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Good News for Anxious Christians: 10 Practical Things You Don't Have to Do
Like a succession of failed diet regimens, the much-touted techniques that are supposed to bring us closer to God "in our hearts" can instead make us feel anxious, frustrated, and overwhelmed. How can we meet and know God with ongoing joy rather than experiencing the Christian life as a series of guilt-inducing disappointments?
Phillip Cary explains that knowing God is a gradual, long-term process that comes through the gospel experienced in Christian community, not a to-do list designed to help us live the Christian life "right." This clearly written book covers ten things Christians don't have to do to be close to God, such as hear God's voice in their hearts, find God's will for their lives, and believe their intuitions are the Holy Spirit. Cary skillfully unpacks the riches of traditional Christian spirituality, bringing the real good news to Christians of all ages.
Phillip Cary explains that knowing God is a gradual, long-term process that comes through the gospel experienced in Christian community, not a to-do list designed to help us live the Christian life "right." This clearly written book covers ten things Christians don't have to do to be close to God, such as hear God's voice in their hearts, find God's will for their lives, and believe their intuitions are the Holy Spirit. Cary skillfully unpacks the riches of traditional Christian spirituality, bringing the real good news to Christians of all ages.
220 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
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January 22, 2012
Phillip Cary is tired of undergraduate students arriving in his philosophy courses at Eastern University, wondering how they can really "let go and let God," "hear God's voice in their heart," "find God's will for their life," and fulfill any number of distinctly evangelical mantras that seem only to produce anxiety. Cary believes these mantras, which emphasize intuition and inner experience over external words of wisdom, are powerful but unbiblical outgrowths of a "new evangelical psychology" that's grown in popularity only in the past 30 years. "Good News for Anxious Christians" aims to dismantle the power these mantras have among American Christians and to encourage readers to rest: to rest in God's word, the presence of fellow believers, and the knowledge that it is God, not us, who secures our futures and salvation. Salvation comes to us, not in us.
While Cary's goal to ease evangelical readers' spiritual nerves is worthy, his rejection of internal experience and intuition as appropriate ways of knowing God is, in my estimation, asking readers to follow a God who does not communicate personally to and with them. In other words, in place of a therapeutic God who just wants you to land the right job and marry the perfect Christian, Cary suggests a God who acted once definitively in history, through the life of Christ, and is now "out there," waiting for us to intellectually accept his gospel and leave the rest of personal concerns to our own and others' wisdom. Sounds to me a bit like deism. What of the countless number of believers, in the Bible and throughout Christian tradition, who attest to an internal experience of the living God as the impetus for their conversion and continued faith? Does God not speak to us today except through his Word? Doesn't the Bible itself serve to point us outside itself to a God living and active in our world?
I am guilty of the experiential excesses Cary takes on in this book, and to that end the book tempered my conflating of intuition with the Holy Spirit. But in the end I'd rather be an anxious Christian who knows that God is interested in Katelyn Beaty, than a supposedly tranquil Christian for whom the gospel is something to intellectually ascent to, not something in which to live, move, and have my being.
While Cary's goal to ease evangelical readers' spiritual nerves is worthy, his rejection of internal experience and intuition as appropriate ways of knowing God is, in my estimation, asking readers to follow a God who does not communicate personally to and with them. In other words, in place of a therapeutic God who just wants you to land the right job and marry the perfect Christian, Cary suggests a God who acted once definitively in history, through the life of Christ, and is now "out there," waiting for us to intellectually accept his gospel and leave the rest of personal concerns to our own and others' wisdom. Sounds to me a bit like deism. What of the countless number of believers, in the Bible and throughout Christian tradition, who attest to an internal experience of the living God as the impetus for their conversion and continued faith? Does God not speak to us today except through his Word? Doesn't the Bible itself serve to point us outside itself to a God living and active in our world?
I am guilty of the experiential excesses Cary takes on in this book, and to that end the book tempered my conflating of intuition with the Holy Spirit. But in the end I'd rather be an anxious Christian who knows that God is interested in Katelyn Beaty, than a supposedly tranquil Christian for whom the gospel is something to intellectually ascent to, not something in which to live, move, and have my being.
December 27, 2021
Groundbreaking.
