Even after the Promise Keepers movement began to lose some of its initial sensation in the evangelical culture, there were still a number of best-selling books aimed at addressing “men’s issues.” One was by John Eldredge and it was called Wild at Heart (Nelson Books, 2001). By 2003, over half a million copies had been sold. Even just today, this book is #383 on Amazon (which means only 382 books are selling at a faster rate). Eldredge has clearly struck a nerve. Given the unabated popularity of the book, I thought it worthwhile to refer you to an outstandingly fair and balanced review written by Randy Stinson in 2003.
Stinson, on faculty at Southern Seminary and the Executive Director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, begins by giving Eldredge credit for drawing our attention to several maladies in our day with which many men seem to intuitively resonate:
1. Our culture (and even our churches) has adopted a strategy that facilitates the feminization of men.
2. Masculinity, with its predilection to adventure, rowdiness, and risk has become a condition to be cured.
3. Consequently, boys are in big trouble. School systems and churches have not taken the unique features of masculinity into consideration when designing curriculum or programs.
4. Our culture, intent on emasculating its boys, has produced a huge sense of withdrawal and boredom from its men.
5. As disconcerting as it may be to mothers everywhere, masculinity can only be imparted by masculinity. In other words, a young boy is never really sure he’s become a man until another man, or group of men, tells him so.
6. Sadly, many, if not most, men have abdicated this responsibility.
7. Every man needs a battle for which he can live and die.
Having acknowledged that Eldredge achieves an important objective in helping men see that it is praiseworthy to be masculine, Stinson proceeds to delineate some of the book’s shortcomings.
Problem One: An Unbiblical View of God
Excerpt: “Eldredge’s description of God and His ‘adventure’ leave the reader with a confusing and unbiblical picture of God. For him, men are risk-takers and adventure-seekers at heart because God is a risk-taker and adventure-seeker.”
The problem is that the Bible portrays God as having exhaustive knowledge of the future. God, by definition, cannot take risks since nothing that happens surprises Him.
Problem Two: An Unbiblical View of the Believer
Excerpt: “The second problem is that Eldredge, in his effort to encourage men to follow their heart in these matters of masculinity, has given a false view of the condition of the heart of a believer. His line of thinking can be seen in what follows:
‘Too many Christians today are living back in the old covenant. They’ve had Jeremiah 17:9 drilled into them and they walk around believing my heart is deceitfully wicked. Not anymore it’s not. Read the rest of the book. In Jeremiah 31:33, God announces the cure for all that.: ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ I will give you a new heart. That’s why Paul says in Romans 2:29, ‘No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit.’ Sin is not the deepest thing about you. You have a new heart. Did you hear me? Your heart is good.'” (Italics his)
Clearly, this is not a biblical foundation for promoting the sanctification process. Stinson’s entire review is most illuminating.
For additional reviews of Wild at Heart, check out The Thirsty Theologian (scroll down the column on the left side of screen).
P.S. Ironically, an unfortunate motto of Promise Keepers (as displayed on their website) is “Releasing the Raw Power of Your Heart.”