How is it that I have time to write a book review three days before Christmas, you ask? Well, when I took the Strengthsfinder test several years ago, my top strength assessed out in something called "responsibility". So when I agreed to receive a free preview copy of the book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity, I signed on to be part of a blog tour in which I would write a review of the book between the 15th and 22nd of December. The responsibility combined with a knack for procrastination leads me to writing the review here, at the last hour, but absolutely compelled to keep my word.
This is the first book I've read by Mark Batterson, who pastors National Community Church in Washington, D.C. I've heard a lot about Mark and his church, particularly since he is a pastor in my denomination (Assemblies of God) and his church is often held up as a model of a great church doing a great job connecting with a postmodern culture.
Batterson's contention is that we as Christians have lost the soul of our faith, and that if we hope to find it again, we need to start with Jesus' great commandment: that we should love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. If Jesus identifies this as the greatest command, then it would make sense that we would "spend an inordinate amount of our time and energy trying to understand and obey it." He'll get no argument from me there, nor when he says that, for the most part, Christians have become more known for what we are against than what we are for. What we are for, in his mind, is supposed to be great devotion to this great commandment.
The Heart of Christianity - Primal Compassion
Here he describes the ability for us to feel what God feels, to have our hearts broken with the things that break the heart of God. If we are to genuinely love God, then we must love and care for what he loves and cares for.
I was only marginally engaged with the book until I read the following words that finally grabbed my attention:
What makes you glad or sad or mad? What puts a holy smile on your face? What causes your spirit to sob uncontrollably? What makes you pound your fist on the table out of righteous indignation? Somewhere in the mixture of that gladness, sadness, and madness is your God-ordained passion. Or maybe I should say compassion, because you are feeling what God feels.
I believe many Christians simply go through the motions without ever thinking through questions like this. If you had the chance to read the book only to be challenged with those questions, and allow your spirit to rise to answer them, I think it would be worth it.
The Soul of Christianity - Primal Wonder
If the heart of Christianity is to feel what God feels, then the soul of it is to stand in awe, wonder and worship at the beauty and majesty of what God has done. He writes that there is something about staring at the stars that is good for your soul, and I felt myself resonate with that. We live about a mile from the beach, and on a clear winter night I can stand in my driveway and hear the sound of waves on the beach while I stare up into a sky clouded with stars and all I can do is wonder at the creativity of a God who could make all of this.
In the pages of Scripture, Batterson argues, we find the soulful revelation of God's character to us. And here he encourages us not just to read Scripture, but to allow Scripture to read us. To get lost in the wonderful story that is the gospel, and allow ourselves to be consumed by its raw power is good for the soul, inspiring truer worship than simply going through the motions. We must think about its implications not just with our mind, but from the soul.
The Mind of Christianity - Primal Curiosity
But the soul is not the only place for thinking and expanding our understanding of who God is. Batterson encourages us to use our brains (both hemispheres) to be continual learners in the kingdom of God. Here he encourages us to pursue logic, humor, imagination and every other aspect of our brains for the purpose of understanding God and the world he has made to a greater degree.
I loved his thought that eventually holy curiosity will drive you past simply looking for things to make sense, or be reasonable, and will eventually push you past what your senses can hold, and past what your brain can make meaning out of. Eventually holy curiosity will push you past the ideas that are just good ideas, and into a pursuit of a God idea, an idea that would transform you, and others, in its fulfillment.
The Strength of Christianity - Primal Energy
If we have heart and soul and mind, but do not engage our bodies and our strength in the loving of God, then ultimately we will have missed out on perhaps our greatest task. At some point, our love for God will push out of those inner worlds of heart, soul and mind and will express themselves in actual physical ways on the earth. Perhaps you could say this is where it begins to cross over from loving God to loving our neighbors as ourselves.
If there is anything that I think speaks loudly to our culture and world it is precisely this. It will not do for us to contend for theology without the world seeing that our theology drives our service to the world. If we work with all of the energy that God has given us (and will continue to give us), then what can't we accomplish?
My Thoughts
As I said in the opening paragraph on the heart - I was off to a slow start with the book. At times I felt like too many examples and illustrations overwhelmed the message the author was conveying. I can hear the influences of different writers (Erwin McManus and Rick Warren are the two that come to mind) in Mark's writing, and so I felt like a lot of what I read was not new information for me. That does not, however, take away from the impact of this book on my own spiritual journey. I see its potential to be a personal catalyst for sparking my imagination at what God could and would do with me and through me if I would devote myself to loving him this way.
I would recommend the book for you if you are seeking a personal, spiritual reformation. Batterson does a great job opening up the heart, soul, mind and strength avenues to the great command, and provides some strong challenges for you to consider. If you are willing to engage with the hard questions, and do some soul-searching in the process, I would consider taking your time to go through this book with an open heart and mind (and notebook) to see what God will show you about the road ahead.
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