At times, I felt like this book was written for me. Although the title is kinda dumb (felt like a bit of a loser when someone saw me reading it), I really hope that doesn’t deter anyone from approaching the book. As someone with a disposition of worry and someone who was brought up immersed in Pentecostalism, so much of this resonated with me. The chapters ‘Why You Don’t Have to Hear God’s Voice in Your Heart’ and ‘Why You Don’t Have to Believe Your Intuitions Are the Holy Spirit’ we’re especially great. I’d recommend this book for those chapters alone (especially for all my Penty homies). I also really valued how Cary noted that a lot of this thinking today is not the fault of young individuals, but it comes down to this sort of ‘peer pressure environment’. I thought it was really helpful and kind of him to mention that.
The chapters ‘Why You Don’t Have to “Find God’s Will for Your Life”’, ‘Why You Don’t Have to Keep Getting Transformed All the Time’ and ‘Why “Applying It to Your Life” Is Boring’ were all so good. The latter is especially crucial.
This book is not liberal physiological mush, but sticks close to the Word and is wholeheartedly Christ focused. The gospel really is good news.
“The new evangelical theology directs people to find God in their hearts, rather than turning their attention to the external word of Christ, the gospel, which is what the Holy Spirit uses to form Christian hearts. It is especially destructive when young people are trained to listen to the intuitions of their unformed hearts as if they were the voice of God.”
At times, I felt like this book was written for me. Although the title is kinda dumb (felt like a bit of a loser when someone saw me reading it), I really hope that doesn’t deter anyone from approaching the book. As someone with a disposition of worry and someone who was brought up immersed in Pentecostalism, so much of this resonated with me. The chapters ‘Why You Don’t Have to Hear God’s Voice in Your Heart’ and ‘Why You Don’t Have to Believe Your Intuitions Are the Holy Spirit’ we’re especially great. I’d recommend this book for those chapters alone (especially for all my Penty homies). I also really valued how Cary noted that a lot of this thinking today is not the fault of young individuals, but it comes down to this sort of ‘peer pressure environment’. I thought it was really helpful and kind of him to mention that.
The chapters ‘Why You Don’t Have to “Find God’s Will for Your Life”’, ‘Why You Don’t Have to Keep Getting Transformed All the Time’ and ‘Why “Applying It to Your Life” Is Boring’ were all so good. The latter is especially crucial.
This book is not liberal physiological mush, but sticks close to the Word and is wholeheartedly Christ focused. The gospel really is good news.
“The new evangelical theology directs people to find God in their hearts, rather than turning their attention to the external word of Christ, the gospel, which is what the Holy Spirit uses to form Christian hearts. It is especially destructive when young people are trained to listen to the intuitions of their unformed hearts as if they were the voice of God.”
February 13, 2011
There is great wisdom in this book that might relieve some Christian's distress. Unfortunately, it is packed together with overstatement ("So the idea of loving God unselfishly is silly and arrogant..." - tell that to Bernard of Clairvaux) and some tiresome and repetitious prose. I like Phillip Cary a great deal - have heard him speak and his Teaching Company lectures are excellent. This book is missing most of the historical, philosophical and theological context I have seen him display in other contexts and has too few real examples from life or Scripture to be consistently engaging. And that is a shame, because as I said, it also has some deep wisdom.
Cary takes on what he describes as the "new evangelical theology" and its inward focus. His chapter titles include "Why You Don't Have to Hear God's Voice in Your Heart," "Why You Don't Have to 'Find God's Will for Your Life," and "Why 'Applying It to Your Life' is Boring." Instead of an inward focus on feelings, experiences, and motivations, he reminds us of the objective work accomplished by Christ and the freedom that provides Christians to act in the larger world. When he sticks to telling the gospel story, his prose sparkles. Most of the time though he is explicating his chapter titles and that explication is rougher.
It is rough because the ideas of the "new evangelical theology" are vague and require more fleshing out. As it is it feels at time like he is combating strawmen. Cary needs to name names (the few times he does it are uneven - Prayer of Jabez, fair enough, but Dallas Willard? You need to say more) or at least provide more concrete examples of the errors he sees being made. He starts with examples from his students - they are not substantial. I, too, react against the evangelical language he describes, but I also reacted against some of his characterization of what it actually means.
He also claims it is a new theology, but I think it has much deeper roots going back through Keswick (which he briefly acknowledges) and Pentecostalism, through 19th century revivalism, back through Pietists and Puritan sources that focused on deep inwardness and self-examination. I think Cary knows this, but tried to write a popular book stripped of historical context. Of course, there is also a modern context, set in American consumer society, which Cary talks about repeatedly, but never explicates all that thoughtfully.
