The Barbarian Delusion (Book Review of Unleashed: Release the Untamed Faith Within, by Erwin Raphael McManus)

“But then the worst thing happened that could happen to any fighter, you got civilized” – Mick to Rocky in Rocky III.  This is the opening quote of the book, Unleashed: Release the Untamed Faith Within by Erwin Raphael McManus.  I take it that Mick’s point is not that training, practice, proper diets and a disciplined life is counter to the success of a boxer. Mick’s point is that a boxer must never lose that edge that gives spark to the fight, the drive to be a champion. A boxer must never become complacent.

Unleashed exhorts Christians to follow Jesus Christ with reckless abandonment, never settling for the life of complacency. On this simple note, I agree with McManus. Be brave, be bold. Be more than just willing to risk it all, but actually risk it all for the sake of Jesus Christ who gave Himself for me.

McManus rightly understands that “being saved” is not so that you can live a life of “endless comfort, security and indulgence,” and I would agree with him that any portrayal of this type of Christianity is a parody at best and heresy at worst. He is also right to express that Christianity is much much more than “going to heaven when you die.” 

Unfortunately, when it comes to providing a clear, Biblical framework for how we are to understand our hope, the real call to discipleship, and the implications of the invitation of Jesus to “come follow me,” McManus relies more on personal anecdote than solid Biblical exegesis.

The presentation of the material is much closer to the theme and language of Braveheart and Gnosticism-Light than it is understanding how it is that the Triune God delivers believers out of the bondage of sin and empowers them to a life of costly discipleship.

At the end of the first chapter McManus writes, “Risking everything to live free is our only hope – humanity’s only hope.” This statement is highly problematic as it places the weight of our hope in humanity. Humanity’s only hope is not in my risking everything to live free, but that Jesus Christ Himself would set me free from the bondage of sin and death.

Then there is the problem of the denigration of the physical to the elevation of the spiritual. On page 61, McManus writes, “Who you are at the core is spirit.” On page 65, McManus states that being a Christian you are “no longer a prisoner of time and space.” This understanding is false. Humans are at their core both body (material) and spirit (immaterial). And the temporal-spatial nature of life is not a prison to be set free from as much as it is God created reality to be enjoyed.

McManus writes, “God’s ultimate end for our transformation is to unleash the untamed faith within.”  The problem is that McManus is using ultimate language when penultimate or antepenultimate language should be used. God is concerned with our transformation here on this side of eternity, yet God’s ultimate end for our transformation is our glorification (Romans 8, 1 Cor 15). But this is part and parcel for one of the main problems with this book. McManus creates false dichotomy’s and reductionist arguments that are unbalanced and untenable.  

For McManus it seems that the minister who serves his congregation week after week, year after year who pours out his life for his people, shepherds them well will not be commended in this framework. He is too tame for McManus. To give up one’s life to shepherd well a flock is not tame nor domesticated.

Overall, McManus here has a good initial idea, just poor follow-through and areas of doctrine that resemble modern Gnosticism.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the Booksneeze program for the purpose of reviewing.