Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions that Control You by Andy Stanley is a pretty good book. Andy is a great communicator. That means, for the most part, the book is interesting, easy to read and potentially impactful. It is an updated version of It Came from Within.
His premise is that most of us are controlled by guilt, anger, greed and jealousy. I would agree that these sins- I have a hard time calling greed an emotion- make war on our souls and flow out of our hearts. His theology, as a pastor he should have a theology, is fuzzy at times. He’s a bit inconsistent as to whether they flow out of our sinful hearts or attacking our hearts. It does matter.
Andy seems to be writing for unchurched or newly churched people. This, it seems, is his niche. He avoids theological terms, which is perfectly fine. At times, however, it is shorter than it need be on theological concepts. So, while it is far deeper than most self-help books, at times Andy doesn’t go far enough.
First he identifies each of the 4 in order. Then he cycles through them 2 more times in how to confront them and how to put on new habits. He is typically clear and practical in his orientation. I found a fair amount of the book pertinent to my own life and struggle with sin.
The book ends with a chapter on moving forward. This is a pretty important chapter, addressing how it affects our kids. This chapter could have had a more prominent place because I think generational sin is a big problem that we in our individualistic culture seem to neglect at every turn. He then has a short chapter on lust. He limits the term to sexual lust. Lust in Scripture has no such limitations but communicates covetousness, some of which is sexual covetousness. In addition to his limitation, he conflate it with sexual desire. Sexual desire is an appetite; lust is an appetite out of control. The first is normal and to be celebrated- I should desire my wife. The second is inordinate and sinful- I shouldn’t desire my neighbor’s wife. My point: his theological imprecision matters.
The first part of the book is light on Scripture. It is difficult to build the case that an “emotion” is inherently destructive apart from the authority of Scripture. The latter portions of the book utilize far more Scripture, including a recent sermon text of mine. I found some helpful statements there.
The main problem I have with the book is its profound man-centeredness. This shows up with regard to the main problems- they are defined mainly in terms of our horizontal relationships instead of our vertical one. Jealousy being the exception since he argues that here we think God owes us. Sin, biblically, is ultimately God-ward and secondarily human-ward.
His solutions suffer from this problem. I was wondering “where is Jesus?” He is unnecessary in breaking free from sin, apparently. This is a far more serious flaw. Instead of means of grace he talks of habits. Yes, far less “religious” but there is little/no discussion of grace. Again, very man-centered. This is precisely why I would be reluctant to recommend this book to congregants even though it is very helpful at points. I can pick out the bones and supply missing nutrients. Some of them can and some of them can’t (yet).
[I received a promotional copy of this book from the publisher for the purposes of review.]
Cavman Considers 
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