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Title: Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge ISBN: 0-7852-6883-9 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 03 April, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.88 (297 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Radically Refreshing & Biblically Grounded
Comment: John Eldredge's WILD AT HEART is one of the most refreshing and radical books that I have read. Why are so many men unhappy, un-fulfilled, in jobs they hate, and in marriages that are dead? WILD AT HEART seeks to answer those questions and restore the passion and God-given masculinity that so many men in today's world, and church, are missing.
Some wrongly criticize WILD AT HEART, believing Eldredge is offering up macho, dim-witted masculine bravado, or they believe that this work will be a free pass for men to leave marriages in the dust on a search for lost dreams. Eldredge will have none of that, and says himself in the book that such men are "deceived about what it is they really want, what they are made for." Don't be fooled by the various criticisms that ignore Eldredge's real meaning. A real man's desires are shaped by the Lord.
Instead, WILD AT HEART is about restoring a Godly dream in the soul of a man. A desire to truly be a man, rather than a softened-neutered-nice-but-restrained-guy that the world has somehow dictated that Christian males should be. Nice men may be socially acceptable but in creating them we have snuffed out the very fire that God would have us fan in our pursuit of Him.
This is an attempt to re-kindle that flame. To restore the three longings that are at the core of each man: a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. Eldredge's arguments are firmly planted in Biblical principles, as well as his past personal experience. His writing style is very easy going, and he uses a lot of illustrations from popular culture, which makes the reading fun. I believe this book is an awesome wake up call to the church. For too long men have weakened themselves by ignoring our God-created passions. WILD AT HEART shows us how to restore them, and challenges us to take the right risks and live the adventure. It may be a bit scary (after all, did God give Abraham a risk-free offer on his call to leave Ur?), but there's no other way to reach the real fulfillment that God would have us find. I'm not a big fan of "men's books," but this is one that I am so glad that I did not miss. You shouldn't either. FIVE STARS.
Rating: 1
Summary: The gospel according to John Eldredge
Comment: JE advances the overarching idea that men and women, presumably Christians, have lost touch with their true natures and, in the words of JE, they have lost their hearts, because they have been denied their deepest desires. Further, according to JE, men in particular have been denied their deep desire to be powerful, dangerous, fierce and above all wild, desires that are presumably written into their hearts by God. JE supports this assertion by arguing that men, by their God-given nature, are powerful because they were created in the image of an all-powerful God (p. 18). According to JE, this powerful nature has been denied to men over the years. This denial has come by the hands of the church and society, which institutions are most commonly introduced into a man's life through a man's father. JE terms this denial at the hands of our fathers or other authorities in our lives the "wound." In a sweeping exoneration of today's men, JE blames this wound for much of the sin in the lives of men today from rage (p. 126) to sexual immorality (p. 91) to laziness. (See pp. 44, 126, 170). JE posits that all feelings of guilt in the midst of such sin are lies from Satan (p. 163). As for women, holding Ruth of the Bible out as an example, JE endorses the view that they should be valiant, vulnerable and scandalous (p. 190). Jesus Christ, according to JE, came to release men and women from the bondage of thinking that the wound, and the sin that follows, is their fault. (pp. 125-127). Indeed, one of JE's life-changing epiphanies was when he came to think that his outbursts of rage and other sin were not his fault.
JE's prescription, JE's gospel, is to invite men and women to live from their deep hearts by asking themselves, as JE did, what makes them come alive and then by going and doing just that (p. 200). Most importantly, men must "enter their wound" and admit that all of the garbage in their lives is not their fault. JE teaches that Jesus Christ came to help men do this.
