Time for another book review. This time I read Unleashed:Release the Untamed Faith Within by Erwin McManus. As before, this book was provided free of charge by BookSneeze for review and I was not compensated in any way, nor expected to write a favorable review. All opinions are 100 percent mine.
I must say this was a tedious read for me. I appreciate the underlying theme of supreme devotion to God; of not being afraid to go where He sends you and how; of having a sincere and excited passion for Christ and sharing the Gospel. In this sense, it was a very inspiring book.
HOWEVER, I quickly grew tired of the use of the word "barbarian" and the phrase "barbarian way". I understand this was the point of the book, to challenge Christians to live and think outside of the "civilized church" and to be on-fire for God and not religious tradition. I get that. I got that
the first chapter. I did not have to have "barbarian" repeated to me a zillion times.
I also enjoyed the personal stories and how he (the author) showed the ways in which the original Christians were consumed by their passion for God and Christ(John the Baptist, Paul and Peter to name a few). I do have to say, though, that I do not agree that we all should be striving to live this outrageous life for God. We should be living according to the purpose He has for us as individuals, with our unique personalities. Paul reminds us we all have different gifts of the spirit. We obviously all have different personalities. The kindly lady who quietly cleans the church bathrooms each week, if
doing it out of sincere service to God, is as pleasing to God as the most boisterous evangelist or enthusiastic missionary. The Truth has set us free and we all should take advantage of it according to how God has called us. After all, the quiet, consistent Christian is of much value too (thinking of Timothy's mother and grandmother).
The title includes the words: "Release the untamed faith within". I can understand the point the author was making. We are to worship and serve God with abandon and total trust in Him. We need to shake off stuffy tradition and get back to the meat. This I agree with. I just feel as though the author did not know how else to relay his theme outside of one word: barbarian. Perhaps more thought needed to go into it.
In short: great theme, tedious repetition to make the point of that theme.
I must say this was a tedious read for me. I appreciate the underlying theme of supreme devotion to God; of not being afraid to go where He sends you and how; of having a sincere and excited passion for Christ and sharing the Gospel. In this sense, it was a very inspiring book.
HOWEVER, I quickly grew tired of the use of the word "barbarian" and the phrase "barbarian way". I understand this was the point of the book, to challenge Christians to live and think outside of the "civilized church" and to be on-fire for God and not religious tradition. I get that. I got that
the first chapter. I did not have to have "barbarian" repeated to me a zillion times.
I also enjoyed the personal stories and how he (the author) showed the ways in which the original Christians were consumed by their passion for God and Christ(John the Baptist, Paul and Peter to name a few). I do have to say, though, that I do not agree that we all should be striving to live this outrageous life for God. We should be living according to the purpose He has for us as individuals, with our unique personalities. Paul reminds us we all have different gifts of the spirit. We obviously all have different personalities. The kindly lady who quietly cleans the church bathrooms each week, if
doing it out of sincere service to God, is as pleasing to God as the most boisterous evangelist or enthusiastic missionary. The Truth has set us free and we all should take advantage of it according to how God has called us. After all, the quiet, consistent Christian is of much value too (thinking of Timothy's mother and grandmother).
The title includes the words: "Release the untamed faith within". I can understand the point the author was making. We are to worship and serve God with abandon and total trust in Him. We need to shake off stuffy tradition and get back to the meat. This I agree with. I just feel as though the author did not know how else to relay his theme outside of one word: barbarian. Perhaps more thought needed to go into it.
In short: great theme, tedious repetition to make the point of that theme.
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