All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir

Moore often uses humor in her memoir, as when she says she feels sorry for Moses in Chapter 8 and describes how Southern Baptists approach food in Chapter 17. Pick three such humorous moments and describe the effect of Moore’s use of humor on the points she is making.

In an interview with Woman Alive Book Club about the memoir, Moore said, “Life really is for most of us gray.” How does she make this point in the memoir? What is her bigger conclusion about God and humanity?

What distinction does Moore make between being “Sunday school-taught” and “seminary taught?” How did social media exacerbate the divide for her?

Moore says of her interdenominational studies, “these curiosities produced a mongrel, and a mongrel is a mess waiting to happen” (212)? What does she mean by this, and how does the metaphor of a “mongrel” impact her statement?

Why does Moore describe her acceptance of sexism in her church culture as “dealmaking with God” (218)? Use textual support in your response.

What is the concept of the “male covering,” and how did it both support and detract from Moore’s ministry?

Reread the list of memories of Moore’s life in the Southern Baptist church at the end of Chapter 20. How do they mirror her spiritual growth?

Moore says at the end of Chapter 22, “Even the detours on this road were marked by Providence” (279). Select three such “detours” in Moore’s life and show how hindsight allowed her to see their true significance.