The Greatest Psychologist Who Ever Lived : Jesus and the Wisdom of the Soul
Author: Mark W. Baker
List Price: $23.00
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ISBN: 0060670886
Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco (19 February, 2001)
Sales Rank: 169,112
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
The most congruent person who ever lived
Congratulation's to Dr. Mark Baker for recognizing the profound ways in which Jesus speaks to our deepest human needs, wants and desires. I found this book to be a finely crafted reflection on the most complex and congruent person who ever lived. I appreciate the way Baker discusses complex issues without trivializing Jesus or the psychological concepts. Baker does a nice job integrating the timeless nature of Jesus' teaching with the timeliness of modern psychological insights. I see no discontinuity between theology and therapy. In fact, theology is most therapuetic when it is most faithful to Jesus.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Toward the serious contemplation of life...
This book should be read by every person serious about looking at the quality of life they live. One reviewer has concluded that the "proof-texts fall short...". This is not a book about proof-texts but about looking at the wisdom of Jesus TODAY through the mind of a psychologist practicing TODAY. The people are real, the quality of life issues are real, but the wisdom is from the mouth of one who lived thousands of years ago -- corroborated by current psychological theory. The effort is not (in my reading) to somehow characterize Jesus as a touchy-feely person, but to reveal the value of what He said to the world in which we live.
The book takes-to-task some traditional Christian thinking (e.g. what about original sin? people are good, people are bad...) and explores some very different ways (from my perspective) to understand addictions. Finally, Part 2 forces one to consider oneself -- very important work.
110 chapters in 281 pages of text -- that's 2.53 pages/chapter (on average). Makes a great way to start the day with some wisdom for the soul.
Rating: 5 out of 5
An Excellent Book, First of it's Kind.
Before I give my review I would like to breifly respond to the review I just read by Tom Hinkle. I have difficulty understanding why he would write a review like he did, perhaps he had difficulty understanding Dr. Baker's book. For Mr. Hinkle, a self proclaimed "amature" theologian, to insinuate that the biblical Jesus was not represented is completely untrue. I found the book to be honest and totally accurate. Mr Hinkle seems to have missed the entire point of the book. He accuses Dr Baker of promoting a relationship with a therapist over one with Christ. How he surmised that makes me wonder if he even read the book. Judging by how well the book is selling I would say that virtually no one would support his opinion. The book is interesting, and informative. It has great insights into human behavior and the teachings of Jesus. Dr. Baker did an excellent job and I highly reccomend this wonderful book.
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