Christian Book Review
What’s Your God Language?
Man never attains to the true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.
—John Calvin, "Double Knowing"
So many of us find it hard to feel a close intimacy with God. We try to model what we’ve seen others doing, like singing worship songs, performing acts of service, or meditating in quiet solitude. None of our efforts really seem to matter, and God feels farther away than ever. Since God has designed each of us with a unique temperament and personality, one-size-fits-all spirituality simply doesn’t work.
Summary
In What’s Your God Language? Dr. Myra Perrine explores nine distinct spiritual temperaments (Tyndale 2007). Similar to our natural or motivational gifts, these temperaments reveal unique ways that God has designed us to relate and connect to Him. Through hands-on exercises and practical illustrations, the author teaches readers how to discover and understand their own special God Language. Forward by Gary Thomas.
A Quick Self-Test
I feel closest to God when I’m…
1. Loving Him by confronting evil.
2. Loving Him with solitude and simplicity.
3. Loving Him through serving others.
4. Loving Him through adoration.
5. Loving Him through mystery and celebration.
6. Loving Him through my mind.
7. Loving Him in the great outdoors.
8. Loving Him through my five senses.
9. Loving Him through ritual and symbol.
Answers: 1=The Activist 2=The Ascetic 3=The Caregiver 4=The Contemplative 5=The Enthusiast 6=The Intellectual 7=The Naturalist 8=The Sensate 9=The Traditionalist
Reactions
What’s Your God Language? Part I is straight forward, easy to read, and instructive. The Spiritual Temperament Inventory (self-test) is particularly helpful. Scripture passages are cited throughout, and the author gives insight into the spiritual temperaments of biblical characters such as Moses and Elijah (activist); John the Baptist (ascetic); Mordecai (caregiver); John the Beloved (contemplative); King David (enthusiast); Paul (intellectual); Isaiah (naturalist); God Himself (sensate); Abraham (traditionalist).The short Spiritual Practice Exercises in Part Two are designed specifically for each temperament with the goal of renewing spiritual passion, pleasure, and potential. Overall, I found the information dovetails nicely with the teaching on biblical motivational/natural gifts found in two related books, Discover Your God-Given Gifts and Discover Your Children’s Gifts. The has author sprinkled a fair amount of autobiographic material throughout the book, which I found somewhat distracting. My personal God Language? Um... traditionalist.
Join Us! November Christian Book Fair
So how’s your "shelf life?"
Lol, here’s a way to spice it up! I’d like to personally invite you to join my November Christian Book Fair. Just follow these five easy steps from now until Nov. 30, 2007.
- Read a Christian book. Write your review and share it on your weblog.
- Leave your BOOK TITLE and your NAME in the "Your name" section of Mister Linky below. eg. "What’s Your God Language? (e-Mom)" See the first entry below.
- Please leave a PERMALINK to your specific post in the "Your URL" section so others can find your bloggity review(s) easily. Max: 3 links/reviews.
- Scroll down and grab the button code to put in your sidebar.
- While you’re here, sample other blogger’s reviews by following the links. Good times!
Tips for Writing a Book Review (Optional)
1. Introduce the subject, scope, and type of book.
2. Briefly summarize the content.
3. Provide your reactions to the book.
4. Conclude by summarizing your ideas.
5. For more tips, click here.
Up Next—Music: How to Encourage the Grieving
Can you describe a time when you felt especially close to God? Can you guess
your God language?
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Photos: useful fiction, Christianbook.com, bhsher (Flickr)
28 COMMENTS:
I've never heard of this book before and the idea of spiritual temperments is fascinating. Does the book have a better quiz in it though? One question hardly seems accurate. I found myself identifying with three or four of them. So does the book describe the best way for each of these temperments to worship? You piqued my interest!
Enjoy your day, my friend.
great idea! i must get busy on my book...i am soooo slowly reading it. i may have to go back and reread parts to refresh my memory. :) this is a great incentive to get motoring!
shalom emom!
I cheated a little and added a recent post! I could think of so many, but this is easiest for today!
I've read Discover Your God Given Spiritual Gifts, too, and that was one of the best and biblically based books on the subject I've seen, if it's the one I'm thinking of. It cracks me up to see other authors claiming that "creative dance" is a spiritual gift, and stuff like that. It's been awhile, maybe I should dust it off again...
What's wrong when I want to pick all of the above? ha
You are getting so high-tech these days , how do you know how to do all this fancy stuff. Very hip E-mom, very hip. I am too stubborn to learn very many new things when it comes to technology ...
and, loving to through the great outdoors!!! That is me.
I've noticed you have gotten high-tech too with your posts. I guess I'm just a simple gal. I don't venture out too much to try anything new. I even had a hard time changing my template!!
Hey emom. Just wanted to say "hello". Great thoughts on the book. Hope all is going well.
Sounds like an interesting book. I may sign up for the November book review too. I need to be sure I have a book to complete and review though! I am thinking about one. I will let you know.
