Soul Cravings (Hardcover)

by Erwin Raphael McManus (Author)
Key Phrases: bumblebee effect, soul cravings, soul craves, Los Angeles, Jesus Christ, James Dean

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)
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Product Description

We can spend our whole lives trying to satisfy the one insatiable part of our being, our soul craving. Our capacity for spiritual experience both proves our need for something greater than ourselves and leaves us wanting when we fill it with anything but God.

Soul Cravings is a powerful, down-to-earth exposition that interprets our need for intimacy, meaning, and destiny as common sense apologetics pointing to the existence of and our need for God. The book will deeply stir the reader to consider and chase after the spiritual implications of their soul's deepest longings.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785214941
• ISBN-13: 978-0785214946
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #302,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 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 (REAL NAME)

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!

5 of 5 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

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)

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.