The Love Languages of God: How to Feel and Reflect Divine Love (Chapman, Gary) [Paperback]

Gary D. Chapman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004 | Series: Chapman, Gary

The best-selling author of The Five Love Languages series has written a book EVERYONE should read! Once you discover your primary love language in human relationships, you can assume that will be your primary love language in your relationship with God. Whether we are speaking to God or He is speaking to us - we are feeling God's love and presence most strongly in one particular way. By teaching readers to tap into that divine love, Dr. Chapman helps them relate to God in a way that will totally revolutionize their will to love one another.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

To Love and To Be Loved, What Could Be More Important?

 

The craving for love is our deepest emotional need.  Each of us feels loved when others speak our primary love language.  We are drawn to that person because he or she is meeting our basic need to feel loved.

 

The love languages in human relationships are a reflection of divine love.  If man is indeed made in the image of God, then we would expect to find all five love languages (and more!) expressed in the character and nature of God.

 

Dr. Chapman’s goal for readers in that they may be led to explore the possibility of speaking different love languages to God and thus expanding their own understanding of God and others.

 

GARY CHAPMAN is the author of the best-selling The Five Love Languages series, which includes The Five Love Languages, The Five Love Languages of Children and the Five Love Language of Teenagers.  In addition to his church educational responsibilities, Dr. Chapman hosts the nationally syndicated radio broadcast A Growing Marriage.  He directs marriage seminars around the world and regularly counsels married couples. 

About the Author

GARY CHAPMAN, PhD, is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The 5 Love Languages. With over 30 years of counseling experience, he has the uncanny ability to hold a mirror up to human behavior, showing readers not just where they go wrong, but also how to grow and move forward. Dr. Chapman holds BA and MA degrees in anthropology from Wheaton College and Wake Forest University, respectively, MRE and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has completed postgraduate work at the University of North Carolina and Duke University. For more information visit his website at www.5lovelanguages.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Northfield Publishing (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881273938
• ISBN-13: 978-1881273936
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Married more than 45 years to Karolyn, Dr. Gary Chapman is just the man to turn to for help on improving or healing our most important relationships. His own life experiences, plus over thirty-five years of pastoring and marriage counseling, led him to publish his first book in the Love Language series, The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. Millions of readers credit this continual New York Times bestseller with saving their marriages by showing them simple and practical ways to communicate their love to their partner.
Since the success of his first book, Dr. Chapman has expanded his Five Love Languages series to specifically reach out to teens, singles, men, and children (co-authored with Dr. Ross Campbell).
He is the author of numerous other books published by Moody Publishers/Northfield Publishing, including The World's Easiest Guide to Family Relationships, Anger, The Family You've Always Wanted, The Marriage You've Always Wanted, Desperate Marriages, God Speaks Your Love Language (Jan 09), Parenting Your Adult Child, and Hope for the Separated. He co-authored The Five Languages of Apology with Dr. Jennifer Thomas.
Chapman speaks to thousands of couples nationwide through his weekend marriage conferences. He hosts a nationally syndicated radio program, Love Language Minute, and a Saturday morning program, Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, that air on more than 100 stations. Dr. Chapman also serves as senior associate pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Dr. Chapman holds BA and MA degrees in anthropology from Wheaton College and Wake Forest University, respectively, MRE and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has completed postgraduate work at the University of North Carolina and Duke University.
Dr. Chapman and his wife have two adult children and two grandchildren, and currently live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Starts good, goes downhill, February 3, 2003

By 

Tom "tj093" (Oswego, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Love Languages of God (Hardcover)

OK, when I first started reading this book, I enjoyed it. And I thought I would really enjoy where it was going. I actually recommended it to several friends (a recommendation I now regret). That opinion changed rather quickly as the book continued on and on without much to say.

The book started off with Chapman briefly explaining why he thinks some of us feel more connected to God in certain ways (ie., study, worship, prayer, ...). He argues that this is a result of each of us having a primary love language. And consequently we relate to God best in our own language. This was, in my opinion, a very promising insight. It goes a long way in explaining why my wife and I have different responses to worship and service. To her, service is a joy, worship is a duty. To me, it's vice versa. I think Chapman was on to something.

