‘Connecting’ (Dr. Larry Crabb, Ph.D.)
If you’re looking for a “little light reading,” then don’t go near this book. If, however, you are looking for a “feast” on which you may dine over and over again, then the “meal” that Dr. Larry Crabb has prepared will satisfy your most heart-filled and spirit-filled appetites.
The doctor, who is currently professor of graduate biblical counseling at Colorado Christian University, has sub-titled his book “A Radical New Vision.” And that, without a doubt, it is.
This is a story, in his words, “…of healing for ourselves and our relationships.” Early in the introduction of this 212-page work, Crabb draws a sure and simple bead on his target.” I hope,” he writes,”to demonstrate that God has deposited within us an energy that can heal soul disease, a power that is released to do its miraculous work as we relate in certain ways to each other. Our difficulty is that we don’t believe it and therefore haven’t thought much about it. But that could change.”
One of the most startling statements, given Larry Crabb’s educational and professional background can be found in one paragraph on the dust cover of the book. Dr. Crabb envisions a day when communities of God’s’s people – ordinary Christians whose lives connect as husband to wife, brother to sister, friend to friend – will accomplish most of the healing that now depend on mental health professionals to provide.” And while at first glance, given our societal predisposition to secular and/or, for that matter Christian psychotherapy, it does require a good deal of consideration. However, through 17 short and concise chapters, Dr. Crabb draws a map and provides an entire cornucopia of believable and compelling reasons this can be done.
Perhaps the most enticing part of this work overall is the “reality” of this most spiritually based book. Not content, as so many authors in this field are, to deal with generalities and “psycho babble,” Crabb relates from his own experiences real life stories. He speaks with a rare intensity of feeling concerning people on a journey of healing which ultimately they find in the Lord and each other.
Then, like a weaver completing a tapestry, the good doctor points in a direction that without any doubt will open the door to a flock of detractors.
Indeed, this book is the proof that “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” I would suggest, however, that before you form an opinion of this work, that you read it. There are insights in its pages which just may give you a glimpse into the “disease” of the soul which can (and perhaps, should) be taken to the Great Physician whose cures for the pain of the heart and soul are swift and immutable, painless and pure. In Crabb’s words, “We have made a terrible mistake! For most of this century we have wrongfully defined soul wounds as psychological disorders…”
In the final analysis, I think that is the message of this book.
Paul McShane of Carlsbad is an author, businessman and journalist. He normally writes a single book review each month for the newspaper. Local authors are welcome to submit a copy of their new releases for consideration.
