Reviews
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash a Revolution in Your Life In Christ by Peter Scazzero
celenac's review
3.0
There are some good points in this book, but I thought most were pretty basic and not eye-opening. Reading through the book felt more like I was being reminded of something than learning something new.
While examples are supposed to support and enforce a writer's ideas, I found Scazzero's examples doing the opposite for me, mainly because he didn't pull a lot from scripture. His ideas seemed to be more rooted in other people's ideas and random events. He even used some fictional examples (in one chapter section, the main example was from an animated movie), which I didn't find credible.
I also would've liked it more if Scazzero dove a bit deeper into his concepts like The Wall and a Rule of Life. In most cases, he seemed to just mention things and move onto the next section. Maybe the purpose was to keep the chapter sections concise and digestible, in that case it did the job.
While examples are supposed to support and enforce a writer's ideas, I found Scazzero's examples doing the opposite for me, mainly because he didn't pull a lot from scripture. His ideas seemed to be more rooted in other people's ideas and random events. He even used some fictional examples (in one chapter section, the main example was from an animated movie), which I didn't find credible.
I also would've liked it more if Scazzero dove a bit deeper into his concepts like The Wall and a Rule of Life. In most cases, he seemed to just mention things and move onto the next section. Maybe the purpose was to keep the chapter sections concise and digestible, in that case it did the job.
lharrison1211's review against another edition
5.0
This book is super practical and has so much good wisdom! I’d love to read it again slower/with a group of people and really digest it. Would recommend to anyone looking to grow as a Christian!
misstessamaye's review
5.0
Oh my word.
I can't explain how much this book has meant to me. So much about my heart, my soul, and my brain have grown in healing since I began it eight or nine months ago. It was like meeting with a therapist who helped me dig deep into my soul and realize that seemingly small wounds from the past affect the way I live my life now in huge ways. It helped me begin figuring out how to heal.
Reading this book over a long period of time made it so that every chapter pertained to where I was in my journey of healing. I'm still on that journey, but I will be looking back in the pages of this book at the countless underlines I made, because there are so many tools and insights that changed me and spoke so deeply to my soul.
Occasionally there were spots that were worded to sound just a bit too religiously regimented, but looking at the core idea behind those spots helped me see the value behind them, and this book had too much valuable truth in it for me to be turned off by those moments. Please, read this book.
I can't explain how much this book has meant to me. So much about my heart, my soul, and my brain have grown in healing since I began it eight or nine months ago. It was like meeting with a therapist who helped me dig deep into my soul and realize that seemingly small wounds from the past affect the way I live my life now in huge ways. It helped me begin figuring out how to heal.
Reading this book over a long period of time made it so that every chapter pertained to where I was in my journey of healing. I'm still on that journey, but I will be looking back in the pages of this book at the countless underlines I made, because there are so many tools and insights that changed me and spoke so deeply to my soul.
Occasionally there were spots that were worded to sound just a bit too religiously regimented, but looking at the core idea behind those spots helped me see the value behind them, and this book had too much valuable truth in it for me to be turned off by those moments. Please, read this book.
maryesthernev's review
5.0
This is my new favorite book on christian living, 10/10! I think this is a must read for every christian.
This book explains how many times in our christian communities we are taught to "deny yourself" by ignoring your feelings and robotically following the rules of your faith. However, inadvertently we are learning to detach from our humanity, stunting our emotional maturity and perpetuating a life lived in denial of who God made us to be. His main theme is that it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.
This book was extremely refreshing to me. I believe it would be a healing book for anyone who is dissatisfied with their christian life or has been predisposed to legalism. It is a liberating, balanced, and personalized approach to the christian life. I can not say enough good things about this book.
This book explains how many times in our christian communities we are taught to "deny yourself" by ignoring your feelings and robotically following the rules of your faith. However, inadvertently we are learning to detach from our humanity, stunting our emotional maturity and perpetuating a life lived in denial of who God made us to be. His main theme is that it is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.
This book was extremely refreshing to me. I believe it would be a healing book for anyone who is dissatisfied with their christian life or has been predisposed to legalism. It is a liberating, balanced, and personalized approach to the christian life. I can not say enough good things about this book.
infirestear's review
3.0
I think this was a good book. It had some good points but not anything particularly mindblowing. Tabbed a few lines. Will have to come back and read through the notes I made in the book. I had to read it for a ladies bible study and it took like 9 months.
davehershey's review
4.0
The premise of this book is you cannot be spiritually mature while being emotionally insecure. I had heard great things about this book and as I read it, I could see why. There is a lot here. I especially appreciate the deep connections to the church tradition intertwined with scripture as well as real world application. This is not a simplistic spiritual growth book. Instead, Scazzero is rooted in the best of the church tradition rooted in scripture.
One of my roles in campus ministry is staff development and I am planning to go back to this book and incorporate elements of it into both our new staff training as well as our upcoming summer staff retreat. I guess, in that, this is the best thing I can say about it - this book is not just something you read and move on but it is a resource. There are literal resources - workbooks and courses - on the book’s website. Those may come in handy in the future; if you are looking for small group resources, I’d check them out. For now, I am going to be spending more time with this one.
As a side note, or maybe a note of where I am personally making changes due to this book, I especially liked his writing on the “rule of faith”. Part of my own developing rule of faith, which is essentially just a plan of spiritual practice, is reading some sort of spiritual book right before I go to bed. I often read on my kindle, with the light off, in the silence. This was the book I read for a while, as well as sections from the Philokalia (for two years now!). Its been a good practice for me - Bible reading in the AM, spiritual reading in the PM. This book gave me ideas for other things to incorporate (I’d like to journal more in the PM). All that to say, once again, this book is a practical resource and not just a book to read.
One of my roles in campus ministry is staff development and I am planning to go back to this book and incorporate elements of it into both our new staff training as well as our upcoming summer staff retreat. I guess, in that, this is the best thing I can say about it - this book is not just something you read and move on but it is a resource. There are literal resources - workbooks and courses - on the book’s website. Those may come in handy in the future; if you are looking for small group resources, I’d check them out. For now, I am going to be spending more time with this one.
As a side note, or maybe a note of where I am personally making changes due to this book, I especially liked his writing on the “rule of faith”. Part of my own developing rule of faith, which is essentially just a plan of spiritual practice, is reading some sort of spiritual book right before I go to bed. I often read on my kindle, with the light off, in the silence. This was the book I read for a while, as well as sections from the Philokalia (for two years now!). Its been a good practice for me - Bible reading in the AM, spiritual reading in the PM. This book gave me ideas for other things to incorporate (I’d like to journal more in the PM). All that to say, once again, this book is a practical resource and not just a book to read.