I could only get through the first two chapters before I had to put it down. I sought this book out for inspiration, but found it was sexist and insulting. I write this not because I one of those "new fangled feminist types", but because I posses a brain - a God given one. What I glean from the way the stories are presented is that the author's belief is that women exist only through men and have no real intrinsic purpose or value to God or the world, except through men.

Eve is portryaed as a pathetic figure, the author writes patronizingly about Eve's sin: "As the weaker vessel, away from her husband, but close to the forbidden tree, she was in the most vulnerable position possible..." and "...Adam's sin was deliberate (when he took the apple) and willful in a way Eve's was not. Eve was deceived". So, the author doesn't even think she deserves equal billing in the "downfall".

In chap. 2 about Sarah, when explaining how Sara and Abraham lied when they entered Egypt, saying that Sara was his sister so other men would not kill Abraham for her the author concludes: "...Abraham's motives were selfish and cowardly, and the scheme reflected a serious weakness in his faith. But Sarah's devotion to her husband is nonetheless commendable, and God honored her for it..". So, she is not a whole person in this author's view - they both lied, he calls it "cowardly" on Abraham's part, but believes God commends Sara, because she it was good she supported him - EVEN when he did something "selfish and cowardly".

As a Christian I found the simplistic and ridiculous for the 21st century.
I cannot recommend this book to anyone with a brain.

This book is phenomenal and is filled with scripture. John MacArthur does a great job of making these women's lives parallel to our current culture and easy for anyone to relate. Each woman has her own personality but all have lessons to learn from. I have just started the book and am about half way through already and each page has spoken to me that most of the book is underlined and commented on. If you're looking for God to move in your life and teach you some great lessons pick up this book!!!

We have been studying this for the past few months slowly due to only meeting once a week. We have discovered fascinating new details about some of the women of the Bible that we did not know. While we have found a few discrepancies, they are minor and we talk it out as a group. Overall, we are finding this study to be enlightening and are looking forward to the rest of it.

I have led numerous Bible studies, and this book has been a real disappointment. The writing lacks balance, is often disorganized, and even has an "anti-women" tone to it. I find myself having to work all week to plan our study, to supplement what he's written. I would not recommend this book.

It helped me so see and understand how important these women really were in the lineage of Jesus. How God can change the seemingly impossible. Wonderful book!

Dr. John's MacArthur's book, Twelve Extraordinary Women - How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He wants to do with you - has proven to be an ideal textbook used in two women's study groups. His writing style offers many clear and picturesque descriptions of each of his 12 subjects. Personal applications abound as each life is protrayed Biblically and from a human standpoint. I highly recommend this book for individual reading as well as a group study textbook.

I had high hopes for this book when I bought it, and I was not at all disappointed. McArthur gives an enlightening short study on each of the women. It is enjoyable to read as well as informative. The women come alive as you read about their stories.

I love all the cultural and historical background he gives. It really helped me understand the women better. I was better able to empathize with their choices and struggles. It also gives plenty of scriptural references. You can read it with your bible next to you. He gives insight on the women and their situations that I would not have thought about on my own. In each of their stories, he finds issues that are relevant to us today, and biblical teachings that are woven in the lives of each woman.

I also like how he shows the bigger picture for the women. How their lives were affected by their past, and how their choices would affect generations to come. He shows how Christ is the central player in all of their lives, and how God is the Master Playwright. The women became real to me as I read their stories.

McArthur showed his respect and honor for these women and the role they played in biblical events. He did throw in a lot of his own speculations on what might have been in areas that the bible is silent on. However, he has done a lot of research and always makes clear what the bible says versus what he thinks. Overall a wonderfully facinating read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the women in the bible.

First he wrote Twelve Ordinary Men, a book that contained character studies of the twelve disciples. Based on the success of that book, John MacArthur has given us another book written in the same format, only this time, the twelve people whose lives we read about are all women--women chosen for the important place each has in the story of redemption. The twelve women included are

* Eve
* Sarah
* Rahab
* Ruth
* Hannah
* Mary (the mother of Jesus)
* Anna
* The Samaritan Woman
* Martha and Mary
* Mary Magdalene
* Lydia

Twelve Extraordinary Women is a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading and I learned much more than I expected about the lives and characters of these women. They are all women "who were unremarkable in and of themselves." Rahab was a harlot, Ruth was a very poor widow, Anna was a very old widow, and a list of the descriptions of all of them would go on in a similar vein. What made these women extraordinary, as the subtitle suggests, was God's work in their lives, shaping them into faithful women--women who loved God.

