Soul Cravings - eBook
Stock No: WW5715EB
Soul Cravings - eBook  -     By: Erwin Raphael McManus

Soul Cravings - eBook

Thomas Nelson / 2008 / ePub

In Stock
Stock No: WW5715EB

Buy Item Our Price$9.49
In Stock
Stock No: WW5715EB
Thomas Nelson / 2008 / ePub
Add To Cart

or checkout with

Add To Wishlist
Add To Cart

or checkout with

Wishlist

Have questions about eBooks? Check out our eBook FAQs.

* This product is available for purchase only in certain countries.
Others Also Purchased (15)
Select this Item Product Title/Author Availability Price Quantity
$0.79
In Stock
Our Price$0.79
Retail: $0.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for From Out of the Sand - eBook0
$0.79
$12.99
In Stock
Our Price$12.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for McManus 2 in 1 (Soul Cravings, Barbarian Way) - eBook0
$12.99
$9.99
In Stock
Our Price$9.99
Retail: $16.00
Add To Cart
Quantity for Knowing God, Knowing Myself: An Invitation to Daily Discovery - eBook0
$9.99
$6.99
In Stock
Our Price$6.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for The Amethyst Heart: Newly Repackaged Edition - eBook0
$6.99
$7.99
In Stock
Our Price$7.99
Retail: $9.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for Triumph!: Powerful Stories of Athletes of Faith - eBook0
$7.99
$7.99
In Stock
Our Price$7.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for Unleashed: Release the Untamed Faith Within - eBook0
$7.99
$12.99
In Stock
Our Price$12.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life - eBook0
$12.99
$11.99
In Stock
Our Price$11.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for Evangelicals Engaging Emergent: A Discussion of the Emergent Church Movement - eBook0
$11.99
$9.99
In Stock
Our Price$9.99
Retail: $16.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for Revealing Jesus: A 365-Day Devotional - eBook0
$9.99
$6.31
In Stock
Our Price$6.31
Retail: $9.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for Dangerous Prayer: Discovering Your Amazing Story Inside the Eternal Story of God - eBook0
$6.31
$9.58
In Stock
Our Price$9.58
Retail: $17.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for The Boy Born Dead: A Story of Friendship, Courage, and Triumph - eBook0
$9.58
$9.99
In Stock
Our Price$9.99
Retail: $17.00
Add To Cart
Quantity for Did God Really Command Genocide?: Coming to Terms with the Justice of God - eBook0
$9.99
$12.99
In Stock
Our Price$12.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul - eBook0
$12.99
$3.99
In Stock
Our Price$3.99
Retail: $4.99
Add To Cart
Quantity for The Swindler's Treasure / New edition - eBook0
$3.99
Other Formats (2)

Product Description

Erwin McManus believes all of us are on a similar life-journey. Ultimately in the furthest reaches of our inmost being, our souls truly yearn after God. In Soul Cravings, McManus carefully demonstrates our need for something greater than ourselves while gently directing spiritual seekers and new believers to the existence of God and our need for Him. Take this opportunity to gain a clearer spiritual understanding of your soul's deepest desire!

Product Information

Title: Soul Cravings - eBook
By: Erwin Raphael McManus
Format: DRM Protected ePub
Vendor: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 9781418570477
ISBN-13: 9781418570477
Stock No: WW5715EB

Publisher's Description

The search of your life is the search for your life.

What you are holding right now is an exploration of the human spirit; a journey into our deepest longings, our desires, our needs, our cravings, our souls.

Our need for intimacy, meaning, and destiny point to the existence of God and our need to connect with Him. This book will deeply stir you to consider and chase after the spiritual implications of your souls' deepest longings.

Author Bio

Erwin Raphael McManus an iconoclast, artist, and cultural thought leader known for his integration of creativity and spirituality.  He is the founder of MOSAIC, a church movement started in the heart of Hollywood with campuses across Los Angeles, Orange County, and Mexico City.  Erwin is the acclaimed author of The Last Arrow, The Artisan Soul, Soul Cravings, and The Barbarian Way.  His books have sold more than a million copies worldwide.  He lives in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Kim McManus.

