Bad Girls of the Bible: And What We Can Learn From Them

Overview

Women everywhere marvel at those "good girls" in Scripture-Sarah, Mary, Esther-but on most days, that's not who they see when they look in the mirror. Most women (if they're honest) see the selfishness of Sapphira or the deception of Delilah. They catch of glimpse of Jezebel's take-charge pride or Eve's disastrous disobedience. Like Bathsheba, Herodias, and the rest, today's modern woman is surrounded by temptations, exhausted by the demands of daily living, and burdened by her own desires.

Editorial Reviews

Humorist and popular storyteller Higgs (Help! I'm Laughing and I Can't Get Up) takes a look at the vamps and tramps of the Bible, searching for the lessons these wicked women have to teach. She acknowledges that as much as she admires Sarah's faithfulness and Mary's innocence, she finds that her own life contains many of the shortcomings of women such as Rahab, Delilah and Lot's wife. When Higgs begins her study of Jezebel, she notes, "I understood her pushy personality, I empathized with her need for control, I tuned into her angry outbursts...but boy did she teach me what not to do in my marriage." She places the ten women in her study into four categories. Eve, she says, was the "First Bad Girl," for badness has to begin somewhere. Potiphar's wife (who tried to seduce Joseph), Delilah and Jezebel, Higgs says, were "Bad to the Bone": these women "sinned with gusto from bad beginning to bitter end." Women who were "Bad for a Moment," and who have forever been characterized by their "life-changing" mistakes, include Saphhira, Michal and Lot's wife (who was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back on her homeland against God's commands). Higgs says that Rahab, the prostitute who helped the Israelites conquer Jericho, the Woman at the Well and the Sinful Woman were "Bad for a Season, but Not Forever": these women "had plenty of sin in their past, but they were also willing to change and be changed." Higgs opens each chapter with a fictional retelling of the biblical story and then proceeds to a verse-by-verse exegesis and commentary on the biblical text. Each chapter closes with four lessons to be learned from the life of the bad girl and eight "thoughts worth considering." Higgs retells these biblical stories with rollicking humor and deep insight as she teaches about the nature of sin and goodness. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Liz Curtis Higgs

Liz Curtis Higgs has been telling tales since she wrote her first "novel" at the tender age of ten. Careers in broadcasting, public speaking, nonfiction writing, and children's books brought her back to her first love-fiction-at the turn of the 21st century.Since 1986, Liz Curtis Higgs has presented more than 1,500 inspirational programs for audiences in all 50 states as well as Germany, England, Canada, Ecuador, France, and Scotland. In 1995, Liz received the highest award for speaking excellence, the "Council of Peers Award for Excellence," becoming one of only forty women in the world named to the Speaker Hall of Fame by the National Speakers Association.Feature articles about Liz have appeared in more than 250 major newspapers and magazines across the country, and she has been interviewed on more than 600 radio and television stations, including guest appearances on PBS/Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, A & E, MSNBC, NPR, CBC Canada, BBC Radio Scotland, Focus on the Family, and Janet Parshall's America.A member of Novelists, Inc., Liz now focuses her writing efforts on historical fiction, particularly novels set in eighteenth-century Scotland. To aid in her research, she has visited the U.K. on eight occasions, including her "Heart for Scotland" 12-city U.K. book tour in October 2003, and she has collected nearly 700 resource books on Scottish history and culture. A graduate of Bellarmine College with a B.A. in English, Liz is a member of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society and the Dumfries & Galloway Family History Society, as well as supporting the National Museums of Scotland, Historic Scotland, and the National Trust for Scotland.Liz is the author of twenty-one books, with more than 2 million in print. Her fiction to date includes two historical novels and two contemporary novels:Fair Is the RoseThorn in My HeartBookendsMixed SignalsThe most recent of her 11 nonfiction, best-selling books include ' >Unveiling Mary MagdaleneReally Bad Girls of the BibleBad Girls of the BibleThe above titles also have corresponding VHS videos and companion workbooks.And she has written five books for young children:Go Away, Dark NightThe Parable of the LilyThe Pine Tree ParableThe Sunflower ParableThe Pumpkin Patch ParableHer children's Parable Series was awarded the ECPA Gold Medallion for Excellence at the Christian Booksellers Association Convention in July 1998, and her book Bad Girls of the Bible was an ECPA Gold Medallion Finalist in 2000. Her first novel, Mixed Signals, was a RITA Finalist for both Best First Novel and Best Inspirational Novel. Her second novel, Bookends, was a Christy Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction. And her third novel, Thorn in My Heart, was a #1 historical fiction Christian bestseller, followed by a second historical bestseller, Fair Is the Rose. Whence Came a Prince, the latest novel in the series, publishes in March 2005. In addition, Liz is the editor of an annual newsletter, The Graceful Heart, with 25,000 readers, and is a columnist for Today's Christian Woman magazine with her back page feature, "Life with Liz." Her first video Bible study series, Loved by God, was released in March 2004.On the personal side, Liz is married to Bill Higgs, Ph.D., who serves as Director of Operations for her speaking and writing office. Liz and Bill share their 19th-century farmhouse in Louisville, KY, with their two teenagers, Matthew and Lillian, and too many cats.

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Additional Info

Imprint

WaterBrook Press

Filesize

321.93 KB

Number of Pages

256

eBook ISBN

9781578569717

Awards

• Christian Book Awards