Book Review of Beth Moore's The Beloved Disciple

 

Published by Broadman & Holman Publishers

Nashville, Tennessee  c.2003

November 18, 2022

When I began this book, it had been on my shelf for a few years.  And like most books, they are around you, either you own them or you buy them, or possibly download them.  But these books can be around for a day, a week, a year or years and then suddenly, you find yourself reading them for no apparent reason.

This book was picked up off my shelf of books basically because I was reading the book of John in the bible at the time, and wanted to know more about him.  When I start reading a book, I usually finish the book whether I like the book or not.  I must admit, this book was small print, three hundred thirty-four pages, and it took me some time to acquire a taste for Beth Moore's writing style.  Even though she is a well known speaker and author of multiple books and bible studies, I had never looked into her writings before, I had never heard her speak publicly before.  My main interest in the book, was to become more familiar with John, the beloved disciple.

It took me sometime, as I mentioned, to get familiar with her style of writing and also with the content of the book.  Moore begins with a fairly broad background of the time around John, bringing in aspects of the culture, the relationship of Jesus' family and John's family, and the beginning of Jesus calling the men around him that we know today as apostles.

She brought out detailed imagery of the disciples' closeness, their weaknesses and their strengths. She brought out details of Peter, James, and John as right-handed disciples. Detailed and written in a somewhat dramatized narrative of the Lord's time with His disciples.

Deeper into the book, I began to realize, I was not seeing or feeling the personal side of John as much as I wanted, but many of the scriptures she was using was opening up to me in a more revelatory and clearer way.  I was gaining insight into the book of John, but I suppose I wanted more from it. A deeper sense of his feelings and his heart. 

Beth Moore used personal experiences which added to her writing and I saw her clearer than I saw John.  The more I progressed so tediously into the reading, I felt I knew her even though I had never had any contact or exposure to her writings or speaking.

I could have been in a "not in a reading mood" with this book, and I gleaned much from it, details of the book of John, details of the disciples and Jesus, but yet, it seemed a long time to get to the end of the book.  That could have been my reluctance to keep reading the tedious small print ( it was not really that small) or it could have been the book was giving me more than I wanted or less than I wanted.

I feel it is a worthy read. Her quote, "The word of God never gets old to me because no matter how often I've studied a scene, fresh insight can always be gained from a new perspective.  The bible is like a priceless gem held up to a light.  If you tilt it and look at it from different angle, you see all sorts of new colors, " is so true.  

I am sure when I read the book of John again, it will open to me much more clearly.