ChristianBookPreviews

Erwin McManus has written Soul Cravings as a means to speak to the unconverted, hoping to introduce them to the person of Christ. The book is divided up into three main sections: "Craving," "Search for Destiny," and "Search for Meaning." At the end he has a section entitled "Reflections of a Seeker." These sections are not made up of chapters, but essays, each one typically being no longer than several pages. Some of these essays include "A search for significance," "What's the meaning of this?," "The truth is it's about trust."
While I can appreciate his effort to speak to the lost and help them to see their need of Christ, there are a number of biblical problems with the book that concern me. In an effort to be fair, and provide McManus an opportunity to clarify several statements in his book, I sent an e-mail offering him an opportunity to clear these things up. His ministry sent me a link to a message he had given entitled "Soul Cravings: 08 Seek." This only helped to confirm that McManus does not fully understand the Gospel, but more than that, he is willing to proof-text the Bible in order to justify aberrant teaching. An example of this is an assumption he makes that serves as the main thrust of the book. He describes those who are not yet in a saving relationship with Christ as "seekers," a concept that is currently very popular within the evangelical church. This idea can be found on such pages as: 230, 231, 239, 254, and 283. One of the clearest pictures he gives of what a seeker is, appears on page 284: "[Yanni] was not a follower of Christ, but he was a very honest and sincere seeker." It is clear by the overall context of his book that he is describing those who are not yet in a saving relationship with God.
The main premise of his book is unsupportable by the Bible. Further, not only does the Bible not teach what he claims - that unbelievers are searching for God - it actually teaches the opposite.
While listening to his audio message referenced above, there were three passages he used to build his case that unbelievers seek God: Acts 17:27, Isaiah 55:6, and Luke 11:5-13. Space does not allow for a detailed exposition of each passage. Any reputable commentary can be consulted. As to Acts 17:27, contrary to how McManus uses it, it does not teach that unbelievers seek Him, that they want to, or that they even have the ability to do so. What Paul is explaining is that God has provided mankind with general revelation of Himself through His creation so that man can see that the world around him is made by God. This general revelation makes man responsible before God. Paul also teaches this in Romans 1:18-20. McManus has misused Acts 17:27, as he has Isaiah 55:6, which says nothing about the lost being able to seek God. Isaiah was describing what the Jews - people who were already in a covenant relationship with God - should do. At best, these passages show responsibility, not ability. As far as ability is concerned, one would need to look no further than Ephesians 2:1, where Paul describes the lost as thoroughly dead in their sin. Spiritually dead people have no ability to seek God. Likewise, he has misused Luke 11:5-13. The passage is not about unbelievers diligently seeking God, and through doing so will find Him, but about those who are already saved learning how to pray. Recommended commentaries that offer helpful explanations for these passages include Keil & Delitzsch (on Isaiah), and William Hendrickson (on Luke). As for Acts 17:27, this reviewer has found a good explanation in Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology (1991 ed., p. 475).
Since a basic principle of Scripture interpretation is to compare Scripture with other Scripture, we would need to see what else the Bible says about unbelievers seeking God in order to have a well-rounded, biblical understanding. For that, we would need to consult Romans 3:11, where Paul clearly says, in part, "There is none who seeks for God." No more vivid image of man in his unsaved condition can be found than in this chapter. In saying the lost don't seek God, Paul borrowed that from David, who makes the same statement twice, once in Psalm 14:2, and again in Psalm 53:2, where he says in unambiguous language: "The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God." What follows is most compelling, for David continues in verse 3 by explaining that God found no one. The Hebrew is very expressive on the fact that no one seeks God. Keil & Delitzsch have this to say: "The universality of corruption is expressed in as strong terms as possible . . . not a single one who might form an exception" (Commentary on the Psalms, p. 127). The Greek behind Paul's words in Romans 3:11 is just as explicit.
The very concept that the souls of men crave God could not be more unbiblical.
Another comment made in Soul Cravings that this reviewer found to be unbiblical was this one on page xvi: "Jesus once said that the Kingdom of God is within us" (Luke 17:21). A similar statement is made on page 285: "I am certain that if you will take the time to journey to the depths of your soul, you will not leave there disappointed, and perhaps to your surprise and astonishment what you will find there is God." McManus indicates at the bottom of page xviii that he is writing to an audience of unbelievers: "where you might meet God." And further, "I've never believed you can or should even try to force God on someone." The question I would have is: Where, in the entire Bible, does it say that unbelievers have God inside them? When McManus quotes Jesus' words from Luke 17:21 he has completely missed the Lord's intent. While there is some disagreement among commentators over whether Jesus said "the Kingdom of God is within us" (Hendriksen), or "the Kingdom of God is among us" (Pate), there is agreement among them that He would not have told the Pharisees to whom He was speaking that God was inside them. These were the Lord's bitter opponents! Telling unbelievers that God is inside them, and that if they seek hard enough for Him they will find Him inside, is a teaching that is not supported by any passage in the Bible. Rather, it comes from Eastern philosophy, and is a core teaching of Hinduism.
All in all, Soul Cravings has more theological/biblical problems than can be addressed in a short review such as this. This is not a book that should be given to the lost. The lack of a clear gospel presentation, the misrepresentation of important biblical passages, and a misunderstanding of what the Bible actually says about mans' condition before he is saved, and the author's willingness to proof-text the Bible, makes this work one that should be avoided at all costs. – Ray Hammond, Christian Book Previews.com

Ask a Question

Author/Artist Review