Recently I read "
Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
" for the second time. Actually, the edition I read this time was the "
Revised and Expanded" edition which has recently been released as a 10th anniversary update to the original "
Wild at Heart
." To be honest it's been so long since I read the original "Wild at Heart" that I'm not sure which parts of this new "Revised and Expanded" edition were new and which parts were part of the original.
This book resonates with me. While there were times when I felt that he maybe slightly over emphasized the whole "wild" theme, used too many movie references, and I didn't always agree with his Biblical interpretation or theology; I still really enjoyed this book.
In this book, John Eldredge encourages men to be what God created them to be: wild at heart. He believes (and I agree) that God has placed with the heart of every man "a desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. Throughout the book he builds on these three things and tries to show men how to get rid of the "fig leaves" that we hide behind and come alive as the warriors God intended us to be.
Earlier I mentioned that at times I feel that he may have slightly overemphasized the whole "wild" theme. What I meant by that is that at times while reading you get the idea that if you don't like climbing mountains, hunting bear, and hacking your way through a jungle you might not be a real man. While at times this does seem to be where he's going, it's really not. What he is trying to do is help rescue a man's heart, dream, and soul. He makes you examine your own life and what "wounds" you may be covering up or hiding behind.
I like his emphasis on "A Beauty to Rescue" and how a husband must fight for his wife. I was also challenged (as I'm soon to be a father for the first time) to be the kind of father that my daughter (and hopefully other children) needs.
I highly recommend this book to every man. I also suggested it to my wife for her to read it for I felt that it could help her to better understand me. She actually wound up finishing it before I did. Now we are both reading "
Captivating
" by John and Stasi Elderidge. I also plan to read "
The Way of the Wild at Heart
."
I guess if I was giving this book a rating it would be four stars out of five.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
by John MacArthur to give out to the ladies of my church for Mother's Day. At less than 
