Wild at Heart by John Eldredge (2001, Hardcover)

When I received this book, I was reading another book so I gave it to my husband and asked him to read it. The subheading, "Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul", seemed like something my husband might be interested in. He took the book and spent a long time reading it. I later learned that the reason it took him so long to read the book is because he found it rather boring. My husband is a Christian and has read many Christian books so I knew this was not a good thing when he gave the book a thumbs down.

Mr. Eldredge believes that deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. He says that most men in the church believe God put them on the earth to be a "good boy".

Mr. Eldredge believes masculinity is something that is passed between men. A boy cannot learn masculinity from other boys, and he cannot learn it from the world of women.

The author made some interesting points and I am sure that some men have found the book helpful but it just wasn't for me.

My husband has been reading a book of late.. and I feel it's a "must read" for all "civilized" men in the world today. Today's men are bored and honestly yes us women have noticed.. we're bored too... Here is a short excerpt of the first chapter in the book.

".... And why I linger here still, letting the old bull get away. My hunt, you see, has little to do with elk. I knew that before I came. There is something else I am after, out here in the wild. I am searching for an even more elusive prey... something that can only be found through the help of the wilderness.

I am looking for my heart. "

" Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of a man. The masculine heart needs a place where nothing is prefabricated, modular, nonfat, zip lock, franchised, on-line, or microwavable. Where there are no deadlines, cell phones, or committee meetings. Where there is room for the soul. Where, finally, the geography around us corresponds to the geography of our heart. Look at the heroes of the biblical text: moses does not encounter the living God at the mall. He finds Him (or actually is found BY Him) somewhere out in the deserts of Sinai, a long way from the comforts of Egypt. The same is true of Jacob, who has his wrestling match with God not on the living room sofa but in a wadi somewhere east of the Jabbok, in Mesopotamia. Where did the great prophet Elijah go to recover his strength? To the wild. As did John the Baptist, and his cousin Jesus, who is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. "

This book goes on to discuss the many reasons man has been emasculated by society under the well intentioned label of "civilization." But as we have often said "The road to Hell is paved with those good intentions." I myself see these amazing things squelched in my own husband. His wanderlust, passion and his adventure has been replaced with fear, duty and obligations. Being military might explain a lot of that but society is to blame for even their expectations.

The only thing stopping most men is fear. Fear of revile, fear of rejection and fear of cost. How much does it really cost to hike in the woods or to close your eyes at the top of a hill and fly in the wind? How much is therapy sessions and mind bending civility costing? How about Viagra and the other things that men need now to become a man for short terms so they can be a woman the rest of their time? The others are situational who would revile or reject a man that enjoys being a man? People who own those veneer boxes... and this I answer with a question. Why would you want that veneer box???

I've read only a small portion of this book and I've already fallen in love with it.. I'll keep you posted and will probably write more uncivilized politically incorrect things in the near future.

This was a good book that tries to get at the core psychological issues facing men today. Men aren’t acting like men as God created them to be. God is wild and free but much of the church today preaches a tame view of God and thus men in the church tend to be bored since being a Really Nice Guy is not very exciting.

Every man (and woman) is made in the image of God. When God created Adam, He bestowed upon him the divine image. Any honest reading of the Bible shows that God is far from tame. From cover to cover He is a dangerous God. Almost the entire Bible is about God fighting the forces of darkness. From the flight out of Egypt, the conquest of Canaan all the way up to the ministry of Jesus and the mission he gives the apostles, God is clearly contending against evil. In each of us is that innate desire for a battle to fight. We are called to fight with God against the forces of evil in “this present darkness.”

Eldredge speaks about the wound that most men receive that makes them internalize that they are not really men. Usually this wound to a man’s pride is dealt by his father whom the boy looks towards for confirmation of his masculinity. A lot of the time the father gives a negative or equivocal response the shatters the world of the boy. Personally, I think Eldredge might be going too far in this generalization. I think ultimately the responsibility lies with the individual because only with the individual and God can the situation change.

By asking the right questions to God and seeking after Him can we find out our true name. Our false self is built around the fears that we’ve accumulated through the old wound that we’ve received. Only through God, who sees into a man’s heart, can one be saved. Eventually the false self is found out and exposed. Like a man who has cheated on his taxes for years finally got caught one day, our lives eventually force us to face the truth. C.S. Lewis said that, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts at us in our pain. It is his blow horn to rouse a deaf world.”

