Book Review: The God Who Weeps

I was very much looking forward to reading The God Who Weeps by Terryl and Fiona Givens because it had received favorably reviews from a few people I trust.  And maybe that was my first mistake. If a book or movie is hyped a lot, I usually expect too much and end up disappointed.  This was not a bad book, but reading it wasn't the amazing, wonderful, eye-opening experience I had expected.

The God Who Weeps is basically "The Plan of Salvation" explained to non-Mormon readers.  To their credit, the authors avoid many of the catch phrases that have become almost trite and cliché in Mormon circles.  They also reference and quote a wide-ranging selection of theologians, philosophers, and poets.  I actually loved this about the book.  As Mormons, we sometimes tend to stick to our scriptures and quotes from the General Authorities, but they presented "the world's" words to support their own.  One of my favorite paragraphs is from the notes section where they explain their use of these non-Mormon sources citing Doctrine and Covenants 68:4.  It is usually taken to mean that when the leaders of the church speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost that what they say is scripture.  Here they seem to use the broader interpretation that when any servant of God speaks when moved by the Holy Ghost, it is scripture.

The biggest issue I had with this book is that the authors fall into a trap that is common not just in the Mormon world, but in the world in general.  People tend to think that what they think and feel and how they respond is how everyone thinks, feels, and responds.  I felt like there were assertions made in this book that everyone feels X, therefore Y is true.  I get into more details on that in the individual discussions for book group, but I wanted to put it out here now.  I also felt that they sometimes made statements implying that because A exists, B must therefore logically follow.  Again, we see this a lot in church, and even in the scriptures, but I don't think it is always true.

Is the book worth reading?  Absolutely, but don't expect to like or agree with everything.  I am very much looking forward to writing more about individual chapters and discussing them in the online book  group.  The book is worth buying, even if it is only for the 2 page Epilogue, which I loved.