Book Review: Wild At Heart by John Eldredge
It’s not often I start a book and don’t finish it. Wild at Heart by John Eldredge is an exception in that way. As it is, I got 30 pages into Wild at Heart and had to stop. Seriously, I had to stop. There is something to be said for reading challenging texts and I strongly encourage the seeking of challenges. But Wild at Heart isn’t challenging…at least not a positive way.
Interesting, though, how timing sometimes works. I had starting writing a scathing review of Eldredge and Wild At Heart last week and I was all set to polish it up and post it today. Then we went to church (Northview Christian Life) and the sermon touched on the topic of criticism and some of its consequences. It made me rethink just how harsh I wanted to be. Particularly within the venue of an almost wholly one-sided blog.
There are plenty of other online reviews of Wild At Heart and I doubt mine would have had all that much to add. Note: if you search for reviews on Wild At Heart do not stop with the reader reviews on Amazon. Dig for more thorough, scripture-based reviews. There is a huge difference.
Would I recommend the book to others? Not likely. Especially in light of all the other terrific, more complete, and less flawed books available. I, for one, picked up John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life and, so far, so good.
5 comments:
That's funny, because I read Wild At Heart and did like it, and read Don't Waste Your Life, and thought it was just so-so. Admittedly, I read Wild At Heart probably 5 years ago, and I've grown a lot since then (and I'm not the book's target audience). Captivating, by John Eldredge & his wife, for women, I've read more recently, and I enjoyed as well. It was challenging for me.
Oh, I think Eldredge set out with intentions both honorable and good. I agree with his point that we get an incomplete picture of God in today's "normal" church. Likewise, I agree that there's a lot of general confusion over what Biblical manhood and womanhood should look like.
What I found distasteful was the misquoted scripture (sloppy, at best), the flawed logic, the insulting attitude toward men (particularly fathers), the over estimation of man's heart, and the still incomplete picture of God. Likewise, encouraging men to embrace their desires is highly questionable. And the overuse of pop culture references (as opposed to actual scripture) was distracting and pointless.
As a secular book, it's probably fine. As a Christian book...well...less fine.
Is that being too critical?
I know this is a really old post, and there's no need to re-hash last September, but frankly, I find one who would purport to write a criticism of any book after only 30 pages of reading, well, sloppy. At best.
Is that being too critical?
Patrick,
Perhaps I was sloppy to offer the post as a review of the book. It would have been more accurate to title the post something like "Book Review: The first thirty pages of Wild At Heart by John Eldredge".
I actually thought I did a decent job in the original post in not being overly critical. Granted, I was critical in a response to a friends comment but, I figured at that point, it was open for discussion. Regardless, I did make it quite clear when and where I stopped reading. Had I not included that information...well...that would not only have been sloppy but greatly misleading.
As for the my actual criticisms, I believe they are accurate and valid for the first thirty pages. Looking at those pages logically and scripturally, I found them to be greatly flawed. There was no reason to believe the remaining pages would be any less flawed. It was enough to keep me from reading any further.
Now, I know the book has touched a cord with a lot of people. It's gotten many people enthusiastic about God and about life. That's a very good thing. The fact that your commenting on my review leads me to believe the book is important to you. Just don't stop with WAH. Be discerning. Check your scripture. Don't make WAH and Hollywood examples the new Bible.
This book is easily understandable and brings about some good points on what it is to be a man of God. The author John Eldredge does a good job of showing how God is wild and passionate and that in order for a man to find his heart he must embrace these qualities about himself. However, I found that this book felt repetitive and I did not really relate, or felt that I learned anything from this book. I feel like this book is meant for men who feel as though they are lost, or have a deep wound within them that hasn’t been healed all their lives. It feels like this book is for a specific audience, and certainly not everyone will feel like they will get something out of reading this book.
Synopsis: This book is about men of God who feel lost in their lives, and feel as though their lives and their hearts are not fulfilled. This book is meant to encourage men to feel like they are strong and can still fulfill their lives.
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