John Ortberg

I really did not like this book much at all. There were a couple of redeeming chapters, particularly the one about the discipline of celebration, taking time to celebrate God's blessings in our lives. Aside from those couple of bright spots, though, I found it to be extremely "seeker-sensitive" (whatever that means) and self-help oriented. When I think about spiritual disciplines, the first thing that comes to my mind is a proper intake of the Word of God, but Ortberg spends little time discussing this and only about halfway through the book.

Theologically, I had several problems with the book. Ortberg seems to operate under the assumption that God is just begging and waiting for people to respond to him. He even uses Moses and the burning bush to illustrate that, his point being that, just as Moses could have walked by and ignored God, we too can ignore God and just keep going about our lives our own way. I believe in a sovereign God and that it was always God's plan to uses Moses. He sprinkles this type of thinking throughout.

Finally, my biggest concern was the chapter on hearing from God. He seems to hold to the charismatic belief that we should try to train ourselves to hear the "still small voice" from God. I won't go into an argument against that. If you are charismatic, then you'll probably love the book. Regardless, he mentions at the very end of that particular chapter that there are dangers in attempting to hear God in this way... but then he just walks off and leaves the door wide open.

If you are truly looking for a book on spiritual disciplines, then I would highly recommend Donald S. Whitney's book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. I would liken Whitney's work to a fine cut gem, in the same way that Ortberg's would be a dirt clod.… (meer)

1.5 stars

I was under the impression that this was a book about intimacy - specifically, intimacy found in friendship and Christian community. It was really more focused on marriage and parenting, with a bit of our relationship with God thrown in to make it "Christian" and just a blip here and there on friendship or work relationships.

It was one of those books that is so unfocused I didn't walk away with any distinct memory of what it was even about. It used a lot of stories/quotes from other books, Ortberg rambled a lot (I had a hard time seeing how many of his anecdotes were tied to whatever he was writing before and after them), and the book was repetitive. In addition, I found some of Ortberg's interpretations of Scripture a bit sketchy (as in, he read more into the Bible than what is actually there).

While someone could read this and walk away with a good nugget or two (especially if this is their first foray into relationship self-help books), I think most people would be better off skipping this one and going straight to the tried-and-true books on relationships - particularly if they're looking for books that cover more than marriage and parenting.… (meer)