About the Book

Book: Women of the Bible Speak Out

Author: Marlo Schalesky

Genre: RELIGION/Christian Living/Women’s Interests

Release Date: June 2, 2020

With the recent headlines about gender-based abuse, power, harassment, and assault, it seems as if everyone is searching for answers. Marlo Schalesky provides a biblical response to the tough questions raised by these issues. She explores the stories of twenty women in Scripture, including Eve, Sarah, and Bathsheba—women who were betrayed, abused, endangered, blamed, and shamed. As she leads us in studying the biblical text, she draws our eye to God’s responses to these women and their situations: Eve: The Way It Was Supposed to Be

Sarai: Betrayed

Hagar: – Used

Lot’s Daughters & A Levite’s Concubine: Abused

Two Tamars: Rejected

Hannah: Devalued

Abigail: Endangered

Bathsheba: Sexualized

Esther: Dominated

Mary & Martha: Oppressed

A Samaritan Woman: Shamed

A Sinful Woman: Scorned

A Woman Caught in Adultery: Blamed

Women at the Tomb: Disbelieved

She points out a way to healing, wholeness, and freedom. In the midst of today’s #MeToo conversations, this book will give new voice to the remarkable women of Scripture—and new hope to many, many women today.

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About the Author

Marlo Schalesky is the founder and president of Wonder Wood Ranch, a California charitable organization that brings hope through horses to hurting kids. She’s had over one thousand articles published in various Christian magazines, is a regular columnist for Power for Living, and is an award-winning author of twelve books. Schalesky has a master’s in theology with an emphasis in biblical studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She lives with her husband and six children in a log home on California’s central coast.

More from Marlo

1) Why did you write this book?

When I was first asked to consider writing a book about women in the Bible who experienced abuse, oppression, gender-based bias and discrimination, sexualization, and more, I didn’t know how their stories would intersect with mine and the experiences of women today. I thought I would find only horror, but beyond that I found a surprising hope; a God who is always seeking to redeem, to heal, and to make right where mankind has broken and betrayed.

This book is for others like me, for women who have been hurt, whose wounds sometimes seem too deep to heal. I wrote it for those who know that while justice is necessary, it is not enough. We need to see God. We need Him to see us. We need an experience with the God of Scripture whose fierce love is the only thing that can heal those hurts that lie deep within.

2) What do you hope your readers will take away from reading your book?

I hope they experience a renewed hope. And a deeper understanding of the God who loves them. I want readers to know that God sees them, and He sees what they’ve suffered, and He does not look away. He does not make excuses.

After reading Women of the Bible Speak Out, I hope readers will see that instead of winking at the repression of women, the Bible exposes it. And the Bible reveals a God who not only shares in our suffering but seeks to redeem it.

My Review

Engaging and heartfelt, this nonfiction collection examines fourteen stories from the Bible about women who were misused, abused, mistreated, betrayed, and abandoned. As unpalatable as that may sound, “Women of the Bible Speak Out” by Marlo Schalesky, herself a survivor, addresses the heartache but focuses on the hope that we have in Christ. No matter what we have gone through or what we are now going through, the Lord alone is our Rock and our hope eternal. As Schalesky herself notes in the introduction to her book, “Healing is not found in the arms of accusation. It’s found in a God who sees, loves, and redeems.”

“Women of the Bible Speak Out” is unique and informative, yet it reads like a personal account rather than a nonfiction reference book. I think that it could even be used as a devotional because its setup is conducive to such. Each chapter features one or two women from the Bible, with a one-word description of how she was mistreated, the Bible chapter or chapters in which her story appears, a Bible verse, a brief general summary of the abuse voiced, a contemporary example or application, the woman telling her story in the first-person, discussion, a segment entitled Who is God When, and a quotation. I think that this is a great format for either personal or group study, and when the Biblical woman’s story is presented through her own voice, Schalesky uses words taken from Scripture as well as what she terms “biblical imagination.” This makes the stories more real for readers, especially any who might have trouble connecting with the Bible.

This book’s release coincides with so much chaos and the destruction of Christian values at an increasing pace in a secular culture that has little regard, it seems, for human life, so the timing is perfect because now more than ever before we need to be reading and studying God’s Word. “Women of the Bible Speak Out” offers glorious hope in the midst of life’s trials, providing a fresh perspective on the stories that many will recognize immediately but perhaps have not dug deeper yet. One thing that stood out to me in the first chapter about Eve, that I have always somehow overlooked, is that God banished Adam and Eve from Eden out of mercy so that they would not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in their broken, sinful state. I also appreciated that Schalesky treated each story with the gravitas it deserved, and that she was not afraid to address the horrors of the situations while also placing them within the context of ordinary customs at that time.

Despite the differences in time periods and cultures, one thing will always remain the same: God’s love for us. We will all face circumstances that we don’t want, and we may never know why something happens, but remember that God did not spare His Son, and Jesus was crucified and rose again to take away our sins and to prepare a place for us. We must never give up or give in to the lies that the enemy tries to plant within us, “Because when you feel the most helpless, when all your options seem gone, when you’ve been used and cast aside, it is often at that very moment that God is working not just to save you, but to liberate you—to set you truly and fully free. Because you are his beloved.”

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.