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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Purpose of Passion Book Review


Book Review of The Purpose of Passion by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware
Dante's Epic Vision of Romantic Love
In this book you will, "discover what one of the world's greatest love stories says about the meaning of romance...and you will discover the secrets it contains about passion, romance and spirituality - and how they are all connected." (Taken from back cover.)

Without reading or knowing anything about this book, I agreed to review it because it sounded interesting. Much to my dismay, it was not. Since Kurt Bruner was a former vice president of Focus on the Family, I assumed that the read would bring modern and relevant information, mixed with traditional biblical logic. The book was the most difficult tome to become engaged in that I have ever read. If you aren't familiar with Dante's The Divine Comedy you will be lost within the pages. I have a hard time putting into the words what this book is about. I'm still unsure. As you are reading along with Dante's famous words, the authors are trying to pull together an analogy of spousal love from a Christian viewpoint. The result of the effort is mediocre at best. The authors tend to get too wordy; and lose sight of giving the reader hearty meat, instead of loosely compiled literature. I was hoping for relevant information that I could apply to my personal life. What I ended up with was blurred text with a vague point. I do not think I will be recommending this book to married or single friends. I found little to no use for the diaphanous counsel contained in this book. (I am book reviewer for Tyndale House Publishers. In exchange for my reviews, I get to keep their books for free!)