Book Review - Mere Hope

ABOUT THE BOOK:

How are Christians to live in such difficult times? Unique of all people, Christians are called to embrace a hopeful outlook on life.

Mere Hope offers the core, Christ-centered perspective that all Christians share, and that Christians alone have to offer a world filled with frustration, pain, and disappointment. For those in darkness, despair, and discouragement, for those in the midst of trials, suffering, and injustice, mere hope lives.

The spirit of the age is cynicism. When our leaders, our families, and our friends let us down at every turn, this isn’t surprising. But we need another perspective; we need hope. Rather than reflecting resigned despair or distracted indifference, author Jason Duesing argues, our lives ought to be shaped by the gospel of Jesus—a gospel of hope.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jason G. Duesing is vice president for Strategic Initiatives and assistand professor of Historical Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He is also a co-editor and contributor to First Freedom: The Baptist Perspective on Religious Liberty and Upon this Rock: The Baptist Understanding of the Church.

MY REVIEW:

This is a short little book about the cynicism it's so easy to fall into when we see the difficult things going on around us.

Mr. Duesing brings a lot of my favorite authors into this book like C.S. Lewis, Tolkien and more. I wasn't sure why J.K. Rowling was quoted in this book but I'm not a fan of hers so this is definitely my bias showing through. However, for the most part I enjoyed the different quotes and thoughts behind this book.

This book has six chapters, each focusing on hope. These include hope lives, the foundation of hope,  flourishing hope, focusing on hope and living mere hope. Each one digs a bit deeper into how we can live with an attitude of hope rather than cynicism.

Although this book is good over-all, I would have liked to have had more direction on how we can live in an attitude of hope. There is good sections but over-all, the book didn't flow for me nor did I come away with a clear plan of how to make my life more hopeful. I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars.

*This book was provided to me by B&H/Lifeway Books. I received a copy of this book to review but I was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my observations while reading this book.


Blessings - Julie