The Purpose Driven Life (2002) is a devotional book written by Christian author Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. The book has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for advice books for one of the longest periods in history, while also topping the Wall Street Journal best seller charts as well as Publishers Weekly charts with over 30 million copies sold by 2007.[1]
The book offers readers a 40-day personal spiritual journey, and presents what Warren says are God's five purposes for human life on Earth and describes itself as "a blueprint for Christian living in the 21st Century ... using about 350 references to the Bible, may be this amounts to over 1200 Biblical verses and quotes to challenge the conventional definitions of Christian Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Christian Ministry and Evangelism."
Contents |
The book is intended to be read as a daily inspiration, with each of the 40 short chapters read on consecutive days. Each chapter contains a personal application section at the end with a "point to ponder," a verse to remember, and a question to consider over the course of that day. Rick Warren described his book as an "anti-self-help book." The first sentence of the book reads, "It's not about you,"[2] and the remainder of the chapter goes on to explain how the quest for personal fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning can only be found in understanding and doing what God placed you on Earth to do.[3] The book's 40 chapters are divided into six major sections, with the following titles:[4]
A May 2005 survey of American pastors and ministers conducted by George Barna asked Christian leaders to identify what books were the most influential on their lives and ministries. The Purpose Driven Life was the most frequent response. The Purpose Driven Church, Warren's previous book, was the second most frequent response.[5] Billy Graham described the book as one that would "guide you to greatness—through living the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of Jesus."
A Lutheran perspective is that Warren fails to present the evangelical Christian gospel accurately—failing to accurately represent the nature of sin, repentance and hell, as well as the blood sacrifice of God's son Jesus as the means to be forgiven by God for sins and which allows man to have a relationship with God.[6] Warren has been accused of absolving his readers of moral responsibility by making Satan into an all-pervasive godlike figure contrary to both orthodox theology and psychological soundness.[7] It has been suggested that when citing Scripture, Warren jumps from one Bible version to another, cherry-picking whichever paraphrase or translation supports whatever point he attempts to convey,[8] although the practice of using translations selectively has been defended.[9] Warren's statement that "Whenever God wanted to prepare someone for his purposes, he took forty days"[10] has been criticized as both overly broad and contradicted by Scripture.[11]
After hostage Ashley Smith read Chapter 32 to her captor Brian Nichols (who shot four people in Atlanta on March 11, 2005), the book hit number one on several religion and advice best-seller lists - including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Publishers Weekly. Smith admitted in her memoirs that she had also pacified her captor with crystal methamphetamine.[12]
It was announced in June 2005 that Smith had inked a book deal with HarperCollins Publishers. She collaborated with writer Stacy Mattingly on her memoirs, Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero. The book came out in September 2005, and Smith revealed her methamphetamine addiction there for the first time. Smith asserts therein that her hostage ordeal awakened her to the fact that she was an addict, and she holds that she has infrequently used drugs since the ordeal.