John Joseph Powell (1) (1925–2009)

I liked the book. There were some good insights here and there, though I wouldn't say anything life altering. The gneral principle of the book I think can be summed up with the following quote:

"Success at therapy can be measured by growth in positive, life-giving attitudes towards self, others, life, the world, and God. The composite of all these attitudes is a person's vision, the way he or she sees reality. It is this vision that determines the emotional patterns of one's life. Only if this vision is sound and healthy can a person enjoy a truly happy and a fully human life." (pg 139)

I was disappointed to find out that Powell was accused of (and admitted to) sexually abusing several women during his years in ministry. That definitely put a damper on my enjoyment of the book. I'm not sure if Powell's insights should be completely dismissed on that regard, though. I suspect that if I threw out every book in every library which was written by a person who had grievous sin in their life (whether it had been exposed yet or not) then I would have to throw almost all of them out, including most of the books of the Bible. I really am not sure what to think of that except that we are all broken people who are being loved by a perfect God, and that it seems we have a better chance at understanding God's love if we share what we are learning with each other than if we rely only on ourselves and our own insights.

Thus, I continue to read.… (mehr)