If I had typed my original feelings of this book, you know, after reading 3 paragraphs, I would have told you how much I did not like it. After all, every book review cannot be cheery. I would have been ok with letting you know I read a book I didn't like.
Alas, I read the whole book...and liked it.
Claire and Eli have written a book titled Altared: The True Story of a She, a He, and How They Both Got Too Worked Up About We. Claire and Eli who? I'll get to that.
What these authors want us to know is that we, especially in American culture, are way too consumed with being marriage-happy an not concerned enough with loving our neighbor. At first glance, I was afraid this was a false dichotomy. Claire and Eli share their somewhat dysfunctional dating relationship. I wondered if they should throw other daters under the bus just because they struggled.
But in reality, what they write about is discipleship. And they proudly stand on the shoulders of giants and quote great writers extensively throughout the book. They come hard and don't stop until the reader is convinced that we have often softened discipleship and our focus has been askew. And by we I mean Christians, Church Leaders....everybody!
I would recommend this book because it will challenge you. But the big thing I still disliked by the end of the book was the mystery of the authors. Claire and Eli are pseudonyms. They attempt to explain that the reason is to keep the focus off of their relationship story, but for me, it feels a bit like hiding. They wrote a lot of great truth into this book. Don't be afraid to let your story stand.
Here's some link-love for them and this book.
My good friends at Waterbrook Multnomah gave me this book for free for the purpose of review. My review was not coerced in any way.
Comments