathy Tuan-Maclean. IVP Bible Studies (ISBN: 781514006788), 2024.

Summary: A seven week Bible study experience addressing the struggles moms face in parenting, looking at women in scripture and how God encountered them.

Being a mom isn’t easy. Sometimes it is working hard and feeling unappreciated. It’s worry over every sniffle and fever, over every time the kids are out of sight. It’s all the ways moms evade or numb the pain of inadequacy and failure. It’s comparisons with other moms. It’s the anger that wells up and explodes over the children. It’s the struggle with control and the gnawing sense that at the end of the day, whatever control one has is illusory and the attempts to make it work are counterproductive. It’s heartbreak.

Before developing these studies, Tara Edelschick and Kathy Tuan-Maclean surveyed over 700 moms from those in their 20’s to those in their 60’s. And the struggles named above were the ones that surfaced over and over in their survey results. Then they looked at women in scripture who faced these issues.

  • Hagar with feeling unseen.
  • Jairus (and his daughter Talitha) and the woman with the flow of blood, and worry.
  • The Samaritan woman and running from pain.
  • Leah and Rachel, and comparison
  • Herodias and anger (I don’t ever think I’ve taken a close look at Herodias before!).
  • Mary, the mother of Jesus, and control.
  • Hagar (again) and hearbreak.

The guide they wrote is designed to be a seven week of shared study and discussion, five personal studies, and a family sabbath exercise. The flow of each study includes:

  • A group check-in.
  • A short introductory reading
  • A video accessed through a QR code in the study, in which Kathy and Tara discuss their passage and their own experiences with the particular struggle (about ten minutes).
  • A study of the relevant passage with room in the guide for notes.
  • A “Holy Spirit Check-in” with a prompt for quiet reflection.
  • A “breath prayer” connected to the theme that can be used through the week.
  • A leader benediction.

Each of the daily personal studies return to the passage going deeper with one particular aspect.

Tara and Kathy don’t come off as the “together moms” but are real about the ways these struggles were their struggles, sharing real stories from their lives, like the poem Kathy’s daughter wrote about Kathy’s anger shared with the whole third grade class or Tara being described by her children as having “dictator syndrome.” They keep it real, naming the ways struggles manifest, ask insightful questions, and pointing to hope in scripture and prayer.

The book is printed on quality paper with great typography and artistic photographs at the beginning of each chapter. There is plenty of room to jot down notes and reflections, making this each mom’s meeting place with God at the well (by the way, did you know that God’s first encounter with Hagar at the well was God’s first encounter in scripture with anyone at a well?).

I’ve already given this guide to a young mom I know. I was delighted to do so because I knew it would encourage and not add a heap of guilt in the life of a mom who is actually a great mom. I believe there are many moms under the weight of the same struggles Tara and Kathy found in their survey, who will be relieved to discover they are not alone and that God is with them and loves them as moms.

And a word for dads. Don’t let the title put you off. Many of us wrestle with similar issues (perhaps a companion might be written?). But sharing this with your wife may well help you understand life a bit more from her perspective, and what she struggles with as well as prompt you to explore how some of these struggles manifest in your own life.

This study may truly be a gift shared by two to a roomful of women going through it together. It’s great for whatever stage of being a mother one is in. Above all, this stands apart as not one more book of parenting advice but as an invitation to spiritual transformation occurring in five steps:

  1. God meets us where we are.
  2. God welcomes us into honest conversation.
  3. God calls us to trust and obey.
  4. God transforms us and sets us free.
  5. God invites us to be agents of shalom.

Its the kind of refreshment one finds at a deep well with clean, cold water.

Listen to Tara and Kathy talk about Moms at the Well:

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Enjoying the Old Testament

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Enjoying the Old Testament, Eric A. Seibert. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2021.

Summary: Seibert deals with the confusing, troubling, or uninteresting experience of many, suggesting the value of reading the Old Testament, and reading strategies for engagement with the text bring life and interest to the Old Testament scriptures.

