Catholic Women's Devotional Bible [Hardcover]

Ann Spangler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

The Catholic Women's Devotional Bible is designed specifically to nourish a woman's spirituality, making it easy to form a habit of daily prayer and reading. It includes a year's worth of meditations, drawn from classic and contemporary sources, all written by women. Designed especially to meet the needs of Catholics and those accustomed to liturgically-based forms of worship, it includes a six-year reading plan tied to the lectionary, making it easy to locate readings for daily and Sunday liturgies. Additionally, each weekend devotional is based on the life of a particular woman of the Bible, helping you see the relevance of her story today. Each book of the Bible is preceded by a brief introduction highlighting its historical context and its most important themes. Additional articles focus on topics like the sacraments, holy days, the liturgy, and spiritual direction, explaining the link between tradition and Scripture to help you gain a greater understanding of your faith. Meditations are drawn from a rich variety of authors, including: Joan Wester Anderson Sister Wendy Beckett Esther de Waal Catherine of Siena Dorothy Day Fran Ferder Briege McKenna Julian of Norwich Joyce of Rupp Mother Teresa Teresa of Lisieux Macrina Wiederkehr Scripture offers wisdom for important everyday issues like relationships, marriage, child-rearing, simplicity, prayer, and finding real peace. If you dip into it regularly, it will become a well of continual refreshment, nourishing your faith and strengthening your sense of God's loving presence in your life. Features Include: - 260 Daily Meditations. - 52 Weekend Devotions, Focusing on Women of the Bible. - 50 Tradition Articles Linking Scripture with Important Elements of Catholic Life and Faith. - Complete NRSV, Catholic Edition. - 6-Year Reading Guide Keyed to the Catholic Lectionary. - Indexes. - Imprimatur.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Catholic Women’s Devotional Bible is designed specifically to nourish a woman’s spirituality, making it easy to form a habit of daily prayer and reading. It includes a year’s worth of meditations, drawn from classic and contemporary sources, all written by women. Designed especially to meet the needs of Catholics and those accustomed to liturgically-based forms of worship, it includes a six-year reading plan tied to the lectionary, making it easy to locate readings for daily and Sunday liturgies. Additionally, each weekend devotional is based on the life of a particular woman of the Bible, helping you see the relevance of her story today. Each book of the Bible is preceded by a brief introduction highlighting its historical context and its most important themes. Additional articles focus on topics like the sacraments, holy days, the liturgy, and spiritual direction, explaining the link between tradition and Scripture to help you gain a greater understanding of your faith. Meditations are drawn from a rich variety of authors, including:

Joan Wester Anderson Sister Wendy Beckett Esther de Waal Catherine of Siena Dorothy Day Fran Ferder Briege McKenna Julian of Norwich Joyce of Rupp Mother Teresa Teresa of Lisieux Macrina Wiederkehr

Scripture offers wisdom for important everyday issues like relationships, marriage, child-rearing, simplicity, prayer, and finding real peace. If you dip into it regularly, it will become a well of continual refreshment, nourishing your faith and strengthening your sense of God’s loving presence in your life.

Features Include: - 260 Daily Meditations. - 52 Weekend Devotions, Focusing on Women of the Bible. - 50 Tradition Articles Linking Scripture with Important Elements of Catholic Life and Faith. - Complete NRSV, Catholic Edition. - 6-Year Reading Guide Keyed to the Catholic Lectionary. - Indexes. - Imprimatur.

About the Author

Ann Spangler is an award-winning writer and the author of many bestselling books, including Praying the Names of God, Praying the Names of Jesus, and Women of the Bible (with Jean Syswerda). Her most recent books are The Tender Words of God and Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus (with Lois Tverberg.) She and her two daughters live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. SPANISH BIO: Ann Spangler, autora con galardones en su haber cuya fascinacion con la Biblia ha producido libros que han introducido esta a una amplia gama de lectores, es la autora de varios libros que han sido exitos de ventas, incluyendo Praying the Names of God, Praying the Names of Jesus y Mujeres de la Biblia (de la que es co-autora Jean Syswerda). En conjunto, se han vendido mas de 2 millones de ejemplares de sus libros. Ha ocupado puestos ejecutivos importantes en dos casas editoras cristianas y en la actualidad reside con sus dos hijas en Grand Rapids, Michigan..

