Book Review: Courageous Generosity

Posted on | December 3, 2009
by | Kim

Courageous Generosity: A Bible Study for Women on Heroic Sacrifice by Stacy Mitch comes to me at a perfect time. I just finished the Bible study this morning, and I’m impressed.

While I grew up Protestant, I was a naughty Protestant and never did any kind of Bible study or anything like that. Therefore, I don’t have the extensive Scriptural background that Protestants typically do. Finding good, Catholic Bible studies has been on my radar for a while.

This Bible study is part of Stacy Mitch’s Courageous series, which includes Courageous Love: A Bible study on Holiness for Women, Courageous Virtue: A Bible study on Moral Excellence for Women, and Courageous Women: A Bible study on the Heroines of Biblical History. I like her approach of taking a topic, such as Holiness or Biblical Heroines and showing how Scriptures discuss it. It’s almost the opposite of taking a bunch of Scriptures and finding a theme in them.

There are tons of Biblical references and references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, so one can be assured that there is solid Catholic teaching in the study. I found myself challenged and convicted as I worked through Courageous Generosity, as well as finding things inside of myself that may be holding me back from God, or from authentic love of my neighbor. But I don’t feel like I’m the Worst Person Ever, just grateful that I had this tool to shine a light in some nooks and crannies of my soul.

In addition to finding ‘spiritual weeds’, I also have gained a new appreciation for Sacred Scripture. My biggest problem is that I often read the Bible, but usually as a book and don’t give myself time to really digest what I’m reading, or reading it for different meanings (literal, allegorical, moral, or anagogical). So, I’m happy to have discovered how to read the Bible beyond reading it like a book. I have plenty of other books for that.

The Bible study is broken into eight lessons: Courageous Generosity, Sacrifice, Prayer, Family Life (Matrimony), Family Life (Children), Love Thy Neighbor, Work and Money, Evangelization. The questions asked throughout the book have an answer key in the back, which is always a nice thing to have when I’m having those “am I just way off base here?” moments. At the end of each lesson is a short Bible verse to be memorized and meditated on – I’m still pondering the verse from the first lesson : Joshua 1:5b,7a.

One giant review later, my take-home message is such: this is a great Bible study for women who (like me) don’t have every verse of the Scriptures memorized or who like a topical approach to looking at the Bible. It’s deeper than what I was expecting, but not in that way that requires a degree; and is surprisingly uncomfortable at times (finding those spiritual weeds definitely hurts!), bu a great tool to utilize to live more authentically and grow closer to God.

—
This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Courageous Generosity – A Bible Study for Women. I received a free copy of the book to review in exchange for my honest review.

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