On Earth as It Is in Advertising?: Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope [Paperback]

Sam Van Eman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

Patients need attention, doctors need assistance, the front desk needs records filled out-when you're one of the 2.6 million nurses in America today, everyone needs something! So where's the encouragement, care, and medicine for the soul that a busy nurse needs in order to be an agent of hope and healing? On Call delivers a vital prescription: 366 devotions that help busy nurses go direct to the source of all hope and healing. The daily meditations are brief, uplifting, and supplemented by Scripture. In one year, readings go through the New Testament and psalms to help nurses gain important insight into their own spiritual health as well as learn how to better help others. Written by a nurse with more than forty years experience, this unique devotional speaks directly to the essential needs anyone in the demanding health care profession.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a rather simplistic meditation on the negative effects of advertising, Van Eman overstates the obvious in a short book that could have been a pamphlet for incoming college students, the target audience. Van Eman addresses the insidious messages of advertising—which he calls the "SimGospel"—in a media-saturated culture, and contrasts them to the Gospel message. He focuses on three areas in which the SimGospel and the Gospel send conflicting messages: identity (who am I?), need (what are my needs?) and care (who is my neighbor?). Thus, commercials often present selfish oafs who care only about having their needs met (e.g., a man who "needs" a bigger lawn mower than his neighbor), or who feel they are nothing without the product being advertised. In contrast, the Gospel affirms that all people are children of a loving God who desires us to love our neighbors, not denigrate them. Van Eman closes with a list of several projects that he believes counteract the SimGospel, such as to give away an old car or to volunteer in a local soup kitchen. Van Eman's book has no startling features or arguments to distinguish it from the myriad offerings already out there on this topic. (Sept.)
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Review

Sam Van Eman offers some very wise and very straightforward guidance in this fine and compassionate book. -- Bill McKibben, author of The Age of Missing Information

With practical tips on how to counteract the consumer age, this finely written provocation . . . is a must-read. -- Eric Hurtgen, Relevant

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Brazos Press (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158743136X
• ISBN-13: 978-1587431364
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,443,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sam Van Eman is a staff specialist with the CCO and the culture editor for TheHighCalling.org, an online magazine and community that hosts conversations about work, life, and God. As a former public school teacher and current mentor to wilderness leaders, Sam has taught in barns and board rooms, canyons, classrooms and auditoriums. He is the author of On Earth as It is in Advertising? Moving From Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope.

Read more of Sam's thoughts about advertising at NewBreedofAdvertisers.blogspot.com.