May 22, 2010 2
{Review} Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge
I tend to avoid books when they are on the bestseller list; it's kind of a reverse snobbishness, I guess.
So I avoided Captivating the first time around, despite the fact that I'd read The Sacred Romance (by John Eldredge and Brent Curtis) and loved it, and despite the personal recommendations I received. I can't, thus, tell you much about how this revised-and-expanded version is better than the original.
But I can tell you that, if you are a woman this is a book worth reading. Not if-you-are-a-woman-and-a-Christian, just: if you are a woman.
Why? Not that the Christian thing doesn't matter, but that every woman struggles on some level with the issues that the Eldredges talk about. Their philosophy and, yes, their solutions are Biblically based; for non-Christian women, I can understand that might be a turn-off. But I urge you anyway: stride through the Scripture quotations and sit still for the stories and the truths that aren't tied up in church-speak.
And for Christian women, this book can help you step out of the easy answers so often given via church-speak and deal with the hurts it's quite possible to hide but impossible to truly forget. The heart of this book is about remembering, about dealing with the lies that tell us to forget-about-it, quit-making-things-such-a-big-deal.
This book helps us to understand why some things are a big deal, and should be, and how we need to look at them and find out what they're telling us. As we acknowledge, and remember who we really are, we can let go not in self-denial or resentment, but in true freedom. That's a good read.
Details:
Captivating: Unlocking the Mystery of a Woman's Soul. By John and Stasi Eldredge. Revised and Expanded. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010.
Purchase or get more information at the Amazon product page.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
