Book Review of The Purpose of Passion by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware
Dante's Epic Vision of Romantic Love
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!)
1 comment:
The Purpose of Passion is not a difficult read. It does a good job of summarizing relevant portions of Dante's works so that a reader who is not familiar with them will not feel completely in the dark. That said, to really appreciate this book you need to have read Dante. The authors do a great job of explaining how many of the sins which left souls tormented in the fires of the inferno were a result of passions that had been sorely misplaced and grotesquely distorted. They use these as examples of how passion and love can be twisted and turned into something dreadful instead of something beautiful.
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