Much love,
Angela
Tami: Yes, the book has a MUCH better quiz! It's called The Spiritual Temperment Inventory. It's easy to take, and I recommend it. And yes, the book describes the best way for each of the temperments to worship. I also found the author's discussions of differences and denominations in the church insightful... as you might expect, they're connected to our spiritual temperaments. Bless you Tami!
Ruth Shalom my friend. I look forward to reading your book review... get busy!:~)
Jennifer: Thanks for linking up here. I find any discussion of spiritual gifts and/or fascinating too! Blessings.
Connie Marie: Lol, the book is designed to help you sort out ONE (or two) main spiritual temperaments. :~)
Tara: Thanks! I'm having fun with a few new techy gizmos and gadgets around here. :~)
Julie: Chacun son gout. (To each his own.) Your blog is just fine the way it is! :~)
Rachelle: Hello back to you, and thanks for checking in! :~)
Angela: Great! I look forward to reading your book review. Take your time. Hugs.
What a fascinating book this looks like, emom! I think the thoughts and questions raised in it are so interesting!
And yes, I think I'll join you for the November book review! I'll try and get the button up later today...thanks for letting me know and stopping by! (So fun that you had a Nana, too!) :) xxoo
(OH- and I just posted again a minute ago...and the subject just happened to also be about books...only they are my own childhood books!)
Great idea! Thanks for the invitation to join. Would you welcome another review during the month, or do your prefer us to only submit one?
Oh - how fun :) - I will follow the links as I have time.
My Gods language? Hm - I really have to think about it...I would say "The Caregiver".
Thank you so much for sharing this interesting book.
Be blessed today and always.
Tammy: Yes, funny that you have a Nana too! Great, I'll look forward to your links/reviews when you have a chance. Blessings!
Lauren: Thanks for coming by. Up to three links/reviews would be great!
Eph2810: I would have guessed you were a caregiver... you are so caring, indeed. Nice to "see" you! (((Hugs)))
E-mom thanks for stopping by Bibliophile's Retreat and thank you also for the comment regarding one of my book reviews. I actually have another one due to post the 3rd of November for a new book. It will be a combination of an old post from when I read the manuscript and a post I made to the books fansite on Myspace.
If it is okay to use a current book that I read a while back and will be rereading, I'd like to link it here when it goes up? This book will be available on Amazon among other sites as well as from the publisher. The official release is November 1, 2007.
See this post for the review I will be editing and reposting
I hope to join in as well, but I haven't read the book yet so no review. I'll link it up when I'm done. Good thing I have almost 5 weeks! LOL
I'll have to peruse my bookshelf and see what I can review - sounds like fun!
Forstrose: Thanks for stopping by! I can understand your enthusiasm for this new author and her first book. However, I'd prefer to keep the reviews in my November Christian Book Fair non-commercial in nature. (It sounds like you're involved in some sort of promotion for this book--great.) I hope I haven't disappointed you. :~)
It looks like you have plenty of other books on your fall reading list. How about a review of A Shadow of Treason (Goyer) or The Five Love Languages of God (Chapman). Sushi For One (Tang) looks really interesting too!
I'll leave the choices up to you. You're free to link to up to 3 reviews, so read and write away! Blessings.
DebD: Take your time! You could link to your review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in the meantime, if you want. :~)
Jana: I look forward to reading your review. Hugs!
Hi e-Mom,
Okay, I have not read a good book in a long time other than those related to my blog. I am craving a great Christian fiction. I think I will head off to the brand new Christian book store today and buy one. If it is a good one I will join in. Great idea.
Lynn: I hope you found a good book at your new store! Please do link up with your reveiw when you're finished. :~)
Just letting you know I'll join the Nov. book fair and will link when I'm done with the book and the review! It's Brother Yun.
What a neat idea! I just posted a review today before seeing a link to this, so I will make the link and download the button.
Thanks for visiting my blog! I went and linked to my book review of Mr. Darcy's Diary.
Jennifer: Sounds like a cool book!
Barbara: Thanks for linking. :~)
Kerry: I appreciate that. :~)
E-mom:
Yes I am helping a new author to get word out about her book simply for the fact that I believe strongly not only in the book's quality but the message as well. I can understand you wanting this to be a non-commercial thing so will not link that review. I am simply trying to share this book with as many people as I can because of the message and gift God has led this author to share. All my reviews link to booksellers and as many other online sources about the book and author as I can easily compile. This particular author has provided a large number of such resources which is why there are so many links in my posts about her and the book. Any posts, links, mentions etcetera that a book or author gets are technically publicity so anything on my blog would be considered "commercial" in that sense whether or not I liked or disliked it. Thanks for doing the book fair to help people find books and authors they haven't yet read to try.
Forstrose: Thanks for stopping by again. You're doing a wonderful thing by helping to promote your friend's book. All the best to both of you. :~D
Hey, I'm coming up for air! I linked twice, sorry, you can delete the first one, I forgot to put the name of the book!
Blessings!
Jennifer: Thanks for linking, my friend. I took care of the glitch. :~D
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