Later in the book, Eldredge speaks about spiritual warfare. Like Jesus who rebutted the temptations of the devil with Scripture, we are called to do the same. By following the guidance of God revealed in the Scriptures, we are able to overcome the Enemy. I think the danger of “spiritual warfare” talk is in the words of one of my friends the speaker could start thinking of himself as God’s “power ranger.” Scripture is sparse on details instead speaking about spiritual realities. Let’s take the latter to heart and avoid the former.

After the spiritual warfare section, the book got more boring but I did get some good advice about choosing a career/life path that may prove quite invaluable. Since this book is psychological in nature, I endeavor to journal about it when I get the time. Overall, I recommend this book.

John Eldredge's founding premise is that man was CREATED in a realm in which the devil was already running around as a bad guy. But GOD had said everything was VERY GOOD. This would mean that He called the devil "good" when the devil is evil and a liar from the beginning (John 8:44). Lying is not good.

According to Eldredge, the desire a man has for a battle to fight (hence, the title "Wild at Heart" showing motivation to face battles and win them) came from man being created in the midst of a "wild enterprise"(devil running around to tempt Adam & Eve).

In the section entitled "What is a Man For?", he says, "...why does a man long for a battle to fight? Because when we enter the story in Genesis, we step into a world AT WAR." (emphasis mine) Is this a description of a perfect world that God described in Genesis? "The lines have been drawn. ... Somewhere back before Eden, in the mystery of eternity past, there was a coup, a rebellion, an assasination attempt." Eldredge goes on to describe a concept called the "Gap Theory". This theory was construed to allow for a man-made time frame of "millions of years" of earth history...a time which many scientists falsely promote. This theory supposes that God destroyed the earth with a global flood because of Lucifer's sin before the "story in Genesis." He later brought only a local flood with Noah and the ark. The "Gap Theory" is riddled with both Biblical and scientific errors, and Eldredge's use of this false concept leads him to make false conclusions. One of these false conclusions is that God called the "whole wild enterprize good" (Eldredge, p. 200) and that His Word comes in "many ways" (including rock n roll music and movies--see quote below).

With the Devil running around tempting people, the universe at the end of Creation Week would not have been "very good" as God had said. Eldredge's next paragraph is most telling of all. It reveals that his false premise led to a BAD conclusion concerning God's Word. Here is a portion:

"God is intimately personal with us and he speaks in ways that are peculiar to our own quirky hearts--not just through the Bible, but through the whole of creation. To Stasi he speaks through movies. To Craig he speaks through rock and roll (he called me the other day after listening to "Running Through the Jungle" to say he was fired up to go study the Bible). God's word to me comes in may ways--through sunsets and friends and films and music and wilderness and books." (p. 200)

To his credit, he does make some excellent points and I enjoyed reading the book. But, my enjoyment comes mostly from the fact that his book furthur strenthened my resolve to promote Biblical creationism and the design of God. It made me realize more so just how crucial to everything else in life is one's belief about origins. My conclusion is that this book is very dangerous because

1. it mixes truth with error, and
2. it begins with a false premise.

Eldredge also communicates some beneficial thoughts about men, but how he arrived at those conclusions is suspect at best because of his false premise. Be warned of mixing truth with error.

Wild At heart was a personal challenge for me as well as an adventure. John Eldridge takes us into the Living Word and into our own hearts as well addressing things we have forgotten or have covered up in time. For years i struggled with so many things in my life and never even gave it a thought as to why I had these problems. And when it came to my heart I thought no one really cared. I have found much personal healing through this book as well as prayer with the Almighty, allowing both the words of John, and the hands of the Almighty leading me into my past to put finality on the things that had haunted me for so long.
This books takes you into such depth that emotions run wild as you read from page to page. I personally enjoyed it because it was the healing I needed. If your not wanting any sort of healing in your life, this book will be a waste od time to you. The best part is this book is not just for men! Women, if you get a chance to read this I suggest it. It will give you an understanding into their world of what men feel and what they desire.