Book Survey: More Psychological Insights

Commitment, like people, comes in a variety of sizes and colors. A look at recent books about this subject shows the varied approaches toward a fuller life of fellowship with Jesus Christ. Each focuses on some aspect of the deeper life. A few take the over-all approach of bringing life into harmony primarily in our relationships with other people. Another group keys in on Bible study as a way to pull the doctrines together in a harmonious understanding of the Christian life. Some work at an integration of popular psychology with Christian doctrine. A fourth group says, “I have to start with me. Once I’ve got me clear, I can broaden my world.” But whatever the approach, they all aim the reader toward a fuller commitment to Jesus Christ.

Getting It Together With Other People

Perhaps it’s cynicism or middle age, but I’m always dubious about a book that carries a subtitle like William Clemmons’s Discovering the Depths (Broadman)—“Guidance in Spiritual Growth.” That sounds as though the author had finally found the key that unlocks a life of spiritual victory-happiness-maturity-growth. I’m usually very disappointed. But I read it anyway—and I like being wrong about first impressions. Clemmons’s book isn’t the answer to anything, but it offers guidance for personal growth. At the end of each chapter he includes a helpful section called “Meditation Exercises.” Usually when I read books of this type I skip over that part, but Clemmons planned the exercises so well that I read them all.

This book really is about depth in our Christian living, about our responsibilities and our commitment. A lot of religious authors today attempt to integrate the findings of Jung, Rollo May, et al., into their theological positions. Clemmons does it as well as anyone I’ve read. He writes so clearly I almost wanted to ask, “How can you keep it that simple and yet have so much content?” Clemmons is a man with a lot to say. He writes in a challenging, exciting way. I hope this book finds broad coverage; it deserves it.

Unless during the last decade you have stayed away from evangelical writing, particularly the renewal movement, you already know the name of Bruce Larson, former editor of “Faith at Work.” I found The Relational Revolution by Bruce Larson (Word) hard to review. I like Larson; I like his communicative style; and I could probably give him a favorable review if he wrote a book about how to change light bulbs in the church narthex. If you’ve read any of Larson’s books in the past five years you’ve already gleaned a lot of what his present book is about. That’s not a negative comment. The book is not merely a rehash. His previous books have been delightful reading, but they were like buds promising flower. The Relational Revolution is Larson in full bloom. Larson is person-centered. He’s concrete. He writes on a level where most of us live. When I read Bruce Larson it’s like sitting across the room from him and listening to him talk to me. Yet, he doesn’t write theories or tell us what the Church ought to be, could be, should be, or might be. He tells us what it is—and how it grows stronger when people open themselves to other people. Larson, along with writers like Keith Miller and Lloyd Ogilvie, places the emphasis on person-to-person theology rather than abstract ideas. Such words as risk, vulnerable, and listening appear again and again. And these are key concepts. Even when Larson includes theological material he sets it in the context of the current changes in society. It’s a fine book.

When you look at James Mahoney’s Journey Into Usefulness (Broadman) you get into another realm of spiritual growth. He emphasizes God’s will and how it works in our Christian experience—at least that’s what the dust jacket claims. He devotes a lot of space to the gifts of the Spirit. It’s good to see a non-charismatic write positively about the gifts. Most of the books I’ve read have either defended or denied the charismatic gifts. Once an author stated his position, he had told you the whole story. Mahoney, however, tries to straddle the two extremes. He points out that the spiritual gifts are given to Christians for service. He urges readers to discover their gifts—a trend—and then use them.

You might disagree with his classifications of the gifts (as I did in places) but he does a fine job comparing the list from Romans 12 and First Corinthians and then explaining them in light of Christian service today. He calls this “an attempt to provide a spiritual apprenticeship for those who wish to find and follow God’s will.”

Another trend is to live a simpler life, to get back to basics. If that’s your direction, B. Otto Wheeler’s God Can Work Through You (Judson Press) might be worth reading. If you’re just getting started on this road, Wheeler could be helpful. His chapter titles are excellent—the best part of the book.

