Quick Review of Soulprint by Mark Batterson

You are unique.  And this is a gift from God.  Mark Batterson writes Soulprint in the hopes that we will discover our God-given unique identity.  He does this through looking at the unique life of King David. 

There are seven chapters in this book, though Batterson frames them more like a story with an opening, scenes, and a closing act.  The first chapter (opening) serves as an introduction to Batterson’s main thesis that the best way to worship God is to be uniquely you.  The next five chapters read like large devotions centered around the central theme and the life of David.  The closing act attempts to tie it all together and encourage us to live out our destiny.  I should mention there are also discussion questions at the end of the book. 

Batterson is a pretty good contemporary writer.  He fits well within the pop-Christian sub culture and it is easy to see why he has a large following.  Whether that is positive or not I will leave for you to judge.  But you will not be bored reading this book.  The author does a great job of sharing engaging stories and making his point in practical ways.  You can tell that he is a pastor (a mega-church pastor at that). 

But would I recommend this book?  I do agree with Batterson’s major premise that God has uniquely created us and part of our worship is being who God created us to be.  But there are several things missing here.  For one there is not much discussion of the church.  My identity is individual but it is also corporate.  So there is a decent amount of ecclesiology that is missing in this book and could help with living out your identity. 

Also I have never been a big fan of the “be like David” type of books.  In the end this more a “be yourself” book but it is also a “David was himself”.  It’s never wrong to use biblical people as examples but it can run the risk of muting the gospel.  There is nothing here that is overtly anti-biblical or un-biblical but I think Batterson may be working from the wrong foundation.  There should be more imago Dei, more ecclesiology, and frankly more Jesus. 

I would love to interact with this book more but it’s pretty run of the mill stuff:  have confidence in God, remember what He has done, have integrity, be authentic, don’t be defined by sin, and use this book as a jumping point to your journey of self-discovery.  But these all are very stand alone and rather than explode out of the gospel as an implication it seems that Batterson is assuming the gospel and saying, “now do these things”.

You can buy Soulprint for $9.40

I received this book free from Multnomah in exchange for a review.