Customer Reviews

Who Are the Promise Keepers?

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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"?

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.