The Ransomed Heart: A Collection of Devotional Readings

by John Eldredge

For millions of people, reading the writings of John Eldredge has been a deep and profound experience, generating a hunger to integrate his ideas and insights into their daily lives. Meeting that need in an innovative way, The Ransomed Heart features 365 daily readings gleaned from John's best-known works, including Wild at Heart, Captivating, Waking the Dead, The Journey of Desire, The Sacred Romance, and Epic . More than a daily devotional, this volume is a portable library that will prompt readers to soulful reflection and deeper intimacy with God.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Devotional, Spirituality, Christian Living, Christianity, Faith

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

John Eldredge is an American author, counselor, and lecturer on Christianity. He is known for his best-selling book Wild at Heart.

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

John is currently one of the controversial voices in Christianity. Yet not in the way most are; those on the left and those on the right dislike him equally. If you do a Google search on John Eldredge and Wild at Heart, you will get sites praising him as a new voice for Christianity and for men, and just as many condemning him and his writings as heretical. John is best known for his book Wild at Heart, which has been sweeping through churches across North America and the world. On the community forum on his ministry’s website, http://www.ransomedheart.com/forum/ there are members from around the world.

What is this book about? It is a devotional reader, it has 365 meditations or excerpts from his other writings, The Sacred Romance, Wild At Heart, Waking the Dead, Journey of Desire, Epic and Captivating. This book would be a great primer on John’s thought or as a reminder for a fan who has read his works. It’s like borrowing a book from a friend who has underlined the best passages and you skim those to get the guts of the book. This is “the guts” of his full progression of thought.

You might ask what is the basic idea of his works? I would say that it is three-fold; first that our hearts are good, second that we need to learn to listen to our hearts, and finally we need to be living from our true hearts or our truest self. Waking The Dead begins with a quote “The Glory of God is man fully alive,” Saint Irenaeus. One of the things I like about this book, and all of John’s writings, is that he draws from such varied sources; he loves to quote from movies and use movie illustrations, and he draws from a wide range of Christian sources- the desert fathers, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, Chesterton and many, many more.

This book would be great to get a feel for what the controversy is all about, or to keep beside your bed and randomly open each night for a little reminder that your heart is good and that it matters to God.

(First Published in Imprint 2005-10-14 as 'Small Reminders of Faith')

[Kt Roth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful excerpts. Not particularly sensical order but my suggestion is to read his books as this is only excerpts. This author has been under fire multiple times for various writings. I’ve read several and found “Sacred Romance” and “Epic” particularly good. I read “Journey of Desire” and found that it’s message found in my soul a resonating, YES!

[Philip Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

John touches the heart and makes us all remember that the spiritual path to God is a battle that runs through our heart!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of devotions. Some of them were hard to understand.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just excerpts from other John Eldrige books, so there isn't necessarily a lot of continuity. Someone gave me this book or else I probably wouldn't have read it. I'm always reluctant to read books and authors that are hyped up--especially if they're hyped up in Christian bookstores. However, this came at a good time for me, and I found it inspiring. Someday when my list of more theological books to read shortens, I'll probably read one of his complete books.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

a daily devotional i still use.

[Sunan]

This is one of my bathroom books. A good cross section of Eldredge and Curtis.

[Jessica Sanders]

Not finished reading, but not currently reading, lol. Beautiful beautiful book.

[Olivia]

The readings really brought me to the heart of who God is for me and how He wants that special relationship with me. That's why He sent His only Son Jesus - for me.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sat on the back of my toilet for ages. (That's a compliment, BTW.) It's all stuff from his other books, but good for a quick devotional.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much like Max Lucado books this is a book that he can get his message across in one page. Of course this is a devotional book, but I prefer to read a bunch of pages at a time.

[Scott N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great devotional book for anyone.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

It just depends on how much you enjoy reading books by John Eldredge... If you enjoy his books you'll probably enjoy his devotionals.

[Samantha Godsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Failed to flow like his other works.

[Sara St.John · Rating 5 out of 5]

great devotional

[Harold Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book of devotionals tken fron his previous writings

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tyler and I started reading this together a long time ago - still not finished.

[Lisa Mockus · Rating 5 out of 5]

great compilation of his writings