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A Review of "Rooted" by Banning Liebscher

Wishy-washy.  It's the best way to describe how I felt about this book.  Here's why: 

I believe that the author, Banning Liebscher, loves Jesus and genuinely seeks to honor Him and be shaped by Him.  Banning has been in ministry for many years and is both rooted in Christ and has seen countless others grow deeper roots in Christ.  It is evident in his writing that he values the authority of God's word.  The book's description on the back cover captivated me.  I love exegesis and thought that learning about David's life would be fascinating.  It sounded relevant for all ages and walks of life.

The book is comprised of twelve chapters.  I'll highlight a few.  The first six deal with why the rooted last, why we need to trust God and not rush the process, and why we need to stop trusting our feelings.  The final six are under three subsections, labeled as soils.  Those soils are intimacy, serving and community.

And there is sssooo much in this book that is good.  He has some valid advice, namely - do the work in front of you and allow God to shape you even if you don't feel passionate about it, check everything against Scripture, make sure you're spending time in the secret place with God and balancing that with community.  His chapter on community was excellent and so full of wisdom.  It made me so glad that I stuck this book out to the end.

Because if I'm honest, I struggled.  I found the book to be repetitive and long.  This book talks about David, but it is not an exegetical view of David's life, and I think that he was practicing isogesis at times, primarily in his interpretation of John 5:38-40 on page 86.  Banning's vision is big, to impact the world, to empower people.  On page 136 he gives some examples of people "preparing for their visions."  But in his examples of people being empowered, their visions are always grandiose - writing books to change the church, improving the economy of third world nations, impacting Latin America.  I love that Banning discusses not relying on feelings and passion and to check everything against Scripture....and this seems so contrary to that.   Inconsistent.   "I feel like God is telling me to..." can be a dangerous sentence.  We do see people hearing from the Lotd with specific ptophecies in Scripture, but does it mean that each person today will have a vision as clear and specific? I don't think it means that.   Prophecy in the Bible always pointed to Christ or warned people to repent. Are our "feelings" about what God is saying today ever wrong?  Sometimes I think they are, and we need to tread with caution.

So even though I still feel a little wishy washy about this book and some of Banning's inconsistencies,
because he fully addresses holding everything up against Scripture and seeking wise counsel from community, I think I can support this book.  Read it for yourself, and remember to check it against Scripture, as with all things.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for writing my honest opinion.

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