Thursday, December 17, 2009

Primal by Mark Batterson (Book Review)

I’ve been working my way through Mark Batterson’s new book Primal this past week. Thank you Multnomah for the complimentary copy! The book is a very easy read and I think someone with ADD would really like it because Mark jumps around a lot telling different stories.

In this book Mark focuses on getting back to the basics of Christianity. Getting back to what is primal. What is primal? What is left of Western Christianity after you strip it of all the fancy bells and whistles? It’s about loving God and loving others. Mark then examines the great commandment of Jesus in Mark 12:28-31. Mark will seek to answer the questions: What does it mean to love God with our heart? What does it mean to love God with our soul? What does it mean to love God with our mind? What does it mean to love God with our strength?

It’s a quick easy read and it doesn’t get too complicated. However, I wished there was more depth to it. I don’t think Mark fleshed out enough what it means to really love God with all your heart and soul (the other chapters weren’t bad). There just wasn’t enough to really help a person understand what the heart is and what the soul is. Those chapters left me wanting more and a bit confused about the heart and soul of a person.

Again, if you like a lot of stories or need some good illustrations for your sermon pick this book up. If you really want a solid explanation of what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength buy, read and study Dallas Willard’s book Renovation of The Heart.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

what kind heart of u.