Cary solutions of acting like adults (God's stewards), cultivating the virtues, loving your neighbor, and hearing the gospel repeatedly (he obviously did not grow up with weekly altar calls in the service or he would clarify this a bit more) are good medicine. Good objective Lutheran/Anglican medicine. Of course, history would show that much of what he is writing against arose, albeit in a more distant past, as a reaction against the failures of this approach (see Puritans, Pietists, Kierkegaard, the marketing of American Protestantism).
So I would recommend this book, but with reservations. I will dip into it in the future, especially the good parts that I have marked, but am glad my reading it all the way through has been completed.
Cary takes on what he describes as the "new evangelical theology" and its inward focus. His chapter titles include "Why You Don't Have to Hear God's Voice in Your Heart," "Why You Don't Have to 'Find God's Will for Your Life," and "Why 'Applying It to Your Life' is Boring." Instead of an inward focus on feelings, experiences, and motivations, he reminds us of the objective work accomplished by Christ and the freedom that provides Christians to act in the larger world. When he sticks to telling the gospel story, his prose sparkles. Most of the time though he is explicating his chapter titles and that explication is rougher.
It is rough because the ideas of the "new evangelical theology" are vague and require more fleshing out. As it is it feels at time like he is combating strawmen. Cary needs to name names (the few times he does it are uneven - Prayer of Jabez, fair enough, but Dallas Willard? You need to say more) or at least provide more concrete examples of the errors he sees being made. He starts with examples from his students - they are not substantial. I, too, react against the evangelical language he describes, but I also reacted against some of his characterization of what it actually means.
He also claims it is a new theology, but I think it has much deeper roots going back through Keswick (which he briefly acknowledges) and Pentecostalism, through 19th century revivalism, back through Pietists and Puritan sources that focused on deep inwardness and self-examination. I think Cary knows this, but tried to write a popular book stripped of historical context. Of course, there is also a modern context, set in American consumer society, which Cary talks about repeatedly, but never explicates all that thoughtfully.
Cary solutions of acting like adults (God's stewards), cultivating the virtues, loving your neighbor, and hearing the gospel repeatedly (he obviously did not grow up with weekly altar calls in the service or he would clarify this a bit more) are good medicine. Good objective Lutheran/Anglican medicine. Of course, history would show that much of what he is writing against arose, albeit in a more distant past, as a reaction against the failures of this approach (see Puritans, Pietists, Kierkegaard, the marketing of American Protestantism).
So I would recommend this book, but with reservations. I will dip into it in the future, especially the good parts that I have marked, but am glad my reading it all the way through has been completed.
September 20, 2019
YES & NO
I’ve just finished reading this book for the 4th time as I teach it in my spiritual formation class. Each time I read it, I alternate between wanting to throw it away and yelling “amen” at some of its great pearls. My students generally have the same reaction. Cary describes ten misguided teachings of what he calls “the new evangelical theology” and how they produce enormous anxiety about one’s faith (and for clergy, our teaching and preaching). There is some real wisdom here and the book is certainly worth reading by anyone who has ever been influenced by US evangelical theology (which is almost every Christian).
Where the book goes wrong is Cary’s assumption that his orthodox evangelical view of the Christian faith is both normative and right. Every argument in the book rests upon dichotomies, some of which could easily be nuanced or plain out rejected. He loves a good straw man argument, especially against other faiths and“liberal Protestantism” (which he never defines).
At the same time, enough of my students respond to this book as life-changing in the sense that it frees them from the pressure of having to continually seek God’s will for each and every step of their lives. So I will continue to use it, along with helping them to critique the ideological biases of the author.
I’ve just finished reading this book for the 4th time as I teach it in my spiritual formation class. Each time I read it, I alternate between wanting to throw it away and yelling “amen” at some of its great pearls. My students generally have the same reaction. Cary describes ten misguided teachings of what he calls “the new evangelical theology” and how they produce enormous anxiety about one’s faith (and for clergy, our teaching and preaching). There is some real wisdom here and the book is certainly worth reading by anyone who has ever been influenced by US evangelical theology (which is almost every Christian).