Have you ever tried reading through the Old Testament and gotten lost in Leviticus or numbed by Numbers and given up the whole project? Sure, at times you read selected texts, maybe from Psalms and Proverbs, or some narratives like Ruth or Jonah (a kids favorite but with important relevance to the rest of us!). Mostly, you confine yourself to the New Testament, which you consider the most relevant portion of the Bible for Christians. But sadly, when we lose the Old Testament, we lose three-quarters of the Bible.

Until a course with an inspiring professor who helped him enjoy reading the Old Testament, Eric Seibert was in much the same place. And that is the object of this book, to pass along ways of reading the Old Testament that are enjoyable, as well as good for us. Most of what he proposes don’t involve more than a Bible, a comfortable chair, paper and pencil.

He begins by laying the groundwork for reading the Old Testament. He acknowledges that there are parts that are boring, or baffling, or even theologically troubling, and then, given that, why we should bother. He actually discounts the standard answer of needing to read the Old Testament to understand the New. He explores the relevance of the Old Testament on its own terms: fascinating stories, models of gutsy faith, resources for worship and prayer, a revelation of a God of lavish love, and God’s concern for justice. He deals with expectations, both unrealistic ones such as the Old Testament all being readily understandable and more realistic ones like a variety of genres, theological perspectives, a worldview different than our own, passages written for many reasons, and the presence of violence and other troubling texts. He invites us to adopt a mindset of carefully observing, of expectancy, of humility and respect, and honest engagement.

He then turns to our enjoyment of Old Testament texts. He starts by inviting us to read favorite stories all the way through, offering tips to understand their significance. He particularly calls attention to repetition, using the tabernacle instructions as an example. He invites us to be curious and ask lots of questions of the text. He sets aside a chapter to focus on reading the prophets, understanding their roles as God’s messengers, and their use of various persuasive techniques. He draws the distinction between judgement and salvation oracles.

He discusses approaches to the boring parts using Leviticus 1-7 as a case study. He encourages slowing down and looking at laws to see if there is a principle that may apply (e.g. the negligent owner of the ox known to gore). Then he returns to the matter of troubling texts, which he encourages us to be honest about and to hang in with them and bring them into conversation with other texts on the same topic that are not troublesome, observing that skeptics only focus on the former. Seibert also recognizes that one might need to take a break from troubling texts in difficult seasons of life.

The final section of the book focuses on a number of different activities that can help one read through books or even the whole Old Testament. He encourages drawing maps, creating simple charts that outline a book or portion, memorizing passages, listening audibly, or reading from a different perspective–for example as a Canaanite the passages about the Israelite invasion. He commends topical, artistic, and reflective approaches. He discusses surveying a book and breaking it into major thought blocks. As he concludes, he invites us to be balanced, use variety and flexibility, to preserve what we learn, and to join with others.

What is delightful about this book is that the author resists the temptation to write an Old Testament introduction but rather gives the reader tools to make his or her own discoveries. Without minimizing the challenges of the Old Testament, Seibert offers lots of hope that we can read through the Old Testament, read whole books of the Old Testament and find substantial enjoyment and spiritual benefit. On the troubling passages, he doesn’t offer easy answers or answers at all, but rather approaches that imply we may live with troubling passages in some cases but this does not need to distract us from other other more enjoyable texts. This is a great resource for an adult class in a church or a college class in a Christian college context.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Jesus’s Final Week

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Jesus’s Final Week, William F. Cook III. Nashville: B & H Academic, 2022.

Summary: A day-by-day discussion of the events in Jesus’s life from the triumphal entry until the empty tomb, using a “harmony of the gospels” approach.

The final week of the life of Jesus before the resurrection occupies a disproportionate part of each of our four gospels. In fact, some observers have described the gospels as “Passion narratives with long introductions.”

