Truly Human: Recovering Your Humanity in a Broken World

by Kevin Scherer

Our first parents departed from what it means to be truly human when they ate from the forbidden tree. Ever since, humans have been working with corrupted minds and wills, employing a distorted approach to life. Kevin Scherer calls this psycho-logic, and he knows how it can lead us on a downward spiral to misery. How do we get back to the Garden? By allowing Christ to renew our minds, using the tried-and-true spiritual practices of the Orthodox Faith.

Genres: Christian

160 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2017

Reviews

[Lydia H]

This book is not fancy, deep/philosophical, overly thought provoking… and yet I wept three times. I have a personal rule that books that manage to make me cry get an automatic 5 stars. I’ve read many writings of Saints and monks—and this book isn’t heavily rich in that way—but it is SO concise it. It cuts straight to the point in a way that almost anyone, believer or not, can understand. A wake up call. A slap in the face. Someone grabbing your soul by the shoulders and shaking it. I still don’t understand why I cried, exactly. I was going to give it 4 stars because it didn’t impress me on an intellectual level, but I couldn’t. It touched my heart beyond my own understanding, so I’ll leave it at that.

[Caren]

Very profound and moving

[John]

A really excellent book - I finished it awhile ago and forgot to log it, since I've been reading it with my men's group at church. We've all had many, many great discussions spurred from our reading. Highly recommended.

[Valerie]

As a Christian or a seeker for something greater than self, this book is a treasure. In our broken world, Scherer shows the reader, and yes, encourages the reader, to understand that our humanity is in moving toward our creator in a cycle of blessing: awareness, thanksgiving, offering, and communion. We will find freedom in obedience to God and communion with others. What moves us further into brokenness is the cycle of neurotic suffering which includes victimization, survival, and perpetration that have been passed down through family generations and hardened by the choices we make to alleviate that suffering through the vices of gluttony, lust, self-pity, greed, anger, despair, vanity, and pride. Most of all, what keeps us stuck and apart from living life in fullness is clinging to our habits that are self-centered rather than other-centered. Paradoxically, the virtues of purity, charity, peacefulness, spiritual mourning (realizing how much we have been given and how much we have squandered those talents and gifts), zeal, modesty, and humility bring us to joy, and a closer loving relationship with God and others. This is a small book, but the lessons, and practice that follows are major and big and real.

[Nebiat Gebreselassie]

Insightful and honest

This is one of the most insightful books I have read into the brokenness of our humanity and the ever persistence, zeal and gentleness of God in wanting to heal our heart, mind and spirit with our daily ‘death’ and ‘resurrection’.

[Margaret Ashton]

Wow - another amazing book full of wonderful insights and reframes of spiritual truths. A friend recommended this to me and I’m already planning out who I *NEED* to tell about it! An easy read, too - bonus!

[Elise]

Very accessible book on what it means to be healed of our brokenness from the Eastern Orthodox perspective. Excellent--short but full of wisdom. Highly recommended!

[Alex of Yoe]

This was a refreshingly honest book combining psychology, spirituality, and personal experience to discuss what it means to really be human in a confusing and painful world. I found it extremely encouraging.

This book explores what it means to be human from a Christian perspective and what the biblical narrative of sin and redemption *really* means for our everyday life, especially in regards to hardship, pain, and difficulty. It blends ancient Christian wisdom with modern psychology to walk the reader through what it means to distort one's humanity and how to get it back, all while emphasizing the love of a God Who desires to see us fully become who He made us to be.

I loved how incredibly humble and real this book was. The author is speaking not just from his own studies but from his personal experiences which encompass a ton of terrible, traumatic events, some even self-inflicted. It's obvious that he knows and believes what he's talking about because he's been forced to apply it in his own life. When he speaks of pain, it's not in the theoretical, but it's very, very real, and I think that makes the message of the book more powerful and believable.

I also LOVED how pro-therapy this book is. It tells you very clearly that this is not a stereotypical "self-help" book. The principles are great but the author clearly states that the reader should seek outside help in evaluating themselves, especially from professionals. So many self-help books, especially religious ones, downplay or ignore the significance of therapy and psychological professionals, so I was EXTREMELY encouraged to read one that does the opposite. Huge props to the author for that!

It's also VERY accessible to ANY Christian reader. Although the author is Orthodox, he takes great pains to write in a way that any Christian can read and understand and feel comfortable with regardless of their tradition. It tries very hard to be a book that any Christian can apply, Orthodox or not.

My only complaint (which is extremely subjective) was that I wanted more from it. A lot of the things he talked about were things that I already knew, however I have also been on my own healing journey for a number of years now, so that is probably why. However, it did encourage me that I'm on the right path, and it helped to reinforce some of the things I had discovered or suspected on my own. So, for that, I'm very thankful.

I think this is a great book to read for any Christian. It's practical, honest, gentle, and a very easy read. I definitely recommend it.

[Kristie]

This book was thought-provoking and intriguing from the very start, but I knew this book was special when Scherer, who ministered to the grieving at Ground Zero, expressed seeing himself and all of humanity in the brokenness of the 9/11 perpetrators.

Scherer impressed upon me the brokenness of humanity and the humility required to live “truly human.” Towards the end of the book, he discusses the idea of bright sadness and joyful sorrow - a godly grief. He urges us to experience all of the world and all of ourselves in this joyful sorrow, to weep the brokenness of humanity, but seek the Resurrection. This whole book is fragrant with this godly grief.

Scherer writes from his experiences and those of modern day saints, which makes his abstract concepts practical and accessible. This book is worth meditating upon.

[Loserbeam]

Easy read but holds deep meaning. This book invokes inner change and to challenge the mind to see how we’ve been living versus how we should aim to live. Great personal stories that held weight in my mind even though I did not personally experience them.