Rating: 
Summary: Deeper Understanding
Review: This is the first book that I have read by Eldredge, but it won't be the last. I found the book to be very insightful regarding the process that we sometimes call "the masculine journey." Eldredge is an entertaining writer who shares several of his own experiences, both successes and failures. So I know that he is on the same journey that I am on. The book offers a nice blend of information from a biblical, psychological and cultural perspective. Some of his critics have argued that he makes women out to be very dependent creatures who are just waiting to be rescued. This assessment can only come from a very superficial understanding of the psyche and the journey of life. As a male Christian Counselor with over 17 years of experience, I can easily identify with the life tasks that Eldredge describes in my own journey as well as the journeys of many of my clients. The sections regarding the development of our shame and the our false self are particularly important. I can recommend this book to men and women.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning insight from a convert to Christianity
Review: This is a brilliantly insightful treatise about finding the masculine heart. In the book, Eldredge argues that since the fall (Genesis), man has been shy to take risks. He has lost sight of what God intended for him. There are three things a man yearns for, he contends: 1) A battle to fight 2) an adventure to live, and 3) a beauty to rescue.
However, there is a lot more to it. A reviewer slammed this book for the way it "demeans" women by assigning them the passive role of being rescued. Sorry, but the reviewer missed the point. Eldredge explains at length that women do not want to be merely rescued, they want to be a PART of the Adventure!
The book analyzes many bible stories in terms of understanding masculinity. IT IS NOT A MACHO PEP RALLY, and Eldredge states as much. After all, macho men don't talk about heart, no matter how masculine, ok? This is a book about feelings, and pride, and purpose.The book's strong suit is the take it has on Jesus. Eldredge says "if you were a leper, or lived on the edges of society, then yes, Jesus was tender mercy. But if you were a pharisee, watch out!"
One of Eldredge's conclusions that meant a lot to me was that man yearns for a battle to be fought. And who do we fight? Well, Jesus confronted the pharisees and the bureaucrats, and shamed them for their hypocrisy. In this we can only hope to be like Jesus.
This is a deep book that does the best job so far that I have seen of exploring the masculine heart's many facets and laying out some insights and advice. Eldredge is not repeating what he heard elsewhere, but discovering new ideas. I mention that Eldredge is a convert to Christianity. I myself am not a theist in the traditional sense, but I find his Biblical analysis highly informative because of his born-again, intuitive knowledge of God. My christian friends love this book too, and women say that it helps them understand men better. The masculine heart is a topic that requires more thought and discussion, but in this book Eldredge has laid out a decent foundation. However, if you think you can do better, you must first start here. This book will teach you much.
I would have given the audio book five stars but I was annoyed by John's slow, clear enunciation and his thin voice. Also, I felt the audio book abridged too much. Given the chance, I would have gotten the full text instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Here's What I Got Out of This Book
Review: I read this book and it stirred my heart to be adventurous, to battle, to rescue... in the following context:
1) Christian men want to be adventurous. The adventure as a Christian is moving by faith in believing that a miraculous God can come through for you - inspite of what the circumstances say and cause you to see. Do you believe that God can part your sea for you to cross over to the other side?
2) Christian men want to battle. The battle comes against worldly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom, our carnal flesh contrary to the Spirit of God, and the devil who fights our Christian faith EVERY day. Do you believe God can help you in your battles against your Goliaths?
3) Christian men want a beauty to rescue. The beauty that we rescue is rescuing our family and fellow church members against worldly wisdom, the carnality of the flesh, and the devil by reminding them who they are in Christ. What's more exciting than using God's word to edify, exhort, and comfort those close to you. Do you believe that God can redeem your family? When I read the word "nice" in this book, I thought of well-intentioned men who need to be reminded that there is an adventure to live in the spirit, a battle to fight in the spirit, and a beautiful soul to rescue in the spirit. I was one of those nice people and I'm glad I was reminded and stirred up to move in the power that is found in God's word. What helped me as I read this book was to continually ask, "God, how do want me to interpret what is written here? Help me to see what you're saying and not want man is saying?" When I did that, I left the stuff that was not for me behind.
Rating:
Summary: What the naysayers don't seem to get....
Review: I find the charges against Elldredge regarding his "not using proper exegetical, zoological and anthropological ignoring Christs' charge to 'be not like the pharisee who strains the gnat'... YOU FOLKS MISS THE POINT! This book is not the scripture... but people (and Eldredge points out MEN in particular) ARE NOT READING the scriptures! Chiefly because the 'CHURCH' (here used loosely as the scriptures point out very clearly the 'Church' is people not buildings or congregations) has emasculated men into being 'nice'... and very few 'bricks and mortars' (not using Church) are able to 'sell' the idea of loving the WORD of God.
Eldredge, and God Bless him for it... IS A Purposed Pendulum swing to get men off their ... ahem, 'comfort zones' and begin to take the proper dominion THE SOVEREIGN has designed for him...
By that I mean... we are all called to recognize that it is 'not flesh and blood we wrestle, but darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places (which I believe is part of the subject of his next book, 'Waking the Dead') and there is an awful lot in the WORD regarding being 'overcomers' (read: Romans 8 and Rev. 2-6) instead of being 'victims' or in the case of the emasculated men Eldredge speaks of, victims of the church AND of the enemy. Face it... the enemy DOES not want men to 'take their proper places in the church'...
