My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Sunday, September 10, 2023

Review: Word: An 11-Session Study of Matthew

Word: An 11-Session Study of Matthew Word: An 11-Session Study of Matthew by Sarah Howley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This short, 65 page Study Guide is part of the four (4) book “The Son reveals the Father” series (One for each Gospel) whose stated goal is to "uncover the nature of God through the nature of Jesus” revealed to us in the Gospel and prefigured in the “Old Testament.” It begins with some general guidelines for group and individual that make it clear that each session is designed to help you begin your study and is not scripted or overly biased to a particular conclusion. Each session starts with an Introduction that tries to weave in a contemporary context before reading the specified chapters for that session. Afterward there are a series of questions to help kick off the discussion/meditation before looking at links from the Old Testament and finishing with a quick section to encourage thinking about [discussing] how to apply the lesson in today’s world. There is very little exegesis, interpretation or exploration of original context (that is left to your discussion) which allows each session chapter to be very concise and short. Most of the discussion prompts are fairly basic and/or simple which may lead to a more shallow discussion that doesn’t reveal much that is new or interesting if you have studied the text previously; however, it remains a good place to start for many.

Welcome to this Study
Suggestions for Study
Study Introduction
Session 1: The Messiah was Born (Matt 1-2)
Session 2: Starting a Ministry (Matt 3-4)
Session 3: Come ye Weary (Matt 5)
Session 4: Relations with God (Matt 6-7)
Session 5: auth of the People (Matt 8-10)
Session 6: Kingdom Treasure (Matt 11-13)
Session 7: Abundant Provision (Matt 14-16)
Session 8: Children Enter the Kingdom (Matt 17-19)
Session 9: Kingdom Work (Matt 20-22)
Session 10: Woes and Warnings (Matt 23-25)
Session 11: Gift of Power (Matt 26-28)
Study Conclusion

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#StudyOfMatthew #TheSonRevealsTheFather #LibraryThing

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My Ratings Explained ...

  • [ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
  • [ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
  • [ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
  • [ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
  • [ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.