Interesting read, but not Ravi's best work
Dr. Ravi Zacharias is one of the best modern Christian Apologists in the world today. I have read several of his books, listened to his radio program for years, and heard him lecture in person. In the Grand Weaver Ravi takes a more reflective approach and provides an interesting read. Ravi describes how God works in our lives, sometimes in very subtle ways. Full of stories and pragmatic examples, this book is different than most his other works, and can be very beneficial to Christians. I found his discussion about worship, prayer, and the Eucharist to be very useful.
While I think he is overall successful in conveying his message to the reader, I do not think this books reflects the best of Dr. Zacharias work. I have heard the lectures and presentations that are used for the basis of the book, and I feel like the audio versions are much better than the book. It seems like not as much effort as usual was put into making the book as strong as the original presentation. I am probably holding Dr. Zacharias to a very high standard, but I think it is fair to say that this book when into print a little too quickly.
If you like Dr. Zacharias' radio program I think you will enjoy this book. It is not very long, and there is plenty of solid content to learn from and grow.
Just not well done
I love Ravi. I agree for the most part with his basic premise here. I enjoyed some of the stories annecdotes.
But that being said reading this book was an awful chore that I had to slog through. Maybe it is just me; maybe it's the style it was written. I don't know what exactly it was, but I had a very hard time with this book. Not the concepts, or the material ... it just didn't capture me, I found it hard to plow through I didn't want to read it.
He Is In Love With The Lord
Great! This man is truly in love with Jesus Christ and uses many life situations to show where God is working.
Intellectually Bankrupt
The introduction starts out telling the story of an Indian father/son weaving team creating beautiful saris out of thread, then uses this as evidence in a rather absurd leap:
"Now if an ordinary weaver can take a collection of colored threads and create a garment to beautify the face, is it not possible that the Grand Weaver has a design in mind for you, a design that will adorn you as he uses your life to fashion you for his purpose, using all the threads within his reach."
It's downhill from there. Lots of colorful analogies that hold no bearing on the conclusions he draws from them outside the visual metaphor he creates. But I'll be honest, I couldn't bring myself to finish it after getting half way through. Perhaps all the really great stuff is left for the end. I doubt it.
Know the genre...
I often read books by C.S. Lewis and A.W. Tozer, and Ravi Zacharias had written a rather succinct introduction to one of those author's books. I expected his book to therefore be similar. While it is a well written book, it is more inspirational in flavor than I typically prefer. If you are looking for a book similar to Max Lucado's style, with a little more theology and a little less story telling, this is probably a good fit for you.
(22 reviews)