Pulling It Together From the Bible

Several of the books are really Bible studies. Rick Yohn’s Beyond Spiritual Gifts (Tyndale House) might easily be called “The Fruit of the Spirit.” It’s a rather well-done exposition of Galatians 5:22–23. Yohn’s previous book was Discover Your Spiritual Gifts—which he reminds us of at least eight times. Yohn says, “Only within the past two years have I begun to focus on my real need: character development. The effectiveness of my gifts had increased, but not the maturity of my character.” Yohn’s style disarms the reader. His anecdotes throw you into the core of a passage. He’s not a writer who inserts a story because it’s time for another illustration; the stories actually carry much of the material forward. Yohn writes with clarity and candor. Two chapters stood out for me: “How Can I Love?,” which defines love as doing what is good, and his chapter on joy, which had just the right touch. He deals with a great many believers who see Christianity in negatives (such as no smoking, drinking, attending movies, card playing). He offers a positive, warm, well-written corrective to people who harp on those peripheral issues. It’s the best popular book I’ve read on the fruit of the Spirit.

On the theme of Bible study there’s Fred L. Fisher’s The Sermon on the Mount (Broadman). Don’t let the unimaginative title fool you. This book is anything but ordinary. Fisher writes a sensible book, which is scholarly enough to deal with crucial issues but which avoids being pedantic. Fisher presents a readable and helpful book on the Sermon on the Mount. For a solidly biblical, nontechnical study of Matthew 5; 6; 7, and comparisons with Luke 6, this is the best I’ve seen in recent popular literature. As the author says in his preface, his purpose in writing another book on the Sermon on the Mount was two-fold: many of the best treatments are out of print; and most treatments are either too technical or so practical they ignore the richness of scholarly contributions. Well, Fisher, your book fulfills your purposes.

Studying the same portion of Matthew, Warren W. Wiersbe offers Live Like a King (Moody). Wiersbe writes well. He’s an able theologian who can dig out the meaning of words and phrases and explain them in non-technical ways. He states in the beginning that these chapters were originally a series of sermons he preached during the summer of 1975. Wiersbe says that the Sermon on the Mount has present and future implications, though he concentrates on the present. Wiersbe can’t be faulted in explaining his text or illustrating from Scripture. For every point, a scriptural illustration follows from Abraham, David, or Paul. And that’s my problem with the book. The subtitle “Making the Beatitudes work in daily life” to me means that an author takes us from the first century into the difficulties of twentieth-century living. His principles are right, but I want to see how these truths apply to daily life. He never really grapples with that.

The Christian Life: Issues and Answers and A Handbook for Followers of Jesus are designed for Bible study. The Christian Life by Gary Maeder and Don Williams (Regal) is a topical Bible in outline form. Maeder and Williams attempt to give all views on such subjects as immersion and infant baptism. Their section on evangelism is balanced and there’s a good chapter on church and the state; in that particular chapter I wish they had said more. They deal with such current topics as Satan, drugs, sex, and the baptism of the Spirit. In each of these chapters the authors offer a moderate view. It’s an interesting book. The difference between this and other books of the genre is the topics themselves. These men obviously listen to theological and social issues that the older books didn’t touch. For a good starting Bible study using the topical method, I’d recommend it.

If I were going to subtitle the contents of A Handbook for Followers of Jesus by Winkie Pratney (Bethany Fellowship) I’d call it “a systematic theology for new Christians.” Pratney attempts to present a full picture of theology, beginning with the sin-salvation-growth scheme. For those with limited knowledge of the Christian faith, this book could be helpful. Three features stood out. First, it’s written without a lot of theological jargon. Second, Pratney attempts to deal with the real questions people are asking instead of what theologically-trained minds know a person ought to ask, though readers might find his answers a bit simplistic and authoritarian. But to his credit Pratney certainly grapples with current issues such as sex, revolution, and the occult. Third, his chapters are short, crisply written, and don’t muddle the reader with details or side issues. Young adults should find this appealing.

Putting the Psyche Together

Several books in the psychological-pastoral field deal with a variety of topics from positive thinking to loneliness. A generation ago Norman Vincent Peale’s book on positive thinking appeared. He followed with books in a similar vein, some with even similar titles. His latest is The Positive Principle Today (Prentice Hall). No one surpasses Peale in the religious-self-help book category. He’s a communicator of the first rank. His forcefulness and optimism impress you. How could anyone not like Peale’s style (even if you disagree with his content)? He’d be worth reading if he wrote on the “Patterns of Pigmy Migration in Zaire.” You may not like his operating principles but he hooks you like an Alka-seltzer commercial. For some people he’s not religious enough; others denounce him as putting self-hypnosis and self-help ahead of Jesus Christ. But whatever your attitudes toward Peale’s approach, his writings sparkle and the message keeps coming out that “with God in your life, everything is possible.”