We often read these accounts in different gospels, which can be confusing as we try to imagine how events mentioned in one gospel mesh with those of another. Scholars use these differences to highlight the unique emphases of each gospel writer. Cook takes a different approach, which he describes as “horizontal,” using a “harmony of the gospels” resource to arrange all the events into a day-by-day chronological account that begins with the triumphal entry and ends with the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances.

For each day, he offers concise discussions that offer helpful background, explain any Old Testament scripture quoted or otherwise relevant, summarize key points in the day’s events and their significance, and then offers concluding reflections, often offering applications for our lives. For example, Cook concludes his chapter on The Triumphal Entry with this:

” We should ask ourselves how often we are overcome with emotion when we consider that many people we love and care about are on the precipice of God’s judgment. I fear we sometimes get used to loved ones and friends not knowing Jesus. We need to shed more tears and pray more passionate prayers for their salvation.”

Cook, p. 12.

We often overlook the temple controversies on Tuesday. I thought Cook’s discussion quite helpful of the four questions asked of Jesus and the final question Jesus asks of the religious leaders. The events of Thursday and Friday are given more space with a chapter each devoted to the last supper, including Jesus’s prayer in John, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Jewish Trial, The Roman Trial, and the crucifixion and death of Jesus. The final chapter discusses the empty tomb, the resurrection appearances, and evidence for the resurrection.

One of the nice features of each chapter was to include a hymn related to the material in the chapter. I often found myself at least mentally singing through the hymn. One of the things this ought suggest is that this is a wonderful devotional resource as one prepares to remember Passion Week. It also makes for a good Lenten study and includes a study guide for groups. There’s still time to get this for this year or to have on hand for the next.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Review: Interpreting the God-Breathed Word

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Interpreting the God-Breathed Word, Robbie F. Castleman. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018.

Summary: A book for all who want to be students of scripture focusing on how to study and understand the texts employing inductive study, speech-act theory, and canonical interpretation.

Robbie Castleman, not unlike this reviewer, discovered the joys of studying and understanding the meaning of scripture through what is known as inductive Bible study. She eventually became a biblical studies professor at John Brown University. This book reflects both her joy of discovering scripture and additional practices that address some of the ways inductive study may go off the rails in interpretation unrelated to what the passage meant for its intended audience, interpretation that fails to account for the rest of scripture and the framework of biblical theology.

Castleman begins with one of the great strengths of inductive study–careful observation of the text. She speaks of the attentive disciplines involved in hearing the God-breathed Word. Reading it over and over (including aloud!), printing out and marking up the text, asking questions of genre, setting, who, what, when, where, and how, and using our senses. One is looking for what the text says and how it says it. She shows the difference between exegesis and eisegesis–reading out of rather than into the text. I love the image of being careful to not cast our own shadows onto the text. She offers another image–that of studying as a surgeon rather than a pathologist, studying something alive to which we are attentive rather than something dead over which we assert mastery.

Castleman addresses the story or narrative character of much of scripture, and how important the particularities of time and space are. It is vital to grasp the “there and then” before we consider “here and now.” Drawing upon speech-act theory, she calls our attention that scripture is a God-breathed record of how God has spoken and acted out his will in those particularities of space and time. But something else is at work as well. Through God’s Spirit this Word of scripture speaks into our present, accomplishing God’s intentions in our lives as well.

The next three chapters further develop this idea of the three voices. The first is the actual event in which God speaks and acts that we only know indirectly through the biblical record, a voice we must listen to by faith, as we attend to the details of the text. The second voice then is the voice of the writers of the text, the time, and the circumstances in which they wrote as God breathed upon them. She uses the four gospels to illustrate this idea, accounting for both the distinctive voices and the one Lord to whom they attest. With the third voice, we step into the story as we grasp through the Spirit’s illumining work the “here and now” implications in the second voice’s “there and then.” She also shows how “third voice” dynamics work within the canon as later Old Testament writers act upon earlier material, and likewise, as the New Testament writers reflect on the Old Testament voice in light of Messiah come. Using the language of theatre, we must pay careful attention to our lines, and then step up onto the stage, loving the one who has spoken so much that we even risk “flubbing our lines.”

