Book Club Questions for Women of the Word

1.Wilkin begins by describing the gap between women's hunger for God and their actual knowledge of Scripture. Does that description resonate with your experience? Where have you felt that gap most acutely?

2.She argues that our feelings about God are only as trustworthy as our knowledge of God. What are the implications of that statement?

3.Wilkin is writing specifically to women. Why do you think she narrows her audience? Do you think the problems she identifies are unique to women, or more broadly human?

1.Wilkin writes that the heart cannot love what the mind does not know. In your own words, what is the relationship she is drawing between the mind and the heart in the Christian life?

2.She distinguishes between Bible study that is God-centered and Bible study that is me-centered. What does a me-centered approach to Scripture look like in practice? Have you recognized it in yourself?

3.Wilkin points out that many women have a deep emotional engagement with the Bible but a shallow theological understanding of it. Why do you think emotional engagement without theological depth can actually be spiritually dangerous?

1.Wilkin describes several common approaches to Bible reading that end up making the Bible more about the reader than about God. Which of the approaches she names — the 'Xanax' approach, the 'fortune cookie' approach, the 'CSI' approach, and others — have you most recognized in yourself or others?

2.She uses the image of a mirror to describe a me-centered approach to Scripture — we look into the Bible and see ourselves rather than God. What is wrong with that, and what should we be looking for instead?

3.Wilkin argues that the Bible is the story of God — His character, His works, His redemptive plan. How does reading, say, the story of David or Esther change when you are asking 'What does this reveal about God?' rather than 'What does this tell me to do?'

1.In your own words, what does Wilkin mean by 'purpose' as it relates to Bible study? What wrong purposes does she identify, and what is the right one?

2.She suggests that many women study the Bible to find practical life advice rather than to know God. Why is that purpose insufficient, even if practical wisdom is genuinely present in Scripture?

3.Wilkin distinguishes between studying the Bible to get something from God and studying it to know God Himself. Have you experienced both of those impulses? What does each feel like from the inside?

1.What does Wilkin mean by 'perspective' in Bible study? Why is it dangerous to read a verse or passage in isolation from its broader context?

2.She identifies multiple layers of context — the immediate passage, the book, the testament, and the whole canon of Scripture. In your past experience, which of these layers have you most often skipped, and what has that cost you in terms of understanding?

3.Wilkin warns against 'verse-of-the-day' Christianity — treating individual verses as self-contained units of meaning. Can you think of a verse that is commonly misunderstood or misapplied because it is read apart from its context? What does the fuller context reveal?

1.What does Wilkin mean when she calls for 'patience' in Bible study? What specifically are we being patient with?

2.She describes the phenomenon of Bible study producing immediate emotional results — a feeling of closeness to God, a sense of peace — that can actually become a substitute for genuine understanding. Have you experienced this? How do you distinguish between a meaningful encounter with God through His Word and an emotionally satisfying but shallow one?

3.Wilkin encourages studying a single book of the Bible over an extended period of time rather than jumping around. What are the practical advantages of that approach? What makes it difficult to sustain?

1.Wilkin outlines a process for Bible study built around three movements: comprehension, interpretation, and application. In your own words, what is each step asking you to do, and why does the order matter?

2.She argues that most Bible study skips straight to application — asking 'What does this mean for my life?' — before doing the work of comprehension and interpretation. What are the risks of that shortcut?

3.The comprehension stage involves asking basic observational questions of the text: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Take a short, familiar passage (for example, John 3:16 or Psalm 23:1) and spend five minutes just asking those questions. What did you notice that you hadn't noticed before?

1.Why does Wilkin include prayer as one of the five P's, rather than just assuming it? What does her inclusion of it say about how easily prayer can be separated from Bible study in practice?

2.She argues that the Holy Spirit is the one who illuminates Scripture — that no amount of good method can substitute for dependence on God to open our eyes to what His Word says. How does that conviction change the way you approach your preparation for Bible study?

3.Wilkin encourages praying *through* the text — using the passage you are studying as the content of your prayer, much as the Psalms do. Have you ever practiced this? What would make it feel natural or unnatural?

1.Wilkin opens this chapter by noting that the women who teach the Bible have an enormous responsibility. Why is the stakes of Bible teaching so high — what is lost when the Bible is taught poorly?

2.She distinguishes between a teacher who communicates her own thoughts and experiences *using the Bible* and a teacher who actually expounds and explains what the Bible says. What is the difference in practice, and how can a listener tell which kind of teaching they are receiving?

3.Wilkin encourages teachers to commit to expository teaching — working through a book of the Bible passage by passage. What are the advantages of that approach over topical teaching? What does it protect both the teacher and the congregation from?

1.Looking back over the whole book, which of Wilkin's five P's — Purpose, Perspective, Patience, Process, or Prayer — has been most convicting or most transformative for you? Why?

2.Wilkin diagnoses several unhealthy approaches to Bible reading — the 'Xanax' approach, narcigesis, verse-of-the-day Christianity, and others. Which of these did you most recognize in your own habits when you began this study? Has anything changed?

3.The book's central thesis is: the heart cannot love what the mind does not know. How has your understanding of that relationship between the mind and heart deepened or shifted over the course of this study?