Where the book goes wrong is Cary’s assumption that his orthodox evangelical view of the Christian faith is both normative and right. Every argument in the book rests upon dichotomies, some of which could easily be nuanced or plain out rejected. He loves a good straw man argument, especially against other faiths and“liberal Protestantism” (which he never defines).
At the same time, enough of my students respond to this book as life-changing in the sense that it frees them from the pressure of having to continually seek God’s will for each and every step of their lives. So I will continue to use it, along with helping them to critique the ideological biases of the author.
April 17, 2013
Guess I must not be an anxious Christian. Though I can see this book as being helpful to some I definitely feel that the practical things the author is talking about are differences in definitions of terms. I ended up skimming the book as it became tedious for me.
June 3, 2011
The ideas in this book have absolutely revolutionized my understanding of how God works in our lives as believers. Before reading this book, I had no idea how much of my definition of a "good" Christian was stemming from some basic misunderstandings of ideas like "God's Will" and "Listening to the voice of God", etc. Here's an overly-simplified example: I have often been paralyzed when trying to make a decision because I think I need to be listening more carefully to find out what "God's will" for my life is... Phillip Cary gently reveals that this is not a Biblical understanding of God's will. God's will is both obvious (as revealed in the Bible) and unavoidable (because he is all-powerful and we cannot accomplish anything against his will). God's will is NOT a secret and specific plan for our lives that we must discover. We are called to make wise decisions, not to make "the right" decision in order to be in God's will. This revelation alone was worth the whole book for me, as it has helped me to face some tough choices we've recently had to make. God's will is not a scavenger hunt filled with mystical clues we must interpret and obey. God can work through any of our choices to accomplish his will. What a relief!!
I think the title is incredibly misleading--this is not just a book for "anxious Christians," it is a book for this present generation of Christians who, often through no fault of their own, have incorporated popular spiritual ideas (like "Let go and let God") into their faith without realizing the consequences. It was the subtitle of this book ("10 practical things you DON'T have to do") that actually motivated me to read it. Honestly, I didn't realize how anxious I was about some aspects of my Christian walk until I read this book and realized that I HAD been worrying about many of the issues the author brings up. I find myself being freed from subtle anxieties with every chapter I read.
I think the title is incredibly misleading--this is not just a book for "anxious Christians," it is a book for this present generation of Christians who, often through no fault of their own, have incorporated popular spiritual ideas (like "Let go and let God") into their faith without realizing the consequences. It was the subtitle of this book ("10 practical things you DON'T have to do") that actually motivated me to read it. Honestly, I didn't realize how anxious I was about some aspects of my Christian walk until I read this book and realized that I HAD been worrying about many of the issues the author brings up. I find myself being freed from subtle anxieties with every chapter I read.
December 25, 2011
It was because I listened to some of Phillip Cary's lectures on St. Augustine and on the history of Christian theology that I decided to pick up this book. I admired the lectures, but this was a bit of a disappointment. He provides ten observations, directed at confused evangelical students in his philosophy classes, explaining why what they have been taught in their churches is not orthodox doctrine and need not worry them. He suggests that the theology they are being taught is very new and very wrong. In each case he provides a reasoned antidote, based on Biblical authority. But he doesn't cite any specific examples of people preaching what he claims they preach, nor does he acknowledge that the Bible often argues with itself in these matters. He relies heavily on the parable of the talents, for example, interpreting it to mean that we are called upon to be good stewards, husbanding the resources we have been given. He suggests we should think of this when encouraged in pledge drives to "look in your heart and ask what God wants you to contribute." He suggests taking out a pencil and paper, calculating how much you can afford to give to charity, and then asking yourself whether you want to contribute anything at all to an organization so emotionally manipulative. So far so good. But Jesus also told the rich man to sell all he had and give everything to the poor. How is that reconciled with the parable? The conflict doesn't come up in his discussion. So an interesting book with what are probably (I don't really know) good criticisms of some modern theology. But based too heavily on what he would call orthodox and I would call narrow and selective Biblical interpretation.
January 11, 2024
“Law is about what we do, Gospel is about what Christ does.” Phillip Cary said that on an episode of Mere Fidelity and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. In the same episode this book was recommended and we were off to the races.
Cary points out a lot of things I’ve found uncomfortable about evangelicalism but was unable to put my finger on. The idea that stuck with me the most is that Christianity can become more about selling the lifestyle rather than about the person of Christ. I especially enjoyed the chapter about suffering or “Why you don’t have to feel joy all the time.”
