Soul Cravings [Paperback]

Erwin Raphael McManus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2008

The search of your life is the search for your life.

In Soul Cravings Erwin McManus shows readers how our need for intimacy, meaning, and destiny point to the existence of God and our need to connect with Him. This book will deeply stir readers to consider and chase after the spiritual implications of their souls' deepest longings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McManus's collection of essays reads like a series of lively late-night college bull sessions about the meaning of life, with enough transitions and common threads to pull reader-participants along. "We are all on the same quest," he writes. "And our soul craving is to find something we can believe in." McManus wants readers to come to know themselves and meet God on the journey. "This thing that haunts you, that never seems satisfied, the cravings in your soul that you are unable to satiate through all the success that the world can bring—this is your soul screaming for God." He spends many pages on love and its implications and emphasizes grace while eschewing legalism and shaming. McManus also muses on ambition, the power of hope, the uniqueness of each person, the search for meaning and purpose, the need for trust, and death and the problem of evil. McManus (The Barbarian Way), the lead pastor of the Mosaic community in Los Angeles, has an unusually un-self-conscious voice. Throughout, he seamlessly incorporates personal anecdotes, music lyrics and movie snippets. Although the content isn't particularly new and the book might have benefited from some tightening, McManus's fresh presentation will do much to woo spiritual seekers and disenchanted Christians to a more authentic Christianity. (Nov. 14)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400280265
• ISBN-13: 978-1400280261
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Erwin Raphael McManus serves as Lead Pastor of Mosaic, a uniquely innovative and international congregation in Los Angeles, California. A national and international strategist and speaker on culture, change, creativity and leadership, Erwin also serves as Distinguished Lecturer and Futurist for Bethel Theological Seminary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love lights the way, February 19, 2007

By 

Steve Waite (Shelton, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Soul Cravings (Hardcover)

Love is probably the most misunderstood word in the English today. And this is truly tragic. For those in search of the true meaning of love, Soul Cravings is a must read book. Erwin's meditations are filled with beautiful insights that will make you smile and bring you to tears. Like a river that ulimately finds it way to the sea, Soul Cravings takes the reader on a journey that connects God with love, and then shows us how love can cure so many ills of the world today. As St. Paul told the people of Corinth, without love, we are nothing. Erwin's book is a timely reminder of this fundamental and universal truth.This is a book that everybody should read at some point in their life. I plan on giving out copies of this book to as many people as I can. I can't think of a better gift to my loved ones and my enemies. God bless you, Erwin!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Providing us with a whole lot to think about on our own., June 5, 2007

By 

FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soul Cravings (Hardcover)

Some of the greatest frustrations of life on earth stem from our deep desire for those things that this life can never provide, which Erwin McManus identifies as the cravings of our soul. McManus, pastor of the Mosaic community in Los Angeles and author of Gold Medallion finalist AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE, sees our universal cravings as a search for identity, destiny and meaning, and he arranges SOUL CRAVINGS accordingly.

Each chapter in those three sections is labeled an "entry," an accurate description for writing that at times has the feel of a journal entry. Only with McManus, the writing is a cut above the way most of us would record our musings. He startles you every now and then with a sentence that you know you'll remember forever. One example, from Entry #13, Being Loved to Death, in reference to Jesus' encounter with the Pharisees and the woman caught in adultery (the "Let him who is without sin throw the first stone" passage): "If Jesus' encounter with this unnamed adulterous woman tells us anything," he writes, "it reveals the unexpected truth that the safest place for a sinful person to go is to God." We may already know that, we may in fact have known that for years, but we may never have thought to express it in that way --- describing God as the safest place for a sinner to go.

McManus's way with words may be the book's greatest strength. He's so good with words that it takes a while before you realize that you have no better idea of what to do with your unfulfilled soul cravings than you had before you read the book. It's like the way you feel after a profound and caffeine-laced philosophical discussion with a friend about the deeper issues of life. Neither one of you is any closer to understanding those deeper issues, but you feel better just knowing there's someone you can talk to on that level. The meaning of life, the nature of faith, the resiliency of the human spirit, the problem of evil, the value of doubting --- McManus thinks out loud about all this and more, providing us with a whole lot to think about on our own.

If there is an answer to be found in SOUL CRAVINGS, it is this: our cravings begin and end with God. Throughout, McManus reminds us that, ultimately, whatever it is that we crave most --- for instance, love --- is already available to us in our relationship with God. And trying to fill those cravings with anything other than God is not only futile but can also be destructive. He writes: "No matter what we become, it is never enough. Our souls always crave more. It's not because they're insatiable, but because we know there's more to be had." That "more" is a life of intimacy, destiny and meaning --- all of which can only be found in a life with God.

--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Non-Believers and Believers, April 18, 2007

By 

T. Jones (Ogden, Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soul Cravings (Hardcover)

Soul Cravings touches on something that can speak to all peoples, regardless of beliefs.Whether you believe in no god,one god or more than one god this book can speak into your life and make you look at your soul cravings differently. It helps you discover meaning and purpose and an understanding of what you are created for. You won't need a dictionary when reading it, it's pretty straight forward.