Sadly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ contradicts every one of the above points of JE's gospel. The Bible has much to say about the attributes of ferocity, wildness and power. A simple, humble and honest search of a concordance should be clear here, with respect to whether Christians are to be "wild" or "fierce." Regarding the attribute of power, the Bible is also clear, that men are only powerful by dint of a powerful God. The distinction between knowing that a certain display of power by a man is from God or from a man's very nature is one that is made on countless pages of the Word and is critical to our walk with God. The Bible is resounding in teaching that no man is powerful in his nature. Men are only powerful when an all-powerful God works through them. In fact, the Apostles knew that every inclination of sinful men was to ascribe powerful deeds at the hands of men to man's power rather than God's power. This is why they exhorted the onlookers at the gate called Beautiful that it was not by their own power or godliness that they healed the crippled man (Acts 3:12) and refused to be worshiped in Lystra (Acts 14:14,15), and why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:7 that "we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."
Further, even if men are denied the very breath that they breathe, let alone adventure and power, they have no excuse for the sin that they commit, for according to Romans 1:20 "men are without excuse." After all, weren't Paul and Silas in Philippi denied a desire that all Christians know is written into their regenerated hearts by God, to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus in the streets, yet, did they sin in the jail? Did they have outbursts of anger? Did they neglect the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? No, according to Acts 16:25, they sang hymns to their Lord in jail and ended up sharing the Gospel of Jesus with the jailer and others, so that they were saved by God. To be sure, Hebrews 12:4 makes clear that we are to go to the point of shedding our blood in resisting sin in our lives.
While JE believes that Christ came to help us admit that we are not at fault, Jesus preached, "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." JE even goes so far as to liken his life-changing epiphany that his rage was not his fault to Augustine's epiphany in the garden in Italy. However, JE's epiphany and Augustine's epiphany could not be more diametrically opposed. Augustine repented after reading Romans 13:11-14, and then he cried. JE admitted it was not his fault, and then he cried. For a helpful explanation of these two different types of sorrow, one that leads to death and the other to life, read 2 Corinthians 7:8-10.
The real problems in men's and women's lives today that JE addresses are rooted in the fact that they have forsaken God. Rather than write a book with the purpose of teaching about the streams of living water that are found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, JE has dug his own cistern for his readers. Sadly, a picture of such situation is contained in Jeremiah 2:13, which states "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." Thanks to JE, we have yet another cistern to turn folks away from the One and Only, Jesus Christ our Lord.
LORD help us, for Jesus' sake, Amen.
Rating: 5
Summary: WWFW - World Wide Federation of WIMPS!
Comment: In response to the man below: You have completely missed the point of John Eldridge altogether. A lot of men in our society have become a bunch of compliant wimps! One reason (among many) is because woman, with the backing of "laws" and "rights", have taken over (they have become the husband they always wanted to marry). Men are looked down at for being masculine ("It's not very NICE!"). Further, the church often depicts Christ as skinny, long-haired wimp, too. He was a carpenter for crying out loud who could withstand total rejection, false accusations, brutal beatings and being hung on the cross for three hours (most men "boo hoo" about having colds...). This wimpy depiction of Christ is then transferred to the congregation as "the right way to be". Bull! God is in us and we are in God. Since we have been made in His image we are not limited to just "love" and "softness" (which is important, too). God made the lightening, lions, earthquakes, thunder...and, yes, MEN, too. There is nothing "sinful" about being "wild" and adventurous; God is and we represent Him! JE is just giving men permission to be that masculine image of God and asking woman to support that. I am not implying AT ALL that men should be domineering, angry, abusive, and over-powering or the like. God is a tender warrior, and man should be the same. But if you're idea of being "masculine" is to withdrawal in front of the T.V. while drinking beer and belting out orders...then you're missing it, too. Both men and women should read this book. It is very much needed in our panty-waste society!
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Title: Wild at Heart Field Manual: A Personal Guide to Discover the Secret of Your Masculine Soul by John Eldredge ISBN: 0785265740 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive by John Eldredge ISBN: 0785265538 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 22 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.99 |
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Title: The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren ISBN: 0310205719 Publisher: Zondervan Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God by Brent Curtis, John Eldredge ISBN: 0785273425 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 14 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.99 |
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Title: The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We Only Dreamed of by John Eldredge ISBN: 0785268820 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 08 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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