This book won’t be for everyone, but it absolutely found me at the right time.
Cary points out a lot of things I’ve found uncomfortable about evangelicalism but was unable to put my finger on. The idea that stuck with me the most is that Christianity can become more about selling the lifestyle rather than about the person of Christ. I especially enjoyed the chapter about suffering or “Why you don’t have to feel joy all the time.”
This book won’t be for everyone, but it absolutely found me at the right time.
April 29, 2021
Overall for what it was, it was great. Chapter 8 was my favorite, chapters 5 and 6 went a little off track for me. I don't mind people sharing their thoughts on things BUT if you are advertising this book as a Christian book in my mind you need scriptural proof. Sometimes the reading was hard and I had to keep pulling my self back. That being said, the chapters I did like (1-5; 8-10) made the book worth the read.
Read
October 2, 2023This book does a wonderful job of continually pointing to Jesus and showing how the gospel of Jesus Christ really is far, far greater news than we realize. Absolutely loved reading this and seeing how the reality of the cross is glorious beyond what we can imagine, and how that shapes our lives.
December 29, 2019
Read this book!
Read
February 22, 2023Definitely makes you think about so many of the things we take for granted in church and Christianity—whether they are truly biblical or something we just do because we always have.
((The fact it took me seven years to read this book is not a reflection on its quality 😬))
((The fact it took me seven years to read this book is not a reflection on its quality 😬))
March 1, 2024
Phil Cary's writing style can be a bit awkward at times, so I had trouble getting into the book. I'm also not sure if he clearly defined what he calls "the new Evangelical theology." However, for each of the chapters had surprising insights, and I love where he ended the book. On the whole, and important corrective and challenge to many Christian assumptions s we take for granted
September 19, 2025
I’ve delayed writing this review to see whether or not my initial impressions would remain. And remained they have!
This books marks a pivotal point in my understanding of the Christian faith and tradition. Or rather, it finally labels the realizations I have long struggled with.
Cary structures the book as ten rebuttals of deviations from orthodox Christianity, which have come about due to “New Evangelical Theology”—which has come to dominate evangelicalism in the past 60 or so years. Essentially, sound doctrine has been abandoned, and a shaky theology of consumerism has taken its place. Traditions, hymns, etc. are abandoned because they’re “old” or “ritualistic”. Growth is measured in terms of deliverables—be they church growth numbers (for churches) or spiritual milestone experiences (for individuals). Also, a low view of doctrine causes a low view of teaching which makes preaching so…misunderstood. It often ends up catering to us instead of teaching us to be like Jesus!
Now comes the worst mistake, at least to me (speaking from experience): the equating of the Holy Spirit to a feeling or emotion. While few ever explicitly speak of the Holy Spirit this way, it comes out when talking about “finding God’s will for your life”. There is a right way to do this. God wants you to use your discernment—which is Scripture-informed and does indeed come from God—to make decisions. But you still make them. You are a steward, not a robot. Believing you’re directly controlled by God logically leads to a lack of responsibility or else an incongruence that is so very irksome. Worst of all, however, this is straight up idolatry of the heart. Well-intentioned, but very, very wrong.
I could go on very long, but the truth is, you should read the book yourself. I implore you. Especially if you’re an evangelical. Maybe you’ll realize what I’m realizing. Maybe you’ll disagree and maintain that church tradition and orthodoxy still have more errors—you’ll still be wiser for having grappled with this book. Also, from my personal experience, many evangelicals sense that something is vaguely wrong. Why not identify it and reform? It must be done. This theological path has been trodden before, and it leads to a dark place.
This books marks a pivotal point in my understanding of the Christian faith and tradition. Or rather, it finally labels the realizations I have long struggled with.
Cary structures the book as ten rebuttals of deviations from orthodox Christianity, which have come about due to “New Evangelical Theology”—which has come to dominate evangelicalism in the past 60 or so years. Essentially, sound doctrine has been abandoned, and a shaky theology of consumerism has taken its place. Traditions, hymns, etc. are abandoned because they’re “old” or “ritualistic”. Growth is measured in terms of deliverables—be they church growth numbers (for churches) or spiritual milestone experiences (for individuals). Also, a low view of doctrine causes a low view of teaching which makes preaching so…misunderstood. It often ends up catering to us instead of teaching us to be like Jesus!
