Book Review: Radical

I'm really diggin' the chance to preview books before their release date.  A new book coming out this week is Radical by David Platt.  The subtitle says alot about the book - "Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream".  It's a conversation that has come up many times in recent years simply because many of our churches have trouble distinguishing between the two.  Somewhere along the way we decided that a Patriotic American must be a Christian and that a Christian must be a Patriotic American.  To be critical of the American Dream at all disqualifies you to be a true follower of Christ in some circles.  Platt gets us back to differentiating between the two so we can seek a vibrant, deep faith that is true to the message of Christ and sometimes contradictory to our American ethic.

It's an excellent, and much-needed message for many in the American church today.  I realized this last summer when, on Independence Day weekend, the congregation weakly joined together for a well-known hymn, but joined in an sang aloud when one of our members sang "God Bless America" for the offertory.  It's clear that many Christians need to refocus on Christ.  Being an American is great and I know we are people of great privilege and opportunity, but Christ is more.  This is a fact that has evaded the preaching and the devotion of our churches for many years now.

Listen to David tell you about his book:



I thought it was a good book.  Well written with stories to illustrate every point.  The first chapter caught my attention and pulled me right into the book.  I really can't expect anything less from a pastor that has achieved as much as he has. 

The book makes really good points and like any good sermon it comes with a response at the end - an invitation if you will.  David invites his readers to join in what he calls The Radical Expirament - "a one year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring" (back cover).  There is a companion booklet and a small group study to go with it and I believe that if this takes hold and people will actually follow-through with this message and commit to doing something truly radical in their own lives for their faith, the world will be impacted in deep ways.  I hope and pray that it does.

Radical is on point when it comes to understanding that Jesus never promised to make things easy for us or that there would be a non-chalant avenue for us to have a meaningful relationship with Him.  It pushes you to think about the true message of Jesus - one that calls us to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus, even to Golgotha. 

The book is well-written, but a little slow in spots.  The chapters are short and good for reading in spurts.  The first chapter, as I mentioned before, will pull you in.  Some chapters make their thesis very clearly at the beginning, followed by several pages of stories that reiterate the point over and over again.  I found myself reading some chapters to get the point and moving on to the next.  This book is definitely worth reading, but don't let yourself get bogged down in his efforts to drive the point home. 

Waterbrook Multnomah has free copies of The Radical Question - Platt's supplement to the main book - for anyone who wants it (as long as supplies last).  You can get that and read the first chapter HERE.

*This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. Get your copy at the link on the right or HERE.