My favorite chapter was the one on Mary and Martha. I have to admit that there have always been things in their story that puzzled me just a little. Honestly, the thought has crossed my mind that poor Martha got a little bit of a raw deal when she was admonished by Jesus. I admire people with the energy to buzz around making sure everything it perfect for their guests. Doesn't someone have to take care of those things?

Serving one's guests, writes MacArthur, is indeed a good thing, but worshiping Christ is of a higher priority: "Nothing, including even service rendered to Christ, is more important than listening to Him and honoring Him with our hearts." He goes on to point out that it is the inclination to make service more important than worship to that makes pietism and liberalism so dangerous, because making good deeds more important than sound doctrine and true worship corrupts the good deeds, since a deed is only good when it flows "from a true reliance on God's redemption and His righteousness."

This little summary of one of the lessons learned from the story of Mary and Martha gives you an idea of the sorts of insights that can be found within this book.

So yes, I recommend this book, because I'm betting you will enjoy reading and learning from it as much as I did. Twelve Extraordinary Women would also make a good gift, since it's an easy read and the subject matter would be of interest to most women.

It's a good thing to be reminded that God works extraordinary things through ordinary women. Seeing how God's character-shaping worked in the women of the Bible should inspire us to love "the God whom they trusted and served," which is MacArthur's own prayer for the readers.

John MacArthur does it again with a thorough study on these precious women of faith. He has the depth of his years of study to give historical and cultural background. It is refreshing in the epilogue when he points out that the lessons of the women are about spiritual character and feminine virtue, not their talents or beauty or even who they married! They were just women who loved their God and were great because of that. They were not perfect, but God uses flaws in everyone's lives to His good, to work out His perfect will. That is why He is called Redeemer. Twelve Extraordinary Women has been a very useful reference, along with the workbook, in writing my own simpler study for a ladies' Bible study at church.

Standing in line at a Family Christian Bookstore, I was fortunate enough to come across John MacArthur's "Twelve Ordinary Men"... It was the first book of his I'd come across, but I immediately bought it. Sure enough, this book "Twelve Extraordinary Women" was a must-read after having read the other.

John MacArthur is an amazing author. I have already purchased three more books of his, and I must say, he makes it so Easy to Understand. He takes the biblical language and has studied it so, that when he's relaying it to you, the reader, it just sinks right in. This book is a wonderful study of 12 amazing women - our ancestors... who loved and adored our Savior, Jesus Christ. And you may be surprised that they were simply women such as ourselves. I truly enjoyed reading this book. And it will remain a part of my own personal library.

Standing in line at a Family Christian Bookstore, I was fortunate enough to come across John MacArthur's "Twelve Ordinary Men"... It was the first book of his I'd come across, but I immediately bought it. Sure enough, this book "Twelve Extraordinary Women" was a must-read after having read the other.

John MacArthur is an amazing author. I have already purchased three more books of his, and I must say, he makes it so Easy to Understand. He takes the biblical language and has studied it so, that when he's relaying it to you, the reader, it just sinks right in. This book is a wonderful study of 12 amazing women - our ancestors... who loved and adored our Savior, Jesus Christ. And you may be surprised that they were simply women such as ourselves. I truly enjoyed reading this book. And it will remain a part of my own personal library.

Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur is a strongly written book detailing the lives and legacies of twelve women of the Bible. I read this book as part of my nightly devotional time, and I truly enjoyed the time with the book. Each woman presented (from Eve to Lydia) is a powerful example of how God works in our lives and what he can do with us. While Abraham's patience is a given, I had never considered how patient Sarah had to be, waiting for twenty years for her promised son. Hannah is the model of the perfect mother, waiting for a son and loving her husband. MacArthur discusses in several sections the poisonous effects of polygamy on relationships as well. He doesn't hide his opinion of the Catholic worship of Mary, mother of Jesus, either. But his personal thoughts are always given with love and a great deal of attention to history. I learned an enormous amount from this book that I will take with me day to day from waiting on the Lord to being a better mother and wife, this book is an excellent tool for Christian women (and men!).

This is a fascinating account of the lives of some of the more prominent women in Scripture. Unfolding the verses that tell their stories, MacArthur does a phenomenal job illuminating what is most interesting and inspiring about these women. The twelve he chose include: Eve, Sarah, Rahab, Ruth, Hannah, Mary (the mother of Jesus), Anna, the Samaritan woman, Martha and Mary (sisters of Lazarus), Mary Magdalene, and Lydia. I used to think that back in Bible times women were degraded and reduced to a lower status than men. But MacArthur explains well that Scripture never puts women on a secondary level, discounts their importance or gifts, but speaks of them in honor and commends the faithfulness of them who follow the Lord.

