★★★★★ 5
But he is also convinced that your anger does not have to be a problem and this book is intended to help redirect so that we can
Format: Paperback
David Powlison thinks you have an anger problem, and a serious one at that. It is not because he knows you personally, but because he is one who has long studied the fallen heart. But he is also convinced that your anger does not have to be a problem and this book is intended to help redirect so that we can be both good and angry.
Anger, as Powlison who is the executive directory of CCEF, defines it, is a sense of opposition to something that is both important and wrong. That means it is a moral response. As those who are created in the image of God we all have come wired for the capacity to express anger. But, as Powlison carefully shows, we have a problem. Our anger is misdirected and misguided because of sin. Not only in the little daily frustrations and irritations, but also in extremely destructive ways. The goal, according to Powlison, is not to eliminate anger, but to have it remade into the image of God by the grace of the gospel. Far from being a therapeutic self-help book, his concern is that we come to understand how anger can coexist with forgiveness, patience, charity, and constructive displeasure.
This book should prove to be an excellent resource. However, if you pick it up with the intention to help someone else—your husband, wife, child, friend, or congregant—be prepared to confront the reality of your own anger first. Powlison has a wonderful way of acutely diagnosing anger as a personal problem for all, even those who do not consider themselves angry. A couple of highlights would be his detailed examination of God's wrath showing readers why it is actually because of God's wrath that we have hope. His chapters dealing with every day anger, long-held bitterness, and anger against God also flow from a counselor's heart as he addresses difficult and awful painful truths.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2016