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 1824 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310900611
• ISBN-13: 978-0310900610
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, an adequate devotional bible for Catholics, October 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Catholic Women's Devotional Bible (Hardcover)

As a Catholic, I've found that up to now, our devotional Bibles (which are usually hard to find!) have been very thin on inspirational articles, application notes and clear discussions of the scriptural basis of many of our traditions. This Bible contains profiles of women in the Bible, suggestions on how to use them as prayer partners, articles on the biblical basis of Catholic practices, a lectionary and a subject index. The NRSV translation is a great choice. It's clear, features inclusive language where appropriate without detracting from the historical feel of the text. Using it will give Catholics (and especially Catholic women) a great appreciation for their religion and will deepen their spirituality. I gave it 4 stars because I would have wanted a more extensive index (I think all Bibles should feature a concordance at the end), but this Bible is worth having and worth USING!

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grew To Like This Book, December 29, 2006

By 

Cordelia - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Catholic Women's Devotional Bible (Hardcover)

I am a Catholic woman who was looking for a Biblical devotional for daily use. Obviously hard to find unless one uses Protestant books. I purchased this book, but immediately felt disappointed. I am an at-home, homeschooling, very traditional Catholic woman, and some of the reflections rubbed me the wrong way, or were hard to relate to, because they were so contemporary and did not seem universal enough to apply to my life. They also struck me less as meditations and more as anecdotes. However, after awhile, the book began having an unexpected effect on me which, while different than I expected, was positive nonetheless. While I could not relate to some of the anecdotes or reflections, I did find myself learning more and more about how to apply scripture to my life, beyond the obvious ways the Church has always taught. It was as if, by relating the experiences and thoughts of other women, the book was giving me permission to insert my own story, my own sufferings and struggles and joys, into salvation history. So, while I do not find myself meditating on the given reflections in the way I expected, they DO inspire meditation! A second positive effect is, I find myself obsessively reading scripture out of curiosity as to what the next reflection will be! Three words of caution: First, while some reflections are only a page or two apart, occasionally there are many pages between daily reflections. In that case, one must make a choice of reading many pages, or skip large sections of the Bible to keep pace with the sequence of reflections. Second, there are a few reflections which are questionable in terms of theological accuracy. One example describes Christ's birth as involving pain, blood, and an umbilical cord, which sounds to me like a denial of the Virgin Birth. Another cautions us against allowing our religious rituals to come between us and another person; this can be read in an acceptably orthodox way as advising us not to be too rigid, but could also be read as permission to skip Mass in the name of charity. Third, I am personally not fond of the inclusive-language translation of the NRSV. I realize it is approved by the Church, but sometimes in the awkward effort to use inclusive language, the meaning is diluted or completely altered. For example, sometimes the word "man" is used not simply to refer generically to any human being, but is meant to refer to Adam, either literally or figuratively. Therefore, changing it to "person" or "humankind" loses some of the intended meaning. As does the use of "students" in place of "brothers"; clearly those words are not synonymous. Thankfully, there are footnotes indicating the original words whenever these alterations are used. But these alterations seem unnecessary; I don't know of any woman who has ever been offended by the original language of the Bible, which was, after all, authored by God. Overall, a worthwhile book. I would like to see a somewhat different version for women, perhaps drawing more heavily upon women saints than contemporary authors, and with reflections which are more truly meditative than anecdotal,using a non-incusive-language text.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Step by step companion to God's word, December 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Catholic Women's Devotional Bible (Paperback)

This is an absolutely wonderful book for all women. It walks you through many Catholic traditions plus it features daily devotional stories all written by women. It helps to translate God's word with everyday devotionals. Plus it highlights women of the bible every weekend. THe sunday readings allow you to learn how to use the women of the bible to pray for those around you. This has really been my first devotional bible and I have really used it to open up my life to God!