The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery

Rating:
Summary: Another Must Read
Review: Perhaps the best book on Christian Identity I've read and the best book I've read this year. Benner drives home the profound yet paradoxically simple nature of our relationship to self and others through our relationship with the Divine. In "The Gift of Being Yourself" Benner outlines practical ways to improve your relationship with the Divine and through relationship with the Divine begin to understand our true self and calling. I read this after reading Benner's "Surrender to Love." The two go hand-in-hand, but I recommend reading "The Gift of Being Yourself" before reading "Surrender to Love" (just my opinion).

Rating:
Summary: good writing, great message.
Review: yes, the message of the book is one no christian today can dismiss (even if they think psychology WON'T explain away everything): the real problems we humans deal go very very deep. thus, david g. benner's book (one that echoes "Abba's Child" by Brennan Manning) is one that essentially, is a spiritual exploration into the very essence of every human being. while most books in the christian retail world deal with how to help you "fix" or "deny" or "abandon" or "QUIT!" sinning, benner's book realizes that this is not essentially the "core" matter of the "problem" we all seem to face. these are symptoms of a much deeper problem and as one reads along with benner, one realizes that he is on to something saints like thomas merton and teresa de avila explored exhaustively.the reason i'm not giving this book more stars is not b/c of the message...for it is truly one EVERY person needs to hear. but it is b/c of the writing (who am I to judge, right?) and the end-of-the-chapter "try this experience out" thing that seems to marginalize and discourage creativity, in a book that seems to so be preaching in the opposite direction. if we're trying to run away from talking in christianese, and resist speaking in words and phrases that really don't MEAN anything to us, then why must the author include these end-of-the-chapter "sit silence for five minutes and do this..."??? i'm not harping on his instructions, for many of them are good and worthy and very valuable things to do. i'm only wishing he would've backed off a bit. he's possibly trying to write to a broader audience and this, perhaps, helps the baby boomer generation out a bit, but for someone who's 22 and constantly trying to experience God and know God and make this knowledge personal, real, authentic, life-changing and transformative (through and by the work of the Holy Spirit) and just still wrap my head around the idea that being is better than doing, and knowing i'm no longer a sinner but a saint, this little bit slightly bends some of the book's total punch for me.however, all things considering, it's one i'm recommending nonetheless. you can read it in an afternoon, so get it and see for yourself.