Each chapter of this book is dedicated to one of the twelve women. MacArthur briefly but deeply reveals what was extraordinary about their lives. What set these women apart was not anything they did or accomplished, but resoundingly God's saving work in their lives. These women are all characterized by a deep love for God, their faithfulness to follow Him, and the hope they had either for the Savior to come, or in the saving work He accomplished for them on the cross.

Not knowing many details about them, I was fascinated by the chapters about Eve and Anna. I had a lot of preconceived conclusions about women like Ruth, Hannah and Rahab and this book really helped me see how God shaped their lives for His purpose. I was also interested to learn that so many of the women can be found in the genealogy of Jesus!

My favorite of the twelve was chapter eight, "The Samaritan Woman: Finding the Water of Life". I am very familiar with this story, but never thought there was anything particularly remarkable about it. An outcast woman who meets Jesus at the well, He tells her facts about her life that convict her, and she tells others to come meet Him. In this chapter MacArthur unfolds details and background that I never knew before. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be unclean and had nothing to do with them. It was outrageous that Jesus would travel through their land let alone drink water from a strange woman. His encounter with this woman was intentional and had a marvelous impact. For some reason, Jesus chose to reveal to her His identity as the Messiah.

I find the conversation between Jesus and this woman to be very extraordinary. He approached her with tender truthfulness and she was never the same. He confronts her sin of adultery and in doing so her deep need for a Savior. She could not hide anything from Him, but her heart and life were exposed to Him. She is intrigued when Jesus tells her of the living water that He has to offer: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The Holy Spirit was obviously working in her heart because by the end of this amazing conversation she had run back to her town to tell the people what Jesus had said. MacArthur says, "Her response was typical of new believers, one of the evidences of authentic faith. The person who has just had the burden of sin and guilt lifted always wants to share the good news with others." This is a refreshing and inspiring story of the exuberance of faith, impact of freedom from sin and amazing revival that can be spurred on by proclamation of the Truth.

This is just a glimpse of one of twelve incredible women who were changed by the Holy Spirit from the inside out and dynamically used by God. These women were nothing special in and of themselves. Ultimately their lives bear testimony to the glorious work of salvation and of God "the truly extraordinary one..." In his introduction MacArthur prayerfully urges that as you read this book you will "share their faith, imitate their faithfulness, and learn to love the Savior..." By His grace we can be used extraordinarily too!

I just recently got this book and to anyone who is not going to get it because another person said Mary wasn't in it, they were wrong. Chapter 6 Mary: Blessed among women is about Jesus' mother. So I don't know if they didn't read it or what but it even says on the back cover that it covers, Mary, the mother of Jesus. I just wanted to let everyone know so they wouldn't take that one persons review badly.

I am not even going to waste my time reading this book, because it does not contain a review of the life of the one for whom ' all generations shall call me blessed'.

How can anyone in their right mind and a person full of faith write a book about 'extraordinary' women in the bible and not right about Our Blessed Mother? Who else was more 'extraordinary' than the one who said 'Yes' to God to be the mother of His only Son?

I can never understand how any Christian who loves our Lord can have anything but love, honour and devotion for His Blessed Mother. I can assure everyone out there, no one loves the Blessed Mother more than her only Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

If you like to understand historical background and then apply it to your life then read this book. God really did great things with all of these special women. I loved learning about the history and cultural implications these women had to face and overcome. This is a must read!!

John MacArthur believes in the inerrancy of scripture for history and doctrine. The Bible describes how people acted upon their Faith in God, therefore are considered righteous. The Bible is not exhaustive about the people have acted upon their Faith and obeyed the Will Of God. God ,in the councel of His Own wisdom, had His Human authors write about particular events events that would reveal the Truth about God and His followers. Descriptions of these events and people have doctrinal implications. John Macarthur wrote this book to demonstrate how God used these womanfor His purposes and reveal truth to His Church. The Bible is a historic record, but much more.

Yes this book was penned because twelve ordinary men was a high seller. Nothing wrong with that. The title of this book should have been twelve ordinary women. I believe John MacArthur subcumbed to temptation, because he was told the book would sell more with the word extraudinary in it instead of ordinary. The book is about twelve sinful woman were used by God to further God's kingdom. Eve was extraudinary because she was not born into sin, but the fall makes it a misleading label. This book is about how an extraudinary God can use sinful woman in the building of His Kingdom. All thes woman, as are all men,in need of a redeemer. Do not let the title throw you these woman are describe as ordinary by the author. Maybe their weakness not well demonstrated as MacArthur's book about the Apostles.

