John Eldredge’s books have become wildly popular among Christians. The Sacred Romance and Wild at Heart have sold millions of copies and have firmly established Eldredge as one of the most-read Christian authors. Wild at Heart has been studied in men’s groups across the world, giving Eldredge a wide reach and his teachings great acceptance. In Epic he changes his emphasis from a Christian audience to an unbelieving audience, as this book is clearly primarily targeted at those who are not Christians.
Conservative Christians have long been suspicious of Eldredge’s writing, and with good cause, for he does not appear to understand human depravity. In previous books he has taught that the human heart, after it is regenerated by God, becomes intrinsically good. He says that the words of Jeremiah which teach us that “the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked” no longer apply to Christians. With such a vast misunderstanding of the human condition, it is no wonder that his teachings often stray. Many of his teachings are also nearly indistinguishable from those who teach Open Theism, though he denies that he holds to this theology. I give this information as background since it is relevant to our examination of his newest book, Epic: The Story God Is Telling And The Role That Is Yours To Play.
Epic tells us that life is a story which unfolds like a grand drama. It seems that humans have an obsession with stories. From the time we are tiny children we love to hear stories about heroes and villains, good guys and bad. The reason we love story so much, Eldredge writes, is that there is something in the human heart that tells us there is an epic going around us, where God is the central character, but where we also play an important role. We love stories about the conquering hero who arrives at the last possible moment to save his lover, because that is exactly what Jesus has done for us.
The book, then, revolves around stories. The author supports his claims with example after example from popular movies. A few of the movies he references are Apollo 13, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, Pinocchio, Finding Nemo, Titanic, Braveheart, Gladiator (no surprise if you have read Wild at Heart and Star Wars. He relies heavily on quotes from other writers such as G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Phillip Yancey, Gerald May, Soren Kierkegaard, George MacDonald and William Shakespeare. The book also contains plenty of Bible verses, most taken from solid translations.
And herein lies the greatest problem with the book. Because Eldredge misunderstands the human condition, he believes that some sort of goodness inherent in the human heart causes us to seek after stories the way we should seek after God. The stories we all know and love are an expression of the human heart that tells us that we are all really part of a great, cosmic epic. While we may not consciously realize this, the heart somehow does. When Jack Dawson sacrifices his life for Rose in the movie Titanic, that is an expression of the human heart’s desire to be saved by Jesus.
Despite that problem, I will reluctantly admit that this book was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. I realize I should begin reading each book with an open mind, but having disliked his previous books so much I just couldn’t do it. While there is some poor theology in Epic, there is not nearly as much as in Eldredge’s previous books (though perhaps that has to do with the fact that this book is a mere 104 pages long). There are, however, a few problems. For example, he uses the standard argument that God gave humans absolute free will since only with free will could we truly love Him. He provides no Scriptural support for this, relying instead on a lengthy quote from Phillip Yancey. Also, many of the unbiblical teachings of his previous books find their way into this one, as we continually come across the language he uses in The Sacred Romance and Wild at Heart.
Epic, then, seems to be an effort from John Eldredge to take his message to unbelievers. It is geared as a tool for evangelism. I see little reason to believe that it will succeed in that, for there is no clear presentation of the gospel. Furthermore, he cheapens the gospel story by equating it with the message of movies such as Titanic and The Matrix. At the same time, the book is well-written and can easily be read and digested in a mere couple of hours, so I have little doubt that many will read and enjoy it. I do not recommend this book or any other of Eldredge’s writings.
Comments (11) »
1. billy jackson
February 16, 2006
7:02 AM
To the reviewer:
Once again, with all due respect, its religious people like you that keeps people out of the Kingdom, who will one day have to face a God that you know intellectually, but do not know, personally.
i can imagine that you have quite a lot of pain in your previous life and that the box you live in gives you stabililty.
Look at Jesus’ parables? are they not movies of those days? are movies not todays parables? Were the parables all clean?
legalism has no place in the kingdom and i am saddened to hear your remarks.
Grow a heart dear brother. Breathe the free air. Feel with your being again. He lives IN you
Maybe you need to go for a walk on the beach at sunset again.
2. mikbry24
February 16, 2006
9:23 AM
So now discernment is legalism? Rightly dividing the word of truth has no place in the kingdom of God?
Billy, I wonder if you don’t “feel” like serving God, does that just change everything for you? Maybe you need to take a Bible with you on your walks on the beach, eh? :-)
Mike
3. Shawn
June 4, 2006
8:41 PM
As usual your review sucks…..
But I fret not….. As long is Christ is preached I rejoice. Even if it is from someone thoughtful and relevant or a bitter fundamentalist like yourself. The good news is God is using both of types
4. Tim Challies
June 4, 2006
8:58 PM
“As long is Christ is preached I rejoice.”
Ironically, that is one of my concerns about the book—Christ is not preached!
5. Shawn
June 4, 2006
9:20 PM
You abviously skimmed the book Act 3 “The Battle for the Heart gives a relevant and clear gosple message. It is filled with scritputre and modern illustrations of how Christ payed the ransom for our sins pg 66-67
I will admit his Titanic illustration was quite silly.
but hey his grasp of the gospel seems to be better than yours.
