Women of the Word

Jen Wilkin, a Bible teacher based in Dallas, Texas, opens with a metaphor drawn from a Chinese proverb: moving a mountain "one spoonful of dirt at a time" (15). The mountain represents biblical ignorance, a condition she traces to her own upbringing. Raised by divorced parents who moved between seven different denominations, she absorbed worship styles, memorized verses, and learned to share the gospel, yet she did not actually know her Bible. She could recall scattered stories but had no understanding of how they fit together. Hearing pastors contradict one another sharpened her desire to know what Scripture taught, and marriage and motherhood intensified the urgency. It was not until she attended a women's Bible study, initially seeking adult conversation and free childcare, that she found both community and a process that transformed her from student to teacher. The book intends to equip readers with a study method accessible to anyone regardless of education or available time.

Wilkin identifies two fundamental errors in her previous approach to Scripture. The first was treating the Bible as a book about herself rather than a book about God. She confesses that she read asking "Who am I?" and "What should I do?" (24) instead of asking what a passage reveals about God. She illustrates this through the story of Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3, where Moses asks self-focused questions and God redirects the conversation, declaring "I AM" (26). The second error was letting emotions guide her study rather than her intellect. She cites Romans 12:2–3 and several other passages placing the mind before the heart in repentance, worship, and understanding. She also draws on the research of Paul Bloom, a Yale cognitive psychologist, who found that pleasure in something increases not through repeated experience but through gaining knowledge of its deeper nature. These two corrections, which she summarizes as "God before me, mind before heart," form the foundation for her entire approach.

Wilkin then makes the case for Bible literacy, which she defines as steadily moving toward knowledge and understanding of the biblical text. She identifies six common but unhelpful approaches to Scripture: the "Xanax Approach," which treats the Bible as emotional comfort; the "Pinball Approach," which reads random passages without regard for context; the "Magic 8 Ball Approach," which seeks specific answers to personal decisions; the "Personal Shopper Approach," or topical study, which produces fragmentary knowledge; the "Telephone Game Approach," which prioritizes books about the Bible over the Bible itself; and the "Jack Sprat Approach," which reads only favorite books while neglecting the rest. She argues that Bible literacy protects against false teaching and introduces the organizing framework for the rest of the book: the Five P's of Sound Study, which are Purpose, Perspective, Patience, Process, and Prayer.

The first P, Purpose, calls readers to orient every study session toward the Bible's overarching metanarrative, a term scholars use for the comprehensive story that illuminates all smaller stories within a text. Wilkin identifies this metanarrative as creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, tracing the reign and rule of God from Genesis to Revelation. She illustrates how this lens deepens individual passages: The story of Noah becomes a story of re-creation, redemption, and fall rather than simply a heroic tale, and the parable of the Good Samaritan points to Christ saving humanity from certain death rather than merely teaching a moral lesson about kindness.

The second P, Perspective, argues that every text must be understood within its original historical and cultural context through a process called exegesis. Wilkin introduces five "archaeological questions" to ask before studying any book: Who wrote it? When was it written? To whom was it written? In what style was it written? Why was it written? She explains the interpretive significance of genre, noting that historical narrative intends to be read at face value, poetry uses symbolic language, wisdom literature communicates generally true principles rather than universal promises, and prophecy employs imagery that historical context helps clarify.

The third P, Patience, addresses the cultural impulse for instant results. Wilkin contends that confusion during study is not a bad sign but a necessary part of the learning process. She compares shortcuts such as immediately consulting commentaries to relying on a GPS that masks one's ignorance of actual routes, and she encourages readers to treat the Bible as a savings account, depositing daily study and patiently waiting for cumulative understanding over years.

The fourth P, Process, presents a three-stage method: comprehension, interpretation, and application. Comprehension asks "What does it say?" and employs tools including a printed copy of the text for annotation, repetitive reading, marking repeated words and transition words with colored pencils, consulting an English dictionary, comparing multiple translations, and outlining the text's structure. Interpretation asks "What does it mean?" and begins with cross-references and paraphrasing before the student consults any commentary. Application asks "How should it change me?" and is answered through three God-centered subquestions: What does this passage teach me about God? How does this aspect of God's character change my view of self? What should I do in response?

The fifth P, Prayer, argues that prayer transforms Bible study from an intellectual exercise into communion with God. Wilkin introduces the acronym PART, standing for Praise, Admit, Request, and Thank, as a framework for prayer before, during, and after study. She clarifies that these are suggestions rather than a rigid formula and that the amount of prayer will vary with schedule and season.

Wilkin demonstrates the complete method using the book of James. She identifies James as New Testament Wisdom Literature dealing with progressive sanctification, or the process of growing in godliness, answers the five archaeological questions, walks through a sample annotation of James 1:1–18, and models interpretation and God-centered application. She adds a "bonus P" (133): sharing study in community, which provides accountability, guards against faulty interpretations, and deepens understanding through discussion.

A chapter addressed to teachers argues that the church needs well-equipped women Bible teachers who can model passionate, intelligent engagement with Scripture. Wilkin distinguishes between public speakers, who rely on rhetoric and storytelling, and teachers, who rely on knowledge and the ability to simplify the complex. She urges teachers to use the Five P's themselves before teaching, to write homework that intentionally raises questions the teaching time then resolves, and to avoid seven pitfalls, including hopping around the Bible rather than lingering in the studied passage, feminizing texts aimed at all people, speculating beyond what Scripture records, and pandering to emotion.

In the conclusion, Wilkin addresses whether she is a "Bible-worshipper" or a "God-worshipper," answering that the Bible is a means to loving God, not an end in itself. She illustrates the principle "we become what we behold" (161) with a story from seventh grade, when she tried to imitate everything about a friend, recognizing later that her instinct to imitate was right but her object was wrong. She connects this to Ephesians 5:1, which calls believers to imitate God, and closes by citing 2 Corinthians 3:18: Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into his image, one degree of glory to another.