Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Do You Feel a Nudge?, July 8, 2006
While the Donald Millers of the world have brought new vitality and honesty to writings on the Christian life, others, such as Philip Yancey and Ravi Zacharias, continue to dig deep into the intellectual side of the modern Christian's struggle. This depth makes their writings less accessible, yet so vital for many who are searching for answers.
In this gracious autobiography, Zacharias gives us doses of his trademark apologetics and wisdom, while providing a chronological view of his journey from suicidal teen to world-renowned evangelist. He offers glimpses into his cultural roots in India, along with helpful understanding of the eastern mindset. He shows restraint in his accounts of his family's issues, but he still manages to be honest with faults. He challenges his readers to move beyond their own search for fulfillment into a greater comprehension of who they are created to be.
As a missionary kid, I spent six months in India, experiencing some of the sights that Zacharias grew up around. I savored his anecdotes. This is a thoughtful, inspiring account of what God can do through those who are willing to "live, because he lives." Be patient, soak in the philosophical and theological musings, and see if you aren't nudged by the content of these pages.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You Will Probably Enjoy This as Much as You Enjoy His Radio Shows. Ravi Listeners will Enjoy This Autobiography!, July 13, 2006
I really enjoy hearing Ravi Zacharias on his weekly radio show. He is probably the most intellectual of any of the radio preachers that I hear broadcast on Christian radio in my area. Ravi is from India, but he converted to Christianity as a teenager in India, and his missionary career consists of intellectually applying logic to support Biblical concepts, to audiences across the globe. That's my explanation of what he does, at least. So when I heard he had an autobiography out, I was curious enough to check it out.
It is pretty interesting to read the details of his growing up in India. It is very different from growing up in the USA, in many aspects, yet the human condition and human plight of us all is shown to have just as much in common whether growing up in India or the USA, or anywhere else in the world.
WALKING FROM EAST TO WEST: GOD IN THE SHADOWS is about 240 pages long. He writes about the exotic Indian neighborhood where he grew up, and how he ended up being the black sheep of the family, the one child whom his father found the most frustration and irritation with. He could never really please his father with anything he did, which is very important to be able to do, especially within the culture in which he grew up.
Ravi was bored with school, but he excelled in sports, especially playing cricket. His dad wanted the opposite from Ravi, and his father did not care about his sports abilities. Ravi talks about skipping school regularly, until the day that his father found out and gave Ravi the beating of his life for it! Then Ravi talks about his emerging plan to commit suicide over his despair and depression. This takes us up to about page 85.
After his failed suicide attempt, he gets Saved, with the help of some Christian missionaries. Like most Saved people, this turns his life around, and he becomes very serious and productive with his schooling--the most driven in his family, for a change!
He and his brother immigrate to Canada, to lay the foundation of a home base for the rest of the family to eventually join them. Canada is where he meets his future wife, Margie (pronounced with a hard G as in Margaret), and the rest of the book covers his college and missionary career, traveling the world, and right up to the present day.
These days, he is now an internationally known lecturer, and they have three full grown kids. What a wonderful, blessed life for this terrific Christian speaker!
The book is broken into three separate sections, which each show a few grainy b/w photos from his life on the starting page of each major section, but there are no captions. I guess you can figure out who is who just by reading the book. My favorite looks to be a photo from his wedding.
There is not too much of the typical Christian philosophy or apologetics. This book is meant to not get in-depth in those areas covered by his other books and works. This book is meant to be an autobiography of his life story.
He makes some interesting observations and comparisons between people and cultures, east and west. Such as, when he gives talks in the west, people are introduced onstage with a bio of themselves, but in the east, people are introduced by describing a brief family history.
If you really enjoy listening to Ravi Zacharias' weekly radio show, then you will probably find his autobiography just as enjoyable.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting look at a humble leader, May 5, 2006
In Walking from East to West, Ravi Zacharias gives readers a glimpse into his life, focusing on his years growing up in India and what God used to ultimately shape him into a worldwide evangelist.
There is humble heartbreak expressed throughout the book, as Zacharias explains his tumultuous relationship with his father, who early on labeled him a failure. His sense of hopelessness and despair eventually led him to attempt suicide, and through that, the truth of God's Word was able to penetrate his heart. Zacharias provides a balanced view of his childhood, never blaming his father for the abuse, instead carefully revealing insight into the family situation and how the Lord eventually changed Zacharias and later, his father. He describes God as being in the shadows of his life, never absent, but simply waiting on His perfect timing to bring Ravi into the family of God.
The book is broken into two major sections: his early years in India and re-establishing in Canada. There is a third part, which is more of an epilogue, where Ravi describes his trips back to his homeland and what it means to him looking back. The story that Zacharias weaves of his past is mesmerizing, threading together anecdotes, parables, and history into a fine narrative worth reading on its own. On top of that, he entwines his own grasp of Eastern thinking and culture, in a way that Westerners can understand. One example is how the framework of ancestors is critical to the identity of Indians, and how that affects their society today. Readers will also get a foretaste into Zacharias' ability to reason with skeptics, and know that it comes from his own beginnings as a questioner of life. He also reveals the thinkers and theologians who influenced his faith, without going into the doctrines themselves.
This is not a typical leader-of-the-faith autobiography. Instead, Zacharias shows how the Lord uses the humble and weak to bring about His purposes. Even if readers know nothing about the man and his ministry, they will be uplifted and encouraged to pursue God with whole hearts. -- Anne Walker, Christian Book Previews.com
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