6. Shawn
June 4, 2006
9:22 PM
You abviously skimmed the book. Act 3 “The Battle for the Heart gives a relevant and clear gosple message. It is filled with scritputre and modern illustrations of how Christ payed the ransom for our sins pg 66-67
I will admit his Titanic illustration was quite silly.
but hey his grasp of the gospel seems to be better than yours.
7. wfseube
June 4, 2006
9:26 PM
Shawn, if you are the same “Shawn” who is the pastor of “North Hills Church”, then I suggest you may need to spend a few more years on your M.Div, because your attitude is certainly not pastoral. “As usual your review sucks…..” and “his grasp of the gospel seems to be better than yours.” are not statements I’d expect to someone called to a vocational ministry.
8. david
June 4, 2006
11:00 PM
This is just me, I suppose, but I don’t continue reading anyone who, “as usual, sucks.” I certainly don’t take the time to leave adolescent insults.
9. Kelly
June 5, 2006
10:19 PM
1st of all Eldridge never said that it was goodness that pulls us toward God — it is the Holy Spirit.
You also used Faulty Logic in saying that Eldridge does not understand the Human condition and then not backing your wiew point up. your review is also discredited by your obvious bias. Eldridge shows great skill by using modrn day movies that people can relate to. Next time you consider yourself accredit try to be more logical.
10. Connie
June 13, 2006
10:59 PM
Maybe you could pass this on?
Dear John Eldredge;
I just finished seeing you for the first time on EPIC LIVE DVD and I was totally captivated.
Being a Baptist preacher’s wife who has loved teaching children the Bible walkthrough for 25 years, I even use flannel graph and it excites me with all the colors and animals they now have. The teens, and college age often return to be reminded of the wonderful stories, and tease me that they (the pieces) are not real. They even thank me for the years of Sunday school and Jr. Church. I too every time I saw a movie relived the “story”. I used the movies often to get their attention.
I remember watching “Millennial Man” with Robin Williams as a robot, and got a new look at Father God knowing us through the generations. From squealing in the theater when Gandolff returns, and at Aslan’s roar, all movies to me retell HIS STORY.
Your knowledge of the Bible and charisma were inspiring! Your last comments were so much of what my husband preaches on Sunday’s from a Baptist pulpit; the great desire to inspire those who attend to be all that they can be for the Kingdom. So then why John, why would you so dog the church if you are really on the same team? So the youth group full of young adults listening to you, didn’t come away with what you and pastor do so much have in common for the fight for right; but rather, ‘yeah we don’t need church and it’s okay to drink.’
Why would it be in a new heaven and new earth that we would drink any thing fermented that would dull our senses of seeing the Holy Trinity, prophets, and our loved ones. I have always been accused of having had a little nip because of my excessive happiness. They can’t believe there is pure joy. So, of all people I have heard preach; it doesn’t seem to me that you wouldn’t know that joy too, and teach its possibilities often.
I am wondering why would you not allow your seeming past pain from the church to transpire and you grow into a loving leader that uses all that knowledge of the Holy and the literary arts to build the church of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit rather than seemingly destroy it. What we say in jest lasts sometimes longer than the well stated facts. We are called to do good especially to those of the household of faith.
Be careful of the pull to impress the hateful mob more than to rally the faithful few.
Connie Sargent
11. Karl
March 25, 2007
10:36 PM
Tim, I’m not interested in a point by point discussion of Eldredge’s theology. But you miss his take on the role and meaning of “story” by a mile. I’m not saying that you miss it by disagreeing it - just that you simply miss it entirely and are at best disagreeing with a caricature of what he is saying.
Looking elsewhere on your site and seeing that you have read very little of C.S. Lewis, I am not as surprised at this as I would otherwise be, for Lewis is the best known Christian author who has written extensively on this, although he is by no means the only one. Tolkien shared Lewis’s view on the role and meaning of story, and in fact it was Tolkien’s explication of his views on the subject that was the primary final (human) cause in Lewis’s own conversion from agnosticism to Christianity. Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories” is the fullest defense of this view, although only part of that essay is germane to what Eldredge is saying.
For the sake of brevity, one example will have to do. You suggest that Eldredge cheapens the gospel story by comparing it to the Matrix and Titanic (actually you use the word “equating” but that’s unfair and inaccurate. Comparison is not = equation). As Tolkien responded to someone who asked whether one of his characters (I can’t remember whether it was Aragorn or Frodo) was meant to be “like Jesus” Tolkien disavowed any intentional allegory, but then said that the character WAS a “good and noble” person in many respects and, as such, who ELSE could they be like?
There is a plethora of writing out there on Lewis, Tolkien and their understanding of story. You may be on solid ground with your critique of Eldredge’s theology in other respects, but you’d better do your homework before you write off altogether the suggestion that human stories, even those written by pagans, might contain echoes of the gospel story, the promised redemption and restoration that humanity has groaned for since the fall.