Now comes the worst mistake, at least to me (speaking from experience): the equating of the Holy Spirit to a feeling or emotion. While few ever explicitly speak of the Holy Spirit this way, it comes out when talking about “finding God’s will for your life”. There is a right way to do this. God wants you to use your discernment—which is Scripture-informed and does indeed come from God—to make decisions. But you still make them. You are a steward, not a robot. Believing you’re directly controlled by God logically leads to a lack of responsibility or else an incongruence that is so very irksome. Worst of all, however, this is straight up idolatry of the heart. Well-intentioned, but very, very wrong.
I could go on very long, but the truth is, you should read the book yourself. I implore you. Especially if you’re an evangelical. Maybe you’ll realize what I’m realizing. Maybe you’ll disagree and maintain that church tradition and orthodoxy still have more errors—you’ll still be wiser for having grappled with this book. Also, from my personal experience, many evangelicals sense that something is vaguely wrong. Why not identify it and reform? It must be done. This theological path has been trodden before, and it leads to a dark place.
April 8, 2020
This book was extremely helpful- if not essential- in establishing my own adult relationship with God based on who the Bible has revealed Him to be, rather than merely basing it on the "doctrine of men" of Western Christianity, which can often be so heavily wrapped in cliches and cultural context that it buries the truth of the Gospel. This book was indeed a relief for anxiety and made for a more free and real understanding of who God is and what it means to be made by Him, to know Him, and to follow Him in the way that we live.
May 16, 2011
I expected more from this book. Good News got bogged down by repetition and lack of good editing. There are lots of seeds of good points and food for thought. The content includes explanation of flaws in leaning on your heart and intuitions as being synonymous with "God's will" or the Holy Spirit, challenging the reader to go back to the solid basis for faith: Scripture. I enjoyed chapter 7 the most, and his discussion of virtue in the Christian life. The author also makes an excellent point about "application" being an erroneous focus for Christian preaching and teaching; the Christin will learn less about living as a Christian by focusing on how to apply truths than they would be simply focusing on Jesus Himself. These are just a few examples of topics covered. Overall, Cary seemed to have less to say about the "anxiety" created in Christians referenced in the title, but more on the problem of "confusion" created in Christians through faulty theology.
I can't say I agreed with every point he makes, but the book will make you think. For some who have had experiences with evangelicalism that left bad tastes in their mouths, this book might free you from those bad experiences, and show how they don't hold up as being representative of all evangelicals.
I can't say I agreed with every point he makes, but the book will make you think. For some who have had experiences with evangelicalism that left bad tastes in their mouths, this book might free you from those bad experiences, and show how they don't hold up as being representative of all evangelicals.
February 1, 2011
This is a good book. I give it a solid three stars. The goodness of it is that it gets at a serious problem in Christian piety. The problem is identified by Cary as "the new evangelicalism." What he means by that is the popular ideas about how to be a good Christian that all just end up making good Christians feel anxious about their spiritual state. They are ideas that turn Christianity into a consumerist religion. His solutions are very sound Lutheran solutions. But in my view, that's the big problem with the book. Cary is an Anglican, but he is theologically a Lutheran. The law/gospel framework out of which he develops his ideas does not allow him to help Christians really engage with the law as part of the gospel. It is WAY better than the nonsense passed off as Christianity in the new evangelicalism, and the focus is definitely the gospel, but I think Lutherans in general (and Cary in this book) miss the point of the law as something unto which Christians have been saved. He focuses so much on justification that sanctification is almost out of the picture for the Christian life altogether. That said, this is a great book for helping people out of the traps of Baptistic thinking, and especially Pentecostalism.
July 28, 2012
Interesting read. A lot of dog-eared pages in this one, and things to ponder. I thought the author made some good points, but...he also made the same points about three times in each chapter. Could have been shorter.
August 17, 2015
A must read for the anxious evangelical and for the confused who wish to understand them better. Warning: this book may set you free or it may set you on fire.
June 29, 2020
I really like this book because it clarified the anxiety I feel when folks feed Christian memes and slogans my way, especially those telling me what I ought to do to experience all kinds of spiritual things, especially Jesus. Carey points out clearly that the point of being a Christian and going to worship is to meet Jesus, repeatedly. It is not to "experience" something that makes us feel better or to "do" something that is "spiritual." Orthodox Christian doctrine and liturgies keep our focus on the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, on the written and spoken word, and participation in the Sacraments. In other words, we are not the center of worship and worship is not for us. Fine book.
