THE SACRED ROMANCE
By Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

The Sacred Romance is a truly marvellous and awe-inspiring book. In it the reader is taken on a journey of life, a Dickensian journey of examination and fresh revelation of who we really are. Just as the unhappy and joyless Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old colleague in 'A Christmas Carol', Curtis and Eldredge invite their audience to listen to "[the] voice [that] speaks to us in the midst of all we are doing." As we settle into life's routines this voice suggests that there is something missing in all of this, there is something more. This voice, claim the authors, "is God speaking to us in our heart." From this point the reader is led on a breath-taking exposition of the fundamental idea of Christianity, that of the personal relationship with God, our creator.

This exposition is fascinating and ultimately imaginative. Towards the end of the book imagination is twinned with one of the three graces, hope, and is seen as vital for the life of our hearts. This life-affirming imagination is evident throughout the book as Curtis and Eldredge reveal the drama that is being played out around us and through us. Drawing from a refreshingly wide range of sources (e.g. film, music, nature, poetry), the Sacred Romance delivers the supremely hopeful message that, far from distant and detached in some way from the world, God calls to each of us through all our experience of this life.

The antithesis to God's wooing of us to himself, all that which tries to dissuade us of the existence of the Sacred Romance and to convince us to settle for "the quiet life…with no alarms and no surprises" is called The Message of the Arrows. Taking the title from Psalm 91:5 which exhorts us not to fear 'the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day', Curtis and Eldredge present a concept of evil that is at once deeply penetrating and long-lasting (removed from any idea of a malignant voice in one's ear and allowing a more profound view of the enemy's attacks) as well as being quite clearly identifiable as needing (and crucially, being able to receive) the healing of our loving God and Father.

The Sacred Romance presents a beautifully moving and deeply exciting view of life, revitalising for this reader the promise of Jesus to give us life to the full. I experienced a renewed vigour and desire to engage more fully in the drama that God has planned for my life, to reject the 'less-wild lovers' that would attempt to placate and anaesthetise my heart and to be embrace by the One who would call me His beloved.

Jonathan Wilson