Book review "Primal- a Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity", by Mark Batterson

Book review “Primal” by author Mark Batterson

     Mark Batterson asks the question “What would your Christianity look like if it was stripped down to the simplest, rawest, purest faith possible?”  In the new book “Primal, A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”, Mark Batterson takes us on a journey into the past to see what the early Christian church imagined this walk with God should be.

     He challenges the reader to look at oneself to see if we’ve cluttered our Christian walk with traditions and meaningless things and lost the passion, wonder, curiosity, and energy that the early believers were willing to give their lives for. Mark points out that God wants us to worship him not only with our memory but also our imagination. And he adds that half-formed imagination is a spiritual shortcoming in the church. Instead the church should be made up of the most imaginative people in the world!

     I found this book full of challenging questions. Mark dares to ask the question why?

Why can’t a body of believers have a thriving coffee shop and give all the profits to missions?

Why can’t we as Christians have a "Holy Curiosity" as did the great Da Vinci?

Mark pulls no punches when he says “As salt and light, we cannot afford to take potshots at our culture from the comfortable confines of our Christian subculture”. He adds, “We need fewer critics and more creators”. We aren’t to water down the Gospel for creativeness’ sake. But, instead have the courage to incarnate the Gospel in creative ways not just maintain the status quo.

     I believe that the first book any Christian reads in 2010 needs to be “Primal”. If we are going to really be relevant to our world we need more people asking challenging questions and finding better ways to reach the lost and dying. Mark Batterson does that in this new release.

Primal is an easy and engaging read. Mark intertwines personal stories of struggle, failure and success and does so with a passion for finding better ways to disciple and reach out.

    There was a dream that was Christianity by the early church …

In the new release “Primal” Mark Batterson challenges us to rediscover the compassion and excitement for our faith once again.
Thank you to Waterbrook Multnomah for providing the complimentary copy for this review.