November 5, 2017
Overall a good antidote to various functional denials of the objectivity of Christ and the gospel in modern evangelicalism. Some quibbles with his understanding of suffering in the Christian life. Also, Cary probably doesn't have a robust understanding of the third use of the law in sanctification as I'm not sure how one would preach the law faithfully with such a strict dichotomy between "doing"/"believing" as he articulates. Separate to the content, this book is probably mistitled. It really isn't about "anxiety" properly speaking but rather about the ways in which the "new evangelical theology" is spiritually and mentally unhealthy.
July 8, 2022
Silly title, terrible cover, fantastic book.
“Feelings that are properly cultivated become regular and ordinary, not ‘life-changing.’ And it’s this ordinariness that makes the difference in the long haul. You can’t be excited all the time - it’s too exhausting. But you can be ordinary your whole life, and that’s the strength of the ordinary: it lasts for the long haul. When the ordinary person you’ve become is one whose heart is shaped by love, constancy, kindness, and honest, you have a good life. And it’s the good lives that matter in the long run - good parents, good citizens, good Christians.”
This book makes me want to revisit Liturgy of the Ordinary and Atomic Habits.
“Feelings that are properly cultivated become regular and ordinary, not ‘life-changing.’ And it’s this ordinariness that makes the difference in the long haul. You can’t be excited all the time - it’s too exhausting. But you can be ordinary your whole life, and that’s the strength of the ordinary: it lasts for the long haul. When the ordinary person you’ve become is one whose heart is shaped by love, constancy, kindness, and honest, you have a good life. And it’s the good lives that matter in the long run - good parents, good citizens, good Christians.”
This book makes me want to revisit Liturgy of the Ordinary and Atomic Habits.
March 1, 2021
Although I don't think of myself as anxious, I took part in a small group where we read this book. I don't agree with a lot of it as it makes very drastic statements that goes against what I believe in. I can't say it won't help someone, but for me it made me frustrated and wanted to throw the book off my balcony! It does have some good tips and good food for thought about how you should live and view various things in life. Take it with a grain of salt though and don't let it change what you believe in.
October 29, 2024
I always enjoy Philip Cary's work. This was not aimed at me but at a group I have a great deal of personal experience with. I think his biggest problem in this argument is that it's extremely unlikely that very many people will or even can engage in the kind of intellectual grappling with God and the Bible that he encourages. I strongly wish they would and could, but what do we tell people who lack the patience for this? I suspect some traditional forms of Christian devotion will do the job, but I'm not sure, again, not being his target audience.
July 31, 2019
Not what I expected but even better. Phillip Cary does a great job of pointing out Christian cliches or ways of thinking that become so normal amongst Christian but actually upon further observation we see can be quite harmful. He does a good job at the end of the book of tying it back to the gospel and showing us our need for Jesus!
This was an interesting read for me. I would recommend!
This was an interesting read for me. I would recommend!
March 21, 2018
Five stars for chapters 1-6 and 9.
Four stars for chapters 7 and 10.
Two stars for a lot of unnecessary repetition and chapter 8:
So I split the difference and gave it three stars, because I did like this book, and I really liked most of it.
Four stars for chapters 7 and 10.
Two stars for a lot of unnecessary repetition and chapter 8:
So I split the difference and gave it three stars, because I did like this book, and I really liked most of it.
October 11, 2019
Though I don't agree with every critique of evangelicalism this book raises (and found it highly repetitive and in need of editorial trimming), it speaks gospel grace to anxious Christians like me that my past and present church experience needs to hear. Provocative.
February 2, 2021
Terribly written (can you say comma splice...).
However, very great points were made. Some that don’t come full circle, but the intentions and overalls of his points are: thought provoking, provide clarity, and CAN be quite biblically sound.
However, very great points were made. Some that don’t come full circle, but the intentions and overalls of his points are: thought provoking, provide clarity, and CAN be quite biblically sound.
January 12, 2021
This book was far better than I expected it to be. It delves into modern evangelical thinking and how much of it is steeped into our culture and the fabric of our beings. Highly recommend.
October 10, 2021
2.5 stars. I'm not sure I agree with everything Cary shares in this book.
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