Love Like a Mother by Elizabeth Berget is a wonderful mixture of memoir and theological reflection on the maternal nature of God and how He relates to us as a mother. Through this book, Berget mixes personal storytelling (both from her personal life and the lives of her friends) with theological reflection involving deep and thoughtful exegesis of the biblical text to uncover the maternal images of God littered through the book. The end result is a moving and carefully crafted work that ultimately leads to a much deeper understanding of who God is to us. A view that only favors the "masculine" is unbalanced and loses credibility in many ways. However, my only complaint is that Berget often views "mothering" as a uniquely biological process through the birthing experience. Now she does utilize the narratives of women who have fostered or adopted as well, but her depictions of motherhood seem largely to be centered solely on a Western ideal that understands mothering as an action done in the nuclear family. She also does not seem to address the role of "mothering" in our churches, as many women may act as a "mother" to a younger mentee, even if they are not actually adopted. As a body of Christ, we have mothers and fathers our whole life, even beyond the immediate family structure, and Berget's limited exploration of mother leaves me wondering how God reflects the mothers of the church who "adopt" the younger people of the community and help foster them. Overall, a wonderful resource and deeply moving as I felt my heart tugged both by the moving narratives and thoughtful theological reflection, but I felt this was too deeply steeped in traditional Western family norms to apply widely. However, even with this concern, Berget's theological maximalist approach to wring the biblical text dry for the maternal images of God is thoughtful and a joy to read.

I received a free advanced copy of the book via Netgalley, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher to E-ARC. I really enjoyed this book, it was tenderly written and thoughtful with rich theological reflection.

I laughed. I cried. I got chills. I read the whole book in one sitting.

Beautiful imagery. Accessible and relatable—especially for those who have given birth to a child, but many anecdotes related to mothers who foster and/or adopt. Will give mothers confidence that they are, indeed, “a force to be reckoned with,” and will expand one’s perspective, appreciation, and love for God, who willingly and eagerly describes himself with maternal language.

A staple in the bookshelf for new or new-ish moms.

Women are so often raised to limit and diminish themselves, and this can be especially common in religious settings. For many women, stepping into motherhood brings home the absurdity of the idea that women are or should be meek or weak. Those searching for Biblical justification of women's power will find it in the pages of Love like a Mother. I enjoy following Elizabeth's writing online, specifically the "Snacks for the Flock" installments of her newsletter, which are always delightful. I adored her thoughts and research about the maternal expressions of God's love. She has an important message for our times and for our hurting Christian church. Most powerful was the idea that we limit God when claim he can only be a father. Some may find that position radical or shocking, but Elizabeth guides us through it with strength, compassion, and humor, as a great mother does.

I’ve followed author Elizabeth Berget online for years, so I knew she was researching and writing a book about the maternal character of God and looked forward to reading it… but I couldn’t have predicted just how SEEN I would feel in this book. Berget takes common experiences of early motherhood—pregnancy, birth, sleeplessness, feeding children—and through those experiences, illustrates how God loves and cares for us,

I expected to see examples of scriptural analogies. I worried a little that the book would be filled with saccharine platitudes about motherhood, but I shouldn’t have been—this book both affirmed mothers as doing God’s work while also gently encouraging readers to elevate their love and follow God’s maternal example. I also didn’t expect but delighted in all the examples from literature Berget pulled in to illustrate her points—I love finding truths that tie into the gospel in art and other unexpected sources, and Berget did so gracefully and artfully.

The book also contains practices and breath prayers at the conclusion of each chapter. The book did not at all feel like a self-help book to me, but these practices were beautiful and inspiring, and I look foreword to going back and spending more time contemplating them.

LOVE LIKE A MOTHER is a truly beautiful reading experience, and I am sure I will return to it.

I enjoyed this, and I think it will be a good gift for new moms and moms in the trenches. It explores theological ideas about a mother's love and how we can see God in mothering.

It is not for everyone. The first third of this book is focused on the physical aspects of birthing. These images, along with images of a nursing God, have been very important to my faith as a mom. However, I would not hand this book to a foster mom or an adoptive mom. There is somewhat of a mention of infertility, and there are references throughout to fostering and adoption through foster care, but no real engagement with other adoption discussions. As a mom who had fairly uncomplicated fertility, birthing, and nursing stories, I thought much of this resonated. I think it will resonate with a lot of people, but there are some people who will feel understandably left out of this particular portrayal of motherhood.

The second thing I want to say is that the book says, at the beginning, essentially, "This isn't the only metaphor you have to use." I wish the book had the confidence to offer Mother God as a metaphor without having to couch it. The folks who get mad about the idea of using the metaphor of Mother God are never going to get on board, so we should stop trying to placate them. Rachel Held Evans called God "she" one time, and Owen Strachan is still mad about it. With that said, I hope a lot of men also read it.

The author mentions that her oldest was about 13 at the time of writing the book. My kid is slightly older, and I think my role as a mother has shifted in huge ways in two or three teenage years. There is a lot of mothering that was unexplored in this book - this is very much about those early and difficult days, and there is nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to mention it as an observation.