In the final chapter, Castleman advocates the importance of canonical interpretation, speaking of the centrality of creation, the gospel of Christ, and biblical theology as shaping how we read all of scripture. She uses C. S. Lewis image from “Meditation in a Tool Shed” to speak of how we look both at the light cast by a passage of scripture and along it, seeing how it is connected to the whole story of scripture. She then concludes with an epilogue reminding us that the God who has spoken is a fire before whom we take off our shoes and bow and listen, that scripture is not a vending machine to dispense the answers we want, and that our interpretation of scripture is music best made as we play in sync with the rest of the orchestra, stretching back to the earliest fathers, not a solo act.

There are several features that make this book a valuable resource for the person wanting to grow in reading and understanding scripture. One is the author’s warm love of scripture, that breathes in the pages. Second is the distillation and integration of some of the best practices of good hermeneutics into a brief, 120 page text. Finally, she offers numerous examples and praxis exercises that show and then allow us to practice what we are learning. This is both a good introduction for the student learning to study scripture and as well as the Bible teacher who wants to review and sharpen his or her understanding of how to lead those instructed, not only to understand the God-breathed Word but to heed and obey the One who has spoken and is speaking.

Review: The Basic Bible Atlas

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The Basic Bible Atlas

The Basic Bible Atlas, John A. Beck. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2020.

Summary: An introductory Bible atlas that combines an overview of the biblical narrative and colorful and detailed maps, with an emphasis on the significance of the geography to the unfolding plan of God.

Has this happened to you? You are reading a biblical narrative and come across a place name. You think you’ve heard of it before and that that might be significant. Or you wonder about the different places where Jesus and the disciples ministered, or where were the places where Paul traveled.

This book is a great companion to reading the Bible. After a satellite view of the Bible lands observing the major features of the Fertile Crescent, the land bridge of international travel from Babylon and Assyria running through the Promised Land and south to Egypt, and the land of Israel with the Jordan River valley between Galilee and the Dead Sea, the spiny ridgeline running through the center of the country, and the fertile shorelands, often occupied by Israel’s enemies.

Beck then offers a narrative of the biblical story with an emphasis on the places where events occur and the movements of people. We discover that Shechem is the place where God shows Abram that Canaan is the land of promise, where Israel renewed its covenant with God, and that served as gathering place for the ten breakaway tribes of the northern kingdom. Under the name Sychar, it was the place where Jesus disclosed to an outcast Samaritan woman that, in him, the promises of God, and the longings of a thirsty heart, were filled.

Full color maps are interspersed with text, showing locations, routes traveled, and topography. From Jacob’s flight to Egypt, wilderness wandering, conquest of Canaan, the losses and battle of Judges, the expansion and division of the kingdom under David, Solomon and successors, and the exilic journeys. As the narrative progresses, we have maps of the development of Jerusalem, from David’s fortress capital, to the temple city of Solomon, to the religious, political and occupation center of the time of Jesus. Beck helps us trace the early forays of Philip and Peter out of Jerusalem, Paul’s Damascus journey, and each of Paul’s mission journeys and final journey to Rome. We conclude with the Seven Churches of John’s Revelation, and the hope of the new Eden, the garden city with the tree of life.

The book also offers name and scripture indexes that help in finding pertinent maps. If I could make two suggestions, some maps identified locations of events, but no indication of chronology–numbers might help here. Also maps were overleaf, or occasionally separated by several pages from the narrative references to places.

Aside from these minor considerations, this is a great companion for one’s Bible study with far more and larger maps than most study Bibles. The color renderings accompanied by the text that illuminates the significance of places transforms the reading of biblical texts from bewildering references to obscure place names to enhanced understanding of how places were important in the outworking of God’s plans.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.