Recently I read "Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
" for the second time. Actually, the edition I read this time was the "Revised and Expanded" edition which has recently been released as a 10th anniversary update to the original "Wild at Heart
." To be honest it's been so long since I read the original "Wild at Heart" that I'm not sure which parts of this new "Revised and Expanded" edition were new and which parts were part of the original. This book resonates with me. While there were times when I felt that he maybe slightly over emphasized the whole "wild" theme, used too many movie references, and I didn't always agree with his Biblical interpretation or theology; I still really enjoyed this book.
In this book, John Eldredge encourages men to be what God created them to be: wild at heart. He believes (and I agree) that God has placed with the heart of every man "a desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. Throughout the book he builds on these three things and tries to show men how to get rid of the "fig leaves" that we hide behind and come alive as the warriors God intended us to be.
Earlier I mentioned that at times I feel that he may have slightly overemphasized the whole "wild" theme. What I meant by that is that at times while reading you get the idea that if you don't like climbing mountains, hunting bear, and hacking your way through a jungle you might not be a real man. While at times this does seem to be where he's going, it's really not. What he is trying to do is help rescue a man's heart, dream, and soul. He makes you examine your own life and what "wounds" you may be covering up or hiding behind.
I like his emphasis on "A Beauty to Rescue" and how a husband must fight for his wife. I was also challenged (as I'm soon to be a father for the first time) to be the kind of father that my daughter (and hopefully other children) needs.
I highly recommend this book to every man. I also suggested it to my wife for her to read it for I felt that it could help her to better understand me. She actually wound up finishing it before I did. Now we are both reading "Captivating
" by John and Stasi Elderidge. I also plan to read "The Way of the Wild at Heart
."I guess if I was giving this book a rating it would be four stars out of five.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com
As a 69 year old man who has been a "Christian" for say 45 years I have found great encouragement in Wild at Heart. My generation of men have lived through major changes some of which have challenged the roles, authority and responsibilities of men at this time in history. While there is a superficial acknowledgement that men are the "head of the house" I feel that in reality there has been a gradual undermining of the role of husband and father so that many young men are unable to find strength and example in their father or older men who need to be role models. I am trying to encourage men of my age to help men of all ages to discuss with and support each other in some areas of their lives which til now have been taboo. eg their God given sexuality which is at the centre of our identity and so often supressed because to be Christian it is implied a man has to deny his masculinity and all that means. We are advised to be self sacrificing in many areas of our lives even to the point of denying our masculinity. Courses for men like "Valiant Man" teaches men to be eternally patient and understanding to the women/woman in their life but I am not aware of any such teaching which teaches women to be patient and understanding to the man in their life. I hope and pray that Wild at Heart teaching will begin to regain the balance between the genders so that our society will be a more balance and stable environment in which to raise the next generations of men and women.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you would let your readers know that we have cases of Wild at Heart available to give away on Father's Day for less than $2 each. They can find out more at http://booksbythebox.maninthemirror.org/category_s/30.htm.
ReplyDeletethanks,
David Delk
President, www.maninthemirror.org