Again, thanks for the personal review. They mean so much more than the canned publisher reviews! I put this on my "to read" list, and hopefully one of my library systems will end up with a copy of it.
Reviews
1
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed other books by Joshua Harris, I welcomed the opportunity to read and review his most recent book DUG DOWN DEEP – Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters.
In DUG DOWN DEEP, Joshua Harris shares his spiritual journey from growing up in an “evangelical Christian family” where his personal faith was more about “a set of moral standards than a belief and trust in Jesus Christ” to “wrestling with questions of faith” which eventually led to him becoming the senior pastor of Covenant Life Church. He shares his experiences in regard to “what it’s like for faith to be so mixed up with family tradition that it’s hard to distinguish between a genuine knowledge of God and comfort in a familiar way of life.” (page 4).
I appreciate Joshua’s explanation of words such as orthodoxy, doctrine, propitiation, sovereignty, and justification (as well as others) putting them in easily understood definitions. He underscores the importance of “digging deep” to unearth theological truth about “who Jesus is, why we need him, and how he saves and changes us” explaining the foundational importance of getting this right stating, “It matters not because we want to impress people, but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live. Theology matters because if we get if wrong then our whole life will be wrong.”
I found this book engaging and believable as he openly shares experiences from his personal life and the lives of his parents and others. I highly recommend this book and plan to read it with my older children!
Publisher’s Summary:
What will you build your life on?
What will you build your life on?
With startling transparency, Joshua Harris shares how we can rediscover the relevance and power of Christian truth. This is book shows a young man who rose quickly to success in the Christian evangelical world before he realized his spirituality lacked a foundation—it rested more on tradition and morality than on an informed knowledge of God.
For the indifferent or spiritually numb, Harris’s humorous and engaging reflections on Christian beliefs show that orthodoxy isn’t just for scholars—it is for anyone who longs to know the living Jesus Christ. As Harris writes, “I’ve come to learn that theology matters. It matters not because we want to impress people, but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live. Theology matters because if we get it wrong then our whole life will be wrong.”
Whether you are just exploring Christianity or you are a veteran believer finding yourself overly familiar and cold-hearted, Dug Down Deep will help you rediscover the timeless truths of Scripture. As Harris challenges you to root your faith and feelings about God in the person, work, and words of Jesus, he answers questions such as:
What is God like and how does he speak to me?What difference does it make that Jesus was both human and divine?How does Jesus’s death on the cross pay for my sins?Who is the Holy Spirit and how does he work in my life?
With grace and wisdom, Harris will inspire you to revel in the truth that has captured his own mind and heart. He will ask you to dig deep into a faith so solid you can build your life on it. He will point you to something to believe in again.
Author Bio: Joshua Harris is senior pastor of Covenant Life in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which belongs to the Sovereign Grace network of local churches. A passionate speaker with a gift for making theological truth easy to understand, Joshua is perhaps best known for his runaway bestseller, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, which he wrote at the age of twenty-one. His later books include Boy Meets Girl, Sex Is Not the Problem (Lust Is), and Stop Dating the Church. The founder of the NEXT conferences for young adults, Joshua is committed to seeing the gospel transferred to a new generation of Christians. He and his wife, Shannon, have three children.
Disclaimer: This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