GOD DOES not want arrogant men, controlling others. Eldredges' book is a beginning of the JOLT men need to stop complacency in the CHRISTian church and BE whom God has called them to BE... not just DO-ers. We are Human BEINGS not Human DO -ers. I found the book very helpful in reminding me to imitate CHRIST. We are all called to this scripture: "In HIM I move and have my BEING!" Hope this helps... we don't need more Pharisees...
Rating: 
Summary: Heresy
Review: This book uses the dangerous allurment of flowery language and "feel good about yourself" theology to suck it's readers in to thinking that it's doctrinally sound. But a closer look reveals misquoted Scripture and a doctrine that extols the 'self' instead of Jesus Christ. Page after page reveals open-theistic thinking and Freudian ideologies. Eldridge blames personal sin on others in his life and encourages the reader to do the same.
If you read it, make sure to measure it carefully against the Word of God. Eldridge contradicts Scripture a LOT! Beware.....
Rating:
Summary: Quit your whining
Review: This was an excellent depiction of what men are going through and how they can cope with life's struggles. I hope that the other reviews do not discourage anyone from reaading this book, it is excellent. I find it very interesting how people can read a book to find "the secret" to a man's soul and then when they are finished, they dog the book. As if they know what the real secret is and just wanted to check if Mr. Eldredge was in line with their beliefs... I thought the book was in line with Biblical values and had some very good practical application. Sometimes super spiritual people read much further into the "true" and "deep" meanings of things instead of taking them for face value. I thoroughly enjoyed the booked and hope you do too!
Rating:
Summary: Its about time!
Review: I found some of the other reviews here to have perhaps missed the point of this book. While John's analogies sometimes have some loopholes, they're not theology, so there's no real problem with that. John is painting us a picture, not giving a lesson in hermeneutics - and i think he is painting that picture very well. His foundation for Biblical man is revolutionary at this time, and is indeed biblically based if you read the bible with no bias. Its about time that we've began talking about this, because I've found myself incredibly frustrated most of my life -my dad didn't have a dad, so there wasn't much manly love you know what i mean? And this book adressed the issue head on - Men need a Father, need to know what it means to be a man, and need God (who is not male, but bears the characteristics of both male and female.) After all- God created male, so he knows what male is all about. I highly recommend this book, mostly to men of course, but woman as well. And i recommend it non-christians as much as christians. This book doesn't lay down some 'rules of manhood' that must be followed. This is not a religious book. but rather gets into the 'heart of a man' where the main issue lies. If men and woman can actually start BEING men and woman, and understanding their roles and who they are - we'll see family life once again in top form, and the things that hurt us like divorce, broken family, sexuality issues etc. will begin to fade away...
Rating: 
Summary: Men and Women defined? Not quite.
Review: The premise that men should honor the masculine side of their souls rings true to this reviewer. The author has much experience working with men and counseling men. Besides, he is a man. By all accounts, he should have something useful to say to men when it comes to discussing men. Agreed? Agreed. Good. Now that that's settled, lets turn to the other sex: the Woman. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Woman's perspective, the book gets a little muddled. Here's the low-down on two of the ideas presented in the book: 1.Women have a need to be rescued by a man (as seen in fairy tales)& 2.Women are supposed to be vulnerable and inviting instead of independently self-reliant, self-controlled and self-confident. However, unlike the author's viewpoint, the role of women in rescue fairy tales has been interpreted vastly differently by other therapists who spend time counseling women. In her bestseller "Reviving Ophelia," Mary Pipher, Ph.D., describes rescue sequences in fairy tales as the loss of a woman's true self identity when undergoing adolescence. Pipher explains that "...fairy tales capture the essence of this phenomenon. Young women eat poisoned apples or prick their fingers with poisoned needles and fall asleep for a hundred years. They wander away from home, encounter great dangers, are rescued by princes and are transformed into passive and docile creatures." Closer to the truth is Pipher's use of Hamlet's Ophelia. Ophelia, a happy, centered girl in childhood is transformed into a weak, passive, easily manipulated young woman. When Hamlet spurns her, she becomes emotionally unstable, drowning herself in a stream, weighted down by fashionable, heavy clothing. Shakespeare had it
right; women die when they lose their internal, independent center. Or, as Pipher puts it,their "true North Star." Likewise, the author's use of "vulnerable" denotes this same lack of normal self-preservation and safe boundaries. Vulnerable is defined as "1.capable of being physically wounded. 2.open to attack or damage." The synonym "assailable" defines this kind of openness as "to be attacked violently with blows or words." So,instead of a discerning and wise woman, the woman is now to be "vulnerable" and"inviting" potentially violent attacks? The bottomline to this review: if you are interested in a male perspective on men, the book has interesting things to say and I recommend it. But if you want to understand women, read Mary Pipher's book.
Rating:
Summary: My nephew Bill enthuses passionately about this !
Review: My nephew Bill enthuses passionately about this book and is giving it to the men in his family! As an Evangelical author myself, it is exciting to see an book from an Evangelical perspective doing so well on the Amazon.com lists - as opposed to all the rubbish that some people alas prefer to buy. I am not sure about 100% of what this author says, and his history can be a little shaky, but this is a perspective we ought all to consider in these turbulent times. Christopher Catherwood, evangelical and author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003) and, far more important, Bill Moore's uncle!
Rating:
Summary: God Is Not A Male
Review: God Is Not A Male and Has NO religion. The cause of All the wars is the males Macho Be-lie-f in man made Gods that are just illusions of mis-conditioned minds.
In Love & Joy.
Michael http://www.pointoflife.com
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