In Renewing America's Soul, author Howard E. Butt, Jr. points to an uncomfortably intimate source of the problems America's families face: families themselves. The revitalization of our collective soul as a body of people cannot occur, he says, until we improve the way we relate to the people most important to us: our spouses, siblings, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and-most importantÑour parents. Thankfully, Butt shows readers how to do just that.
It should come as no surprise that such an obvious answer (but in no way a simple one) comes from someone who has distinguished himself as a godly man. Butt has worked beside Billy Graham in the Layman's Leadership Institutes, co-founded Christianity Today, and authored The Velvet Covered Brick (that he is vice chairman of one of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in the country is almost beside the point).
What may come as a surprise is that Butt's approach to building better relationships is firmly grounded in the principles outlined by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud.
Among Christians, psychiatrists hold a spot somewhere between used car dealers and shamans in terms of credibility. So it is rather daring of Butt to dub his approach to soul-healing "spiritual psychiatry." He lauds Freud's two fundamental principles of psychoanalysis: "free association," which refers to the concept that we repeat our childhood experiences throughout our adult lives, and the "Oedipus complex," the source of psychological wounds that represent the favoritism and rejections children feel toward one parent over the other. "These two core psychiatric ideas," Butt writes, "are thoroughly-indeed, inescapably-biblical."
Perhaps anticipating negative reaction to this news, Butt quickly points out that "in both theology and psychiatry, my views represent core, classic, historical orthodoxy." And he's right. Conservative Christians will clearly recognize the biblical truths in Butt's observations. Butt makes understanding all that much easier by looking to the life of the Apostle Peter as an example of "remarkable psychological growth" that turned a self-centered rebel into a powerful testament to the Word of God.
Renewing America's Soul urges readers to take a close look at the relationships they have with their parents and with their children. It outlines ways to overcome our natural tendencies to alienate ourselves from them in varying forms and degrees. Butt recognizes the challenges in his call for closeness and offers practical tips for succeeding. After detailing his prescription for healthy relationships, Butt shows how this newfound fitness can reshape our society, culture, and politics.
If the book's title sounds a bit optimistic, readers will quickly realize that it is not optimistic enough. By outlining the incredible power of personal relationships rooted in God's truths, Butt has stumbled upon more than the cure for America's ills-it is the cure for all humanity's problems. This book should be required reading for anyone who has a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a son, a daughter, a friend . . .
Robert Liparulo is a frequent reviewer of Christian books living in Colorado Springs, CO.
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