Dr. Jackie Roese (pronounced “Reese”) has been teachingwomen for a long time. And doing it well. Reallywell. The woman can preach. She’s even trained lots of others to do thesame.
And she has a key concern: those women who are mostcommitted to the biblical text are the least likely to receive formal training inhomiletics. The few among us who actually do get formal training end up readingbooks by men that speak to a male audience and include all-male examples. He,he, he. Not funny. So She Can Teach (Wipf& Stock, 2013) is by a woman for women, and it is designed to capitalize onwomen’s unique perspectives.
Roese acknowledges that the minute we talk about trainingwomen to teach/preach, people bring up the debate about whether women canpreach to men. But that topic, while important, she says, is for someone elseto address. She Can Teach focusesentirely on training women to preach to women.
The work begins with an exploration of historical influencesthat have led to the current state of affairs in women’s Bible teaching. Roese challengeswomen with the gift of teaching that we are not only called but expected toteach God’s word. And she wants readers to use our female voices andperspectives to full advantage. In doingso, she does not take sides on the gender debate about whether male/femaledifferences are innate or learned, though she does lean toward CarolGilligan’s theory (1982) as well as Deborah Tannen’s (1990).
The book is not about how to study the Bible as part of thepreparation process. Other works tell how to do observation, interpretation,and application. Surprisingly, it also does not include the exegetical/ theological/ homileticalprocess—that is, how to explore the text’s original audience, determine what inthe text is timeless, and craft a message for today’s audience. But she doescover how to analyze one’s audience, come up with the central proposition,craft an outline, provide supporting material, find an interesting hook, and providea strong conclusion. She also gives excellent suggestions for creativebrainstorming in community.
I followed her advice just this week, and I think it improvedwhat I taught. And I also came away with some good ideas for where to go fromhere thanks to an appendix of examples from her own group’s idea-swap. A few ofthe suggestions could have benefited from a parenthetical explanation, butmostly they were quite helpful.
Roese has an easy-to-follow writing style that comes through as humble and personable. And she draws on a broad range of quotes and examples. Her personalstories and insights add to the quality of the resource. Brava!
A word about the author: Today Jackie is the president ofthe Marcella Project, a ministry committed to empowering (my word, not hers)women through the teaching of God’s word. She has a MA/CE from DTS and a DMinin Preaching from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Prior to founding theMarcella Project, she was the Teaching Pastor to Women at a Dallas megachurch.
