Cover Image: Loving Well in a Broken World

Loving Well in a Broken World

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Member Reviews

A beautiful cover, but far too many attempts to seem relevant and woke for my liking. It was apparent that I disagree politically with the author. I know most Christians would too, which makes me question the author’s Biblical soundness.

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Parts of this book were really lovely, encouraging empathy in a world that is so divided. However, other sections felt a bit dismissive which could be problematic.

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Good use of scripture mixed in with teaching. The stories point to Jesus again and again. The teachings of this book will remind us again and again of the life Jesus calls us to, even in our divided world.

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What a book so fitting for our current social climate. It touched upon many different areas searching for resolutions to many of our indifference. Placing yourself in their perspective and drawing to a place of empathy really can be binding rather than dividing. I felt Loving Well in a Broken World embraced what the author intended. I found her thoughts and commentary enlightening and many of the call to actions and empathetic suggestions resonated with my own decision of how I treat and interact with other people. I found the interjections of her family and personal experiences interesting especially the dynamics of her family. The decision to adopt two children who had different ethnic backgrounds is such a wonderful thing to do. It also added another perspective that was interesting to read how it shaped her relationships. Sprinkles of her faith and scriptures in between, this was a nice read that will leave you feeling good.

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Casper speaks to the unspoken concept of giving empathy to those you dislike or disagree with. A hard concept to grasp if you are one that survives on your emotions. A challenging read, something to engage one that wants to grow in their character.

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This is an excellent book. The author is transparent and honest about who she is and what she has learned that has helped her to love well. It's something we all need to continually learn about.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

"Loving Well in a Broken World" by Lauren Casper emphasizes the ideas of compassion and empathy as the keys to loving people well. Casper argues that often we don't love well because we do not understand others and we do not respect their experiences as equal to our own, intentionally or unintentionally.

Casper is easy to read because she's been there. I love learning from the stories of others, so Casper's storytelling style is very engaging. She is honest about her own mistakes, so it makes me feel as though I can trust her. You can tell this topic hits close to home for her.

This book was a great Christian read. It didn't provide me with new tips or hints, but it did give me another lens through which to view compassion and empathy. Overall, I gave this book four stars.

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There’s a song that I learnt from my childhood that goes like this;
“This is my first commandment, that you love one another, that your joy may be full”
Most likely you do know it. And it’s not just kids who need to live by, and practice the message of this song, but every human being, especially Christians, those of us who are recipients of God’s love.
As any honest human being is aware, showing love is something tough, very difficult, although it is the trait that is naturally longing to all of us. So, when I saw the title of this book, it brought about an interest upon me as I need to learn how to love others, especially those who are unlike me.
I’d like to thank the author for taking her time to pen this book, and I hope those who read it may be able to glean a thing or two as to how they may practically live out this calling.
Nonetheless, I’ve got a concern that the author failed to bring out the reason why we ought to love. As such, I find how she structured it is a bit moralistic, and as a human being, I know that I won’t be able to perfectly love others as I ought to, and thus at the end of the day will make me to despair! I’d have loved this book better if she started off by reminding readers that the motive and reason why we ought to love others is because of the Gospel. Because of God having already first loved us, and saved us, thus, from this loci, we are to show love as an outworking for God’s love for us. Secondly, another concern I have with the book is that she’s relying too much on CRT and intersectionality theories to bring out her ideas, and I can say that this is due to her failure on not anchoring her thesis on the Gospel. Thirdly, as an African, the book is full of white liberal do-gooderisms of which I find very offensive! In an effort to point others who are not like her, i.e. conservatives, she has merely succeeded in showing the self-righteousness of white liberals which us blacks hate, like claiming that the policies (political) which she supports are about showing love to others, but as an African, or blacks in general is aware, it is those policies which have devastated our communities whilst some consider them as love, which isn’t.
To finish off, I’m giving this book 2 stars as of now, but I hope that should the author consider penning a follow up to this one, I’d request that she begins with the Gospel (kerygma) first as the anchor and foundation for her teaching (Didache) in order to bring out clearly her thesis.

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