This is an important book that I have been grappling with for months. Its purpose is to help readers understand who we are and who God calls us to be. The writer emphasises the importance of knowing ourselves, stating that grace makes it possible to look honestly at ourselves and that we will learn to know ourselves only by knowing the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

The book is structured around nine factors from which our identity is constructed - the writer looks at these in turn, and at how these issues are addressed in the Bible. The nine factors are: an individual's body and psychological make-up; their history; relations; 'self-interpreting, self-directing memory'; commitments; actions; boundaries; ongoing process of change; and future.

Great emphasis is given to conversion and identity-formation being processes rather than merely events: we are called to walk with Christ and be continually, daily, dying and rising with Christ. The writer is strong in his views of churches which do not emphasise this truth and which do not help their members in discipleship. Snodgrass is also scathing of white supremacists such as 'Christian Identity' which disregard and distort the teachings of Christianity.

I found this book very useful in many ways, from its discussion of Bonhoeffer's concept of 'cheap grace', to the description of faith as walking, with examples from Old and New Testaments, to the idea of a 'summoning self' that says we were created in the image of God and should live like it.

Highly recommended.

I received this ebook free in return for an honest review.

WHO GOD SAYS YOU ARE: A Christian Understanding of Identity by Klyne R. Snodgrass

WHO GOD SAYS WE ARE by Klyne Snodgrass covers a topic that sounds overwhelming and intimidating, but is rather an important core issue for every human – identity. By “identity,” Snodgrass means what “makes me me;” and since we all have a divine Creator Who made us the people we are for some distinct purposes, there can be no more important question for anyone to answer, but especially Christians. “Why did God make me like this, and does my life reflect who I really am?” But rather than a stuffy anthropological or philosophical treatise, Snodgrass does a wonderful job of demonstrating and explaining this issue in compelling and inviting ways.
After establishing the fact that only Christians have the ability to truly understand themselves – as opposed to all non-Christians – because we know our Maker; then the meat of the book discourses on nine factors the author says comprise the total makeup of our true identities. Quickly, those factors are: Our body; our history; our relations (and relationships); our self-interpreting of our memories; our chosen commitments; our actions; our boundaries; our ongoing change in temperament and styles of living; and the future we see for ourselves. The theme and goal of this timely book when “identity” is in so much confusion in the world, is that we can only truly understand ourselves by understanding the God Who not only created us, but loves us. Highly recommended.

I expected more theology and less philosophy. There were a lot of biblical references used to support the author's position but I was expecting more biblical theology to be the driving factor. I only read about half the book before deciding it wasn't for me.