He then goes on, in the next five chapters, to show how God displays each of the five love languages. These chapters, although not very insightful, do offer decent support for his original theory. Unfortunately, however, the book could have ended right here. Because after this, the next 5 or so chapters seem like one big promotion for Chapman's Five Love Languages book(s) and lecture series.

I also felt as though Chapman was searching for something significant to write about in these closing chapters. He seems to have run out of material for his original thesis and now just begins writing about anything that relates to love. Which reminds me, the chapter on discipline was very disappointing. At one point Chapman actually suggests that a man lost his children as a judgement of God. Now, I'm not going to debate God's sovereignty in all things nor suggest that God does not have the right over life and death. But to claim that this man losing his children was judgement from God is a leap of faith I'm not going to take.

All in all, the book is poor, but not terrible. If you keep in mind that Chapman is a psychologist and not a theologian, you may find some very helpful information here. But don't expect any grand revelations concerning love or God in this book.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true eyeopener, October 17, 2003

By 

Simone (the Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Love Languages of God (Hardcover)

I had heard about the 5 love languages before and I thought I was pretty sure about which mine was. When I saw this book about Gods love languages I was curious, because I have trouble experiencing His love on a daily bases.

Through this book I haven't just learned what my love language is (not the one I thought, but the one my heart speaks) it has also explained so much more to me about human relationships and Gods desire to love us, on a daily bases! And how those two work hand in hand. It has taught me how to show my friends and family that I love them in their language and it showed me different ways that God expresses His love to us. Besides that it challenged me to love those I normally would walk away from because I don't know how to relate to them.

If you look for a theological, religious or an psychological book you are in the wrong place. But if you are looking for a book that will transform you in your heart and mind into a more loving person, to yourself, God and others, this is the best book for it! Besides the Bible of course :-). We all know how difficult it can be to read and understand the bible sometimes, this book will make it easier for you, because you will learn more about the character of God and how He wants to relate to you in your life with your specific needs.

I have read few books like this one that have had a deep impact in my life!

I strongly recommend it to anyone who longs for closeness in their relationships with others and with God!!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, Amazing, December 8, 2004

By 

Sara Swihart (Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Love Languages of God: How to Feel and Reflect Divine Love (Chapman, Gary) (Paperback)

I read the original "The Five Love Languages" and thought that it was really inspiring and something that I could definely apply to my life.

If you've already read "The Five Love Languages", you may feel like you are getting ripped off and that Chapman is just taking a concept that he has already established and applying it to other situations to make a buck. CONTINUE TO READ THE BOOK!

I read this book several months ago, and have given it little thought. Then I gave the book to a friend, because I think that it is something that even those who have been Christians for quite some time can take a look at.

I think that this book is a must-read for new Christians who may have lost the initial feeling they had about being saved. I've been a Christian since I was 8, but I recently decided to make being a Christian my way of life from here on out. I remember when I rededicated my life to Christ, it was great. Then, I walked out of the church, into the real depraved world.

What was really inspiring in this book is that no matter what you've done in life, you can ask God to forgive you, and He will. Though we may know that, sometimes, we need someone else to actually say it.

The examples for Scripture are awesome. When I was done with each chapter, I would go through the Bible and see how God, Jesus, the disciples, or God's people used "Words of Affirmation", "Physical Touch", "Quality Time", "Gifts" and "Acts of Service" to show their love for God or man.

One of the parts that was truly amazing to me was the chapter "When Love Seems Distance". It discusses why we sometimes feel that God doesn't love us. For one, it can be that we are straying from God.

My one complaint with this book is that all of the references to Scripture are as endnotes at the back of the book. In Chapman's other books, the Bible version that is references is in parentheses or the text of the verse is on the page. So, in order to know where in the Bible a verse was coming from, I had to flip to the back of the book.