Thursday, May 03, 2007
Wild Heart?
I'm in the process of reading "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. I'm aware that many in the Christian community are not huge fans of this, or any other or his books for that matter. And while there are some things that I don't quite agree whole-heartedly with, I'm finding this an excellent read that speaks into a lot of the growing areas of my life. On another note, it is finals week which may just be the best and worst week of the semester all hurled into 7 fabulous days. It seems that there is unlimited time because normal schedules are not afoot, but there are also exams to study for. Exams that could not be studied for in 2 weeks time. Exams that encompass everything that I never attended class to hear. Exams that have a great impact on those things they call grades. I happen to have two of those exams today, and what am I doing? Listening to Shawn McDonald and blogging....enough said.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
My criticisms of Eldredge have little to do with Elderedge. I read "Wild At Heart" and frankly, there was some good grass and some weeds. But that would've been true of many books from Christian publishers. Eldredge is a pretty decent writer and certainly inspires others.
My criticisms have more to do with the Christian community reading it. Very few can find the grass and weeds (like you apparently have) and they take it all as Bible-based. The next thing you know we'll have a ton of rock-climbing, bear-chasing, white-water-rapid-riding guys doing it merely because they think that's supposed to be "wild." They don't know that Scripture also portrays King David as a poet/musician/artist, etc. and the book seemed to glorify the "wild man" rather than the "renaissance man." But that isn't Eldredge's fault. He titled his book well and wrote it along that line. Maybe it'll be his next book.
But I'm not too sure about that "beauty to win" business. That portrayal of women is much more passive than Scripture points to...
Like I said, the book has good stuff, too. But, again, my concern is that it has a platform of accuracy that I'm not sure the overwhelming majority of readers will catch. And that concerns me.
Some great points Brent. I have always heard this book related more towards our spiritual battle. Things like spiritual warfare, battling for others through prayer, and not being passive toward situations that we are not called to be passive in. (ie. standing up for Biblical truths when the rest of the men just want to let things slide...is that not how a lot of bad doctrine spreads?) One of his best points is when he says that we are not made to be just "nice guys that are afraid to rock the boat." The fear of offending someone should not lead us to be passive. So that's what I'm looking at in his book...but you're, right...he seems to go out on a limb at times to make his point.
Bryce really got a lot out of the book, not that it was the end all and be all - but it set him on a journey that he is still enjoying...
Post a Comment