Primal by Mark Batterson

PRIMAL is book written by the lead pastor of the National Community Church in Washington, DC, Mark Batterson.  The question asked on the back page really captured my imagination: What would your Christianity look like if it was stripped down to the simplest, rawest, purest faith possible? You would have more, not less. You would have the beginning of a new reformation—in your generation, your church, your own soul. You would have primal Christianity.

I find a deeper longing in me not to settle for a run of the mill faith that has become comfortably Americanized, so I did open this book with high expectations. It started out quite promising, with a story of he & his wife stumbling upon a church in Rome where they discovered catacombs where 2nd century Christians met secretly to worship. Those people did not take their faith lightly and loved God too much not to take the risk to meet. Mark then proceeds to say that we have made Christianity too complex, when the Great Commandment sums it all so simply and eloquently: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ~ Mark 12:30

I must admit that I am a bit undecided on this one.There were moments scattered throughout the book that made me think, "Yes! That is what I want!" However, there were also too many pages where it was just pleasant reading. Several times I had to look again to remember the premise of the book. Perhaps my expectations were set too high. This is a well-written book and I did enjoy reading it...it simply just did not live up to the promise I had hoped for.

“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”