As I have mentioned before, I am not a big fan of devotional books for a variety of reasons. Often the topic of the book requires much more depth than a short daily reading allows. “40 Days of Doubt” by Eric Huffman is no exception.

Before I get into reasons I did not enjoy this book, I do want to point out a couple positives. I really appreciate the author’s candor throughout the book, for sharing his experiences and change in beliefs. He also does a surprisingly good job of explaining objective truth and the source of morality.

I did struggle to really enjoy these things though, in the face of so many careless statements. Many things he said throughout the devotional I would normally overlook such as “It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship”, but considering the sheer amount of them made it difficult to do so.

In addition to the aforementioned careless, yet somewhat harmless statements there were many equally careless glaring errors, such as the author claimed that Jesus doubted and was unsure of the plan of crucifixion (incorrectly citing Luke 22:42).

There was a day in this 40 day devotional that I took particular issue with. Huffman seems to claim that Jesus did not need to die in order to forgive our sins. Potentially, he could have simply been playing “Devil’s advocate,” and didn’t sufficiently clarify, but if he believes it, which may be supported by a statement later in the chapter “Why did Jesus have to die? To send a message about forgiveness,” it is a very dangerous belief that flies in the face of scripture which teaches that our salvation hinges on the death and resurrection of Christ.

Theological errors aside, this book sets out to engage what the preface describes as “Part-time Believers and full-time skeptics,” which is concerning in itself. For those with intellectual doubts, a 40 day devotional is probably not going to be the best resource. One simply cannot devote enough space that the topics require and there were an unfortunate amount of objections brought up that were left inadequately addressed.

Overall, the apologetic of the book was mediocre. He does address more than just doubts about the existence of God, he addresses other topics such as doubts about quality of life, doubts about sex and relationships, and doubts about faith and science.

For the biblically informed Christian, this book will be a cringey read at best. For the new Christian, this book may be misleading over things the Bible is very clear on.



I received an e-copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.