Who Are the Promise Keepers? [Hardcover]

Ken Abraham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 1997

America is waking up to the fact that the Promise Keepers (PKs) are here to stay. They have gone from 4200 men in 1991, to over 500,000 men packing football stadiums throughout the country each year. The PKs challenge Christian men to keep seven central promises, but most people do not know what the promises are and have no idea what the PK movement is all about.



To those who have not attended a rally or read the mountain of PK books, this organization dominated by conservative white male Evangelicals seems like a mysterious cult. The PKs have a PR problem that stems from not communicating very well with outsiders (women; those of different denominations and religions, and the non-religious; people of diverse ethnic, social, political, and economic groups).



In this first sympathetic look at the PK movement, gifted author Ken Abraham gives the non-PK world a glimpse into who the Promise Keepers really are. It answers questions such as: What promises do they make? How are their lives changed by recommitting themselves to God and developing men's support groups? What impact do PK men have on their wives and children, co-workers, you and me?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ken Abraham helped Jim Bakker pen his comeback book I Was Wrong, and now he has set to examining the phenomenal Christian men's movement. Although the Promise Keepers have succeeded in grounding and re-grounding tens of thousands of American men in old-fashioned Christian values, they have also raised the hackles of some who fear their anti-abortion, anti-gay, Republican leanings. Abraham takes these issues up one by one, answering each through profiles of the group's leaders, interviews with attendees, and commentary on the group's influence and direction. Essential reading for a future Promise Keeper.

From Booklist

The coauthor of Jim Bakker's I Was Wrong isn't about to write an exposeof the Christian men's crusade that urges being better husbands. Abraham is, however, willing to wonder how long Promise Keepers' success will last, which is painless enough to do, considering that PK is younger than the 1990s, and to concede that some men in need of the personal reforms PK preaches just don't cotton to its noisy style, typified by attendees of PK's sports-stadium-packing weekends doing the wave while shouting Jesus' praises. But mostly he discusses the movement's seven pledges and what they are meant to entail; answers its feminist, leftist, and fellow Christian (mostly fundamentalist) critics; demonstrates PK's sincerity about fighting racism (30 percent of PK staff members are black, Hispanic, or Asian); presents the difficulties PK spokespersons have had in keeping it politically unaligned; and conveys the testimonials of men transformed by PK and of the wives of other men PK changed. If Abraham propagandizes, he does so gently, cogently, and hopefully. Ray Olson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (May 19, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385486995
• ISBN-13: 978-0385486996
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,143,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ken Abraham, who has 12 New York Times bestsellers to his credit, also collaborated on Lisa Beamer's Let's Roll and Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars We are the Promise Keepers??, August 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Who Are the Promise Keepers? (Hardcover)

Abraham's book claims to provide an in-depth commentary on the Promise Keepers with the stated goal of helping the reader understand the recent Christian men's movement. In many ways it does accomplish this goal. But the book cover claims that Abraham is acting as the "eyes and ears of an inquisitive person who hears about Promise Keepers and wonders what it is all about." This is only partly true, and somewhat misleading.

How objective can Abraham really be when he fails to discuss his own involvement with another Promise Keeper project, Bill McCartney's book What Makes A Man? (1992). In What Makes a Man?, published five years prior to his recent work, Abraham appears to be more than an inquisitive person. In McCartney's book Abraham contibutes three essays echoing common PK themes ranging from the futility of trying to be good under one's own power to a man's struggle with temptation and the issue of Christian accountability.

"Who are the Promise Keepers" is simply a sympathetic examination and defense of the movement and not just the analysis of an inquisitive person. Perhaps Abraham's conclusion that the Promise Keepers are simply who they say they are (202) would be more appropriately summarized as "We Promise Keepers are simply who we say we are"?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One big advertisement, December 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Who Are the Promise Keepers? (Hardcover)

It is simply astonishing that a publishing house such as Doubleday would publish a book like this, and market it as a comprehensive introduction to the group. As Bryan Brickner pointed out in his review here, Abraham is a PK insider, and this book is essentially just one long press release or advertisement for the organization. Of course the book doesn't have one negative word about PK or Bill McCartney, or at least none that aren't "spun" to their advantage and for their benefit.