This book, Peale says in his foreword, is written because people got the positive principle operating and then hit snags. They wrote and asked, “How do I keep it going?” That’s what Peale writes about: how to keep the positive principle working, or as the subtitle says, “How to Renew and Sustain the Power of Positive Thinking.” What prevents tagging his illustrations and principles as Pollyanish is that they have a ring of authenticity. He documents his stories with names and events of well-known people. Although all the stories say essentially the same thing (“I failed, then took hold of myself, surrendered to God, began to think positively and then I succeeded”), they never get trite or boring when told by Peale.

In the tradition of Peale, Schuller, et al., Dale E. Galloway has written You Can Win Through Love (Harvest House). The type-face distracts with sections of each page printed in capital letters. It looks as though almost every word were written for emphasis so that nothing really sounds emphasized; it gives the book an amateurish look. Yet, there’s some fine material here. His sections on self-love are extremely well done. Galloway’s stories are nearly all happily-ever-after types, leaving the impression that love not only wins, but problems dissipate as the music of life swells to a grand crescendo. Yet life seldom works out so perfectly. Despite this, the book is good and practical.

With a title like Feelings! Where They Come From and How to Handle Them (by Joan Jacobs, Tyndale), how could you lose? Yet I’m not sure this is really a winner. Jacobs’s definition of feelings seems to stretch from emotions to attitudes, as in chapter five where she discusses feelings about the Bible. Chapter six rambles and could have enhanced the book by its omission. Yet there are helpful things, too. In past years we’ve had so much intellectual theology and many have retreated from talking about emotions in the evangelical vein. Jacobs writes unashamedly about feelings and emphasizes their positive value as tools for growing in the faith. She deals lightly, but helpfully, with making feelings respectable. She explains that negative feelings aren’t sinful and that feelings can work toward our wholeness as persons.

I’m not sure Creath Davis always gives you the how in his How To Win (Zondervan), but he does provide a lot of insight. This may be more than you wanted to know in one book about counseling. But it’s useful as a kind of popular self-help reference book. He deals with a wide range of topics: alcoholism, singleness, money, in-laws, old age, and death. Davis doesn’t give glib answers for every situation; and he doesn’t bore you with clarifications and lengthy explanations either. He writes compassionately. For example, in dealing with divorce he says, “It must be emphasized that to fail in a particular aspect of one’s life, such as marriage, does not mean you are a failure as a person. You are not a failure! You failed at being married.” Devotees of pop psychology with a Christian emphasis, buy a copy.

Pick up a copy of Jay Kesler’s The Strong Weak People (Victor Books). You might mumble to yourself, “Adult Sunday school literature.” (The publisher states on the inside front cover that a leader’s guide is available.) But don’t put it down immediately. At least look through this book, written “for those to whom perfection comes slowly.” One of Kesler’s major thrusts is stated near the beginning: “I began to wonder who started the lie that Christians have to succeed all the time.… This technique may be good strategy for sales motivation meetings but it seems to have done great harm to the church.” I admit that most of Kesler’s illustrations have the sweet smell of success about them—but it’s still a neat little book well worth reading. He tries to get beyond simplistic answers to complicated life problems. His easy-flowing, anecdotal style catches you. Don’t let the light touch fool you; he’s got something to say.

If you don’t want to concentrate on the weak and strong, then try the joy trip. Stanley Collins’s Joy All the Way (Regal) tells us how to find and keep real joy. It troubled me that Collins never really defines joy in a way that I could grasp. He dealt with every possible phase of the subject, describing and dissecting but never quite explaining it. He implies that joy is the stellar quality of a charismatic leader, which at least makes me raise an eyebrow. I gulped when I read, “Joy is the common, universal experience of all who come to Christ, whatever their age, ethnic background, or standing in society.” The universal experience? I wondered if Collins doesn’t confuse joy with love, commitment, or zeal. Or perhaps he subsumes all of them under joy. He’s unclear. And he’s a bit dogmatic when he says that “The only destroyer of joy is sin.” However, Collins writes with a style that communicates joy. He says at the beginning of the book that he wants a positive presentation. That he has—perhaps too positive. He’s never dull, and I think some people will find genuine help.

Paris Reidhead’s Beyond Believing (Bethany Fellowship), talks about five great imperatives: the great command, call commitment, leading, and judgment. His title and text tell us that believing isn’t the whole story. Reidhead hits his topics head on, illustrates them well, states his challenge clearly, and then stops. The brevity of the book makes this a helpful challenge toward full commitment.

