Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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106 of 113 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Everything We've Come to Expect from MacArthur, October 31, 2005
Twelve Ordinary Men, John MacArthur's book on the apostles, was a surprise hit. After the book stayed on the bestseller lists for over a year, Thomas Nelson suggested publishing a second volume, this one dealing with some of the best-known women of the Bible. MacArthur accepted the challenge and drew up a long list of possible subjects. "I admit that I chose the twelve women featured here by a completely unscientific process: I weighed their relative importance in biblical history alongside the amount of material I had already developed on each of them as I have taught through various passages of Scripture. Then I chose the twelve women who were most familiar to me." Twelve Extraordinary Women is not exactly a sequel to MacArthur's Twelve Ordinary Men, yet it bears many similarities. Like its predecessor (and unlike the majority of MacArthur's books), Twelve Extraordinary Women is not primarily expository. Instead, it is a series of brief character studies. Like Twelve Ordinary Men, it is ideally suited for personal or group study, and is intensely practical.
The women MacArthur chose as subjects for this book are: Eve, Sarah, Rahab, Ruth, Hannah, Mary, Anna, The Samaritan Woman, Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene and Lydia. "My prayer for you is that as you read this book you will share their faith, imitate their faithfulness, and learn to love the Savior whose work in their lives made them truly extraordinary. Your life can be extraordinary, too, by His wonderful grace."
The format of the book will be familiar to those who have read Twelve Ordinary Men. MacArthur spends a chapter discussing each of the women (though Martha and Mary share a single chapter) and shows that what made each of these women extraordinary was nothing they brought to God, but the work of the Savior in their lives. Each of them had a deep reverence towards God and trusted His promises, whether they looked forward to a time when the Savior would come, or whether they looked back at his death and resurrection. Some of them stood between the New and Old Testament eras, even witnessing with their own eyes the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
By way of introduction, MacArthur writes about the high position given to women within Scripture. Women are never relegated to a secondary status and, unlike so many other religions, are never degraded and considered less important than men. From the beginning of the New Testament era to the close of the canon of Scripture we see God granting extraordinary privilege to women. There are countless women in the Bible who stand as examples of faithfulness, integrity, hospitality and every other admirable virtue. "The faithfulness of these women is their true, lasting legacy. I hope as you meet them in Scripture and get to know more about their lives and characters, they will challenge you, motivate you, encourage you, and inspire you with love for the God whom they trusted and served. May your heart be set ablaze with the very same faith, may your life be characterized by a similar faithfulness, and may your soul be overwhelmed with love for the extraordinary God they worshiped."
Each of the subsequent eleven chapters is a study of a particular woman, with MacArthur shining light on the Scriptural accounts of each subject. Each chapter is practical, showing how the virtues exemplified in the lives of the women can be applied to the life of the reader. The reader is show how he, too, can be extraordinary through the power of God.
Twelve Extraordinary Women is a worthy successor to Twelve Ordinary Men. This book is both informative and inspiring. It will lead the reader to understand what each of these twelve women surely knew, that God was the truly extraordinary one, as He conformed such ordinary women to the likeness of their Savior. I highly recommend this book for both personal and group study.
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41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brief but satisfying look at the lives of twelve women, December 29, 2005
John MacArthur's newest book, Twelve Extraordinary Women, surprised me. It was refreshing to read a biblical character study of women that was not a dry catalog of facts on the one hand, nor baseless, psychological hypothesis on the other. Following the successful pattern of his earlier book, Twelve Ordinary Men, MacArthur gives a brief but satisfying look at the lives of twelve women of the Bible, taken from both the Old and New Testaments.
The quality that struck me immediately was the casual, inviting, sometimes humorous tone of the book. For example, the beginning of chapter two reads, "Let's be honest; there are times in the biblical account when Sarah comes off as a bit of a shrew." Throughout the flow of the individual stories are pearls of historical and theological significance, and principles distilled for personal application. The Old Testament law of levirate marriage is discussed in the chapter on Ruth. The relationship between faith and works, an important topic in MacArthur's writing and preaching, is presented again in the stories of Rahab, and of Mary and Martha. There is a wonderful section in chapter nine, "Martha and Mary: Working and Worshiping", that deals with the priority of worship over service and the primacy of faith over works. Chapter nine also provides some insight into the possible family and social lives of the two women.
As is always the case with me, I wish there were more references cited, as well as a bibliography and "For Further Study" section. My husband has already read the chapter on Ruth for a paper he is writing for his Old Testament survey class, and my daughter is next in line to read it. I could see this material adapted for a Sunday school class, Bible study group or book club. And for those who have never had the personal example of a real-life extraordinary, godly woman, this will be a blessing. - Pam Glass, Christian Book Previews.com
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bible Study, January 3, 2007
This was a very detailed study of 12 wonderful God choosen women!
An interesting choice of the 12 and you understood why after the
detailed study. A bit hard for new Christians, but well worth the effort.
A great book to save and/or pass on!
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