It would not be fair if I did not first come out and state that I am a parishioner of National Community Church and hence a big fan of Mark. He is incredibly motivational and generous. So generous he gave everyone who attended church on January 16, 2011 a free copy of his latest Soul Print, which is how I obtained my copy.
In Soul Print Mark argues that each person has six to twelve experiences in their life that have a profound impact on who they become. Moreover, it is not just the experiences themselves but how we look to and respond to those experiences that shape and mold us. Mark uses a common paradigm for devotional books these days: juxtapose stories from the bible with stories from your own life. I generally believe this paradigm is somewhat cliché and overused today. However, I did not feel that way with Soul Print. Most of the books that I have read using this paradigm have really clunky transitions between the biblical and personal transitions. Mark however, transitions seamlessly between six defining moments in the life of David to his own defining moments, making the book flow beautifully. The conclusion brings everything from the book together and stands as a good read by itself.
On page 131 Mark writes, “At the end of our lives, we’ll have lost respect for those who simply said what we wanted to hear.” This, I believe, allows me to make the one criticism I found with Soul Print. It is quite ironic that my one criticism comes from the chapter entitled “The Devils Workshop”. In this chapter Mark discusses mirrors. That is, the different things we use to obtain pictures of ourselves. Our thoughts and our friends are two examples of mirrors that Mark is talking about here. According to Mark the best mirror “that gives us the truest reflection of ourselves, is scripture”. Respectfully, I disagree.
Regarding scripture, Brian McLaren discusses two ways to read the Bible in his A New Kind of Christianity. The first way is to read the Bible as a constitution. The second is to read the Bible as a library. Reading Mark’s statement regarding what is the best mirror I cannot help but feel that he sees the Bible more from a constitutional perspective. The constitutional perspective focuses more on rules. While the Bible certainly includes rules, viewing the Bible with the perspective of it being a library puts those rules in context.
The Bible is a complicated and diverse book and for the average lay-person to sit down and read it is a challenge to say the least. How can it be a mirror if we lack understanding of the time period: Who were the Jewish people? Who were their neighbors? What was their social and religious life like? Where did they live? How did they get to where they lived? How did they view their neighbors? There are so many of these questions that we can ask. Answering as many of these questions as we can gives a better understanding of the Bible. However, we could easily spend all of our time on such things. Not until 1517 when Luther nailed his theses to the Wittenberg door was there even the opportunity for the layperson to be able to read the Bible. Moreover, we were centuries away from anyone, save the aristocracy, being literate. Given this, I think a good question to ask is: What was the best mirror for the majority in pre-modern times? It may still be the best mirror today. I believe what Mark would consider the second best mirror would be my number one; a Godly friend who has the permission to point out my shortcomings and who is not afraid to do just that.
I have spent three paragraphs criticizing a book while only giving it one paragraph of praise. Please do not let this lack of balance dissuade you from reading Mark’s Soul Print. I criticized one part of one chapter. However, I could easily write numerous paragraphs on everything that I loved about this book. If you want to learn more about yourself and gain a better understanding of your destiny, the destiny God has planned for your life, you should get a copy today!
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