The Way of the Wild Heart: A Map for the Masculine Journey

By John Eldredge

Book Overview

This is a book about how a boy'and a man'becomes a man. It's a guide to the process of masculine initiation, that ancient path every boy and man must take if they would become the man they long to be. The path whereby they come to "know" they are a man, and are able to live and love from a deep, centered strength. We live in a time where most men (and boys) are essentially fatherless. Whatever their circumstance, they have no man actually taking them "through" the many adventures, trials, battles and experiences they need to shape a masculine heart within them. They find themselves on their own to figure life out, and that is a lonely place to be. Their fears, anger, boredom, and their many addictions all come out of this fatherless place within them, a fundamental uncertainty in the core of their being. But there is a way. "We aren't meant to figure life out on our own," says John Eldredge. "God "wants" to father us." In "The Way of the Wild Heart," Eldredge reveals how God comes to a man and takes him on the masculine journey, how nearly all the events of a man's life can come togther to provide the initiation he never received. And how parents can offer that initiation to their sons. Whatever your age may be, your Father is ready to take up your journey. For you "are" his son.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785206779
• ISBN13: 9780785206774
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Nelson Books
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The beginning of an insightful journey!!

My husband shared this book with me and some of its contents. He absolutely loves this book and helped him get through a tough time in our marriage.

Excelente!!!!

Excelente libro que nos enseña cosas que como hombres ya adultos no imaginamos que son importantes para nuestra vida masculina desde niños y que son aun más importantes cuando llegamos a ser Padres. Y ayuda a reonocer la importancia del padre en la vida del hijo, pero tambien que la mujer es parte importante del alma masculina.

A remarkable book with deep spiritual truths for all who will listen

John Eldredge is a man of real courage. Who else would be brave enough to write about the core issues that most, if not all, men face; issues that are the source of our greatest pain, issues that result in unconscious actions and thoughtless words, issues that when unresolved, make us less than the men God intended us to be? Unfortunately, for every one man with the courage and insight of John Eldredge, there are hundreds of uninitiated men who will levy their intellectual attacks at him, whether in the guise of pseudo-literary criticism (usually from those who have never written anything more than a book review) or wrapped in the protective blanket of self-righteousness (usually from those without the courage to walk the spiritual path that Eldredge has dedicated his life to helping other men find). It's a sad commentary on masculinity. This book is the real deal. In it, John Eldredge speaks to the issues most men are afraid to discuss. Without the ability to face these issues, even good men can turn to surface satisfactions and distractions such as compulsive work, obsessions, addictions, and self-destruction. Thanks to John Eldredge, any man who feels this inner longing for something more, something deeper, more spiritual, more masculine, can use his book to find their way whether they have a father to help them or not. Does he make reference to movies, myth, and images to bring life and clarity to his points? Yes, and the result is a collection of powerful stories that each contain great truths. Eldredge is teaching in the way that all great teachers have taught: by seeking to reach his listeners rather than pleasing the self-righteous pedants who will stand on the sidelines of life and throw their verbal darts at the few men like Eldredge that are actually on the field, muddy, bruised, and exhausted attempting to lead others to the path of hope, spirit, and life. I loved this book, as I loved Wild at Heart. I'm a better man for having read it, a better husband to my wife, a better father to my children, a better Papa to my grandchildren, and I pray, a better servant of my Creator. Thank God for John Eldredge. Thank God he had the courage to write this important book. Buy a copy for yourself, for your son, and one for all the young men you know who are attempting to find their way to God and to the heart of what it means to be a righteous man in the world. Jim Huling author of Choose Your Life!: A Powerful, Proven Method for Creating the Life You Want

Wild at Heart II

Having read the first half of the book, I was starting to think it was more of an in-depth work book of 'Wild at Heart'. But then I started learning new things that made the whole book worth while reading. It only takes one paragraph from a book like this to help a man bring parts of his life into perspective that he has been struggling with. 'Wild at Heart' did this for me and now 'The Way of the Wild Heart' has also enlightened me on certain subjects that I was not getting answers on from elsewhere. Thank-you John Eldredge for stepping out and publishing a very personal book like this. I know your books have touched many a man's heart, and have also shown them what it takes to raise their son's to become men of God. I would urge you to overlook the negative reviews of this book. I really don't think the negative reviewers understand what the author is trying to get across. This book is not the definite guide book to being a man, nor does the author want you to feel that way. Even though he heavily explores an important aspect of being a man, he does not leave out the other ones. In fact he does a good job of covering all the different aspects that the negative reviewers are saying he rejects! The readers are not only shown how to implement what is shown in this book into their lives, but into their sons lives. I would encourage all men, religious or non-religious, fathers or not, to read this book.

A must read

I think that the reviewers who give John's books poor ratings read it from the mind of logic or analysis, but forget that it truly IS from the heart that we come to know and experience God...for that IS where He abides in the heart of a Christian individual. Nobody has "made" John the expert, and nobody has said he was...infact, if one reads into John's book, they will see that he does not proclaim himslef to be, but simply...he writes on what God has given him to experience and what he has observed. Life is the same way. Albeit, if one is truly experience a life totally and completely surrendered to Christ, then they have received God's Spirit--who gives us understanding, direction, and wisdom. Thank you John, for allowing God to use you in your writing. Praise Yeshua HaMeshiac for His wonder love, passion, and even beauty that can be found in the heart of the redeemed man. Despite the critics, they truly have their own agendas or biases...because even they are diametrically oppossed to allowing God/Holy Spirit to examine and take them deep into their hearts. I recommend this book to all!