Pop psychology, that long line of self-help and help-God books that stretches back beyond I'm OK-You're OK has another entry with this Joel Freeman book.
Pop psychology is the brand that veneers the understanding of human nature with cute phrases and clever analyses with the hope of making your life a veritable nirvana on earth. Insights percepted. Challenges accepted. Problems sublimated. All in two-word sentences.
Make no mistake; this is good pop psychology. Freeman has 20 years pastoral experience and a master's in counseling. He knows his stuff. And his writing style reads good like pop psych style should.
Chapter titles like "Another Day Shot to Heaven" and "Rock of Jell-O" beg the reader to dive into the contents. Stretching the concept of INtegrity to OUTegrity and UPtegrity provides insight into human and divine nature.
Because pop psychology makes for fun reading, the book could make a useful study guide for a series of midweek meetings--a series that would be open to nonmembers as well as members.
Such a series might bring the yuppies back to church, because they are enamored with self-help books. Freeman enhances this prospect by putting two or three discussion-stimulating questions at the end of each chapter.
The book does have drawbacks. The author uses trite phrases a good writer wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. Do you like rhetorical questions? Would you like a book filled with them? And, in a method very unusual for pop psychology, Freemen performs exegesis on Greek words in almost every chapter.
He also occasionally wanders the waterfront. For example, in chapter 5 ("Weasel Clauses"), on how we bargain with God, Freeman uses the following analogies: Lawyers, who create fine print in contracts; Film Editors, who rearrange the pictures in order to create a new reality; Yabbit Club Members, who use the phrase "Yeah, but . . ."to excuse their actions; Naval Navigators, who measure their progress against the constant stars; Fruit Farmers, who graft branches from one variety of apple tree onto the trunk of another variety; and Divorcees. (The blizzard of metaphors blinded me to the purpose of including Divorcees.)
But despite these few drawbacks, the book is valuable. It can help the pastor personally. It can be a valuable tool for use in the midweek service.
