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Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood |
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| Author: Nate Larkin Published: 2007-02-20 |
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List price: $13.99 Our price: $11.19 |
Usually ships in 24 hours As of: December 01st, 2008 11:55:41 AM |
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Customer comments on this selection. Best From Both WorldsThere is much written about Christianity and much written about recovery and twelve-step programs but very rarely about their intersection. Folks like myself who have struggled with addiction generally have had to go out of the church to find the help they need. The church may have the doctrine we love but recovery has the experience and practical spirituality we need. Samson is an excellent attempt to bring them both together. Into the context of the church, Nate brings the best elements of recovery: Open and honest sharing of struggles, discussion of sin and struggle in the present tense, allowing one other person to be open to what is going on in my head and be a guide, sponsorship, daily calls, etc. I think it is a good step that we learn from the 80+ years of twelve step recovery and allow the best elements to be a part of discipleship and church life.  Wow! Just Wow!I read this book in like two days...it has what I've always looked for in developing a brotherhood of believers....what a great read! I loved it, and plan on starting a Samson Society in my home town.... Samson and the Pirate MonksGreat book. Best "Men's Book" I have read. Insightful and funny. Any man looking for friendship and brotherhood, this is the book. Great book, Important TopicThis is an entertaining and well written book addressing topics not often spoke about inside church walls. I will highly recommend to anyone and I am getting about 10 copies to give to my friends. Good stuff...Nate Larkin has offered a very helpful addition to the library of resources for Christian men. His writing style is very engaging, and he is an excellent story-teller with a wonderful (if somewhat irreverent) sense of humor. Especially as a first-time author, I was most impressed and look forward to reading more from him in the future. The first part of "Samson and the Pirate Monks" details Larkin's biography, including a host of honest admissions and even shocking incidents. The second part of the book describes the establishment of the Samson Society, a collection of gatherings of men across the country based loosely on the principles of 12-step recovery programs but infused with a substantial dose of Christian language and biblical wisdom. Larkin's brutal honesty is most helpful and unfortunately rare in the church. His willingness to bear his soul and unveil some very dirty laundry in such a public forum is commendable. This passion for candor propels many of the mandates of the Samson Societies. I also appreciated healthy doses of humility peppered throughout the book. My critiques of this book are two-fold and relatively minor. On some level, it felt like some sort of subtle sales-pitch for the Samson Society, especially the second half of the book. Ironically, Samson Societies have no budgets and collect no fees, so the motivation clearly isn't monetary. But I am always uncomfortable when an author goes beyond sharing their successes and begins to prescribe the exact solution for everyone else's woes. My second criticism is the tendency of Larkin and other contributing authors to carelessly discredit the validity of any previous installments of the modern men's movement as utterly useless. Though I do believe that the Samson Society has captured some helpful elements of relating as men that have been sorely missing in many men's gatherings, this does not mean that these other gatherings have been devoid of value, which is never explicitly stated but frequently implied. These critiques notwithstanding, I am glad to have read this book. Larkin shares struggles that many men have surely endured, and he offers many insightful suggestions to walk through these issues in the light of God's grace, in Christian community with other broken men who want to more fully experience the life that God planned for them. Though I'm not yet convinced that forming my own Samson Society is the only answer, I do hope to apply some of Larkin's ideas to my own life and pursue more meaningful relationships with other Christian men, confident that God has much more in store than so many of us are experiencing. |
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