John MacArthur's newest book, Twelve Extraordinary Women, surprised me. It was refreshing to read a biblical character study of women that was not a dry catalog of facts on the one hand, nor baseless, psychological hypothesis on the other. Following the successful pattern of his earlier book, Twelve Ordinary Men, MacArthur gives a brief but satisfying look at the lives of twelve women of the Bible, taken from both the Old and New Testaments.

The quality that struck me immediately was the casual, inviting, sometimes humorous tone of the book. For example, the beginning of chapter two reads, "Let's be honest; there are times in the biblical account when Sarah comes off as a bit of a shrew." Throughout the flow of the individual stories are pearls of historical and theological significance, and principles distilled for personal application. The Old Testament law of levirate marriage is discussed in the chapter on Ruth. The relationship between faith and works, an important topic in MacArthur's writing and preaching, is presented again in the stories of Rahab, and of Mary and Martha. There is a wonderful section in chapter nine, "Martha and Mary: Working and Worshiping", that deals with the priority of worship over service and the primacy of faith over works. Chapter nine also provides some insight into the possible family and social lives of the two women.

As is always the case with me, I wish there were more references cited, as well as a bibliography and "For Further Study" section. My husband has already read the chapter on Ruth for a paper he is writing for his Old Testament survey class, and my daughter is next in line to read it. I could see this material adapted for a Sunday school class, Bible study group or book club. And for those who have never had the personal example of a real-life extraordinary, godly woman, this will be a blessing. - Pam Glass, Christian Book Previews.com

Twelve Ordinary Men, John MacArthur's book on the apostles, was a surprise hit. After the book stayed on the bestseller lists for over a year, Thomas Nelson suggested publishing a second volume, this one dealing with some of the best-known women of the Bible. MacArthur accepted the challenge and drew up a long list of possible subjects. "I admit that I chose the twelve women featured here by a completely unscientific process: I weighed their relative importance in biblical history alongside the amount of material I had already developed on each of them as I have taught through various passages of Scripture. Then I chose the twelve women who were most familiar to me." Twelve Extraordinary Women is not exactly a sequel to MacArthur's Twelve Ordinary Men, yet it bears many similarities. Like its predecessor (and unlike the majority of MacArthur's books), Twelve Extraordinary Women is not primarily expository. Instead, it is a series of brief character studies. Like Twelve Ordinary Men, it is ideally suited for personal or group study, and is intensely practical.

The women MacArthur chose as subjects for this book are: Eve, Sarah, Rahab, Ruth, Hannah, Mary, Anna, The Samaritan Woman, Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene and Lydia. "My prayer for you is that as you read this book you will share their faith, imitate their faithfulness, and learn to love the Savior whose work in their lives made them truly extraordinary. Your life can be extraordinary, too, by His wonderful grace."

The format of the book will be familiar to those who have read Twelve Ordinary Men. MacArthur spends a chapter discussing each of the women (though Martha and Mary share a single chapter) and shows that what made each of these women extraordinary was nothing they brought to God, but the work of the Savior in their lives. Each of them had a deep reverence towards God and trusted His promises, whether they looked forward to a time when the Savior would come, or whether they looked back at his death and resurrection. Some of them stood between the New and Old Testament eras, even witnessing with their own eyes the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

By way of introduction, MacArthur writes about the high position given to women within Scripture. Women are never relegated to a secondary status and, unlike so many other religions, are never degraded and considered less important than men. From the beginning of the New Testament era to the close of the canon of Scripture we see God granting extraordinary privilege to women. There are countless women in the Bible who stand as examples of faithfulness, integrity, hospitality and every other admirable virtue. "The faithfulness of these women is their true, lasting legacy. I hope as you meet them in Scripture and get to know more about their lives and characters, they will challenge you, motivate you, encourage you, and inspire you with love for the God whom they trusted and served. May your heart be set ablaze with the very same faith, may your life be characterized by a similar faithfulness, and may your soul be overwhelmed with love for the extraordinary God they worshiped."

Each of the subsequent eleven chapters is a study of a particular woman, with MacArthur shining light on the Scriptural accounts of each subject. Each chapter is practical, showing how the virtues exemplified in the lives of the women can be applied to the life of the reader. The reader is show how he, too, can be extraordinary through the power of God.

Twelve Extraordinary Women is a worthy successor to Twelve Ordinary Men. This book is both informative and inspiring. It will lead the reader to understand what each of these twelve women surely knew, that God was the truly extraordinary one, as He conformed such ordinary women to the likeness of their Savior. I highly recommend this book for both personal and group study.