I dislike books that reprint newspaper or magazine columns. Yet Kenneth L. Wilson’s All Things Considered (Christian Herald) hooked me. Wilson is perceptive, clever, and seems to use so many of the common events of life to bring deeper understanding. For instance, have you wondered why Jesus said we’re the salt of the earth and not the sugar? And the humor? He slips it in slyly. When he writes about witnessing he says, “I am sure that once in a while someone emphasizes that witnessing is not all talk, but from what I have seen and heard, it must be only once in a while.”

William E. Hulme wrote Creative Loneliness (Augsburg) after the death of his oldest daughter. It’s a reflective book on how to handle loneliness, and it emphasizes our need for God and for people. The author works from the premise that all of us experience loneliness. He handles his material well, citing reasons for self-isolation and its consequences. One of his finest sections deals with “Taking Risks to Meet Your Own Needs.” At times you might think the author tried to write a book about everything anyone in the whole world would ever need or want to know about loneliness. He’s not advocating or telling us how to bear our loneliness, but suggests ways to make our loneliness creative. He writes, “We have called loneliness a problem—and it is. But it is also an opportunity. Through exploring this problem we have discussed the entire scope of opportunity for human fulfillment.”

Putting Me Together

Norman Wright’s Improving Your Self Image (Harvest House) started out like fourteen other pop-psychology-with-a-little-religion-added-for-flavor-books. But Wright does a good job in defining words, especially self image, a term that seems to float around today as freely as inferiority complex did a quarter of a century ago. But wait—it’s more than a ho hum kind of book. The second half provides a good guide on understanding and improving one’s self-perception. What’s more, Wright works from a distinctively Christian perspective which is so often absent in many religious books that bow at the shrine of behavioral science.

Halfway through You Count—You Really Do! by William A. Miller (Augsburg), I wanted to write a letter to the author. Mentally I composed one that read, “Mr. Miller, I like your material. Just today I heard a sermon, lasting thirty-two minutes, telling how ‘I’ comes after giving myself to God and others; that ‘I’ am nothing; that the sooner the Christian knows this, the easier it is to follow Christ. I’m glad for your book. Sincerely.” Two chapters stood out for me. After asking why some people have poor self-images, Miller asserts that the only valid answer is, “Because that is what they want.” Disagree? Turn to page fifty-nine and find out why. The other chapter is on how to accept imperfection. A gem. The book’s worth buying for that chapter alone. If you’re really trying to bolster your own self-esteem, I’d recommend this one.

Tired of all those titles that say “Here’s how to make it as a Christian”? Erin W. Lutzer’s Failure: The Backdoor To Success (Moody Press) tries a different approach. He suggests, “Perhaps we need to. Only because we’ve sinned can we truly experience God’s grace.” In one section where the author discusses detours that many people feel irreparably ruin their lives, he writes, “Sometimes we get the impression that the will of God is like an egg, a heavenly Humpty-Dumpty. Presumably, God expects us to do a balancing act as we walk an invisible tightrope. One mistake—or, at the most, two—and no one, not even God, can put Humpty-Dumpty together again.” Lutzer doesn’t negate the significance of sin, but he does point out God’s continued forgiveness and adds “We must remember that God is never finished with any who repents.” This positive book offers help toward building a healthy self-image, as well as encouragement for those who’ve failed and think life’s pretty well finished for them. Really worth reading.

Anthony A. Hoekema tries a reverse procedure in The Christian Looks at Himself (Eerdmans). He begins with the theological aspects of self-image and concludes the book with the psychological view. His book is less experiential than the others and written largely from a theological stance. He has several excellent chapters showing that though we are sinners we aren’t worthless. His chapter on the “old nature” verses the “new nature” is interesting even though you may disagree with his position. And I suspect that even more theological-minded folks will disagree with his position on Romans 7. Hoekema claims the Bible teaches us to have positive images of ourselves and to see ourselves primarily as new creatures in Christ rather than as impotent and depraved sinners. Although I believe strongly in the positive self-image concept, I’m not so sure that one can find it so explicitly in the Bible as Hoekema asserts. The last several chapters center on how I can get it together and how I can help others get it together for positive self-images and for joyful lives in Jesus Christ. Hoekema is not dull reading and uses more biblical support for his assertions than anything I’ve read. Most of the other available material is lightweight theology and overweight experience. So if you want something heavily documented from the Bible, here’s a book to buy.

Paul D. Steeves is assistant professor of history and director of Russian studies at Stetson University in Deland, Florida. He has the Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and specializes in modern Russian history.

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