Review

The Purpose Driven Life review on this site is unabashedly favorable toward the book, having benefitted from and enjoyed this great work by Rick Warren, who has inspired the lives of thousands of Christians and non-Christians with the book's modern voice, clarity and scriptural base. The Purpose Driven Life emphasizes worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism as keys to understanding life's purpose. Far from a singular self help book, The Purpose Driven Life has been so well received that many other events have grown out of the book's enthusiasm such as Bible studies, conferences, workshops and church-wide initiatives. The Purpose Driven Life has spawned other purpose-driven related publications from Rick Warren such as Meditations on the Purpose Driven Life and Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life. The Purpose Driven Life has reached acclaim in the evangelical Christian community internationally and won the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s 2003 Kip Jordan Christian Book of the Year.

The Purpose Driven Life Review from Amazon.com

The spiritual premise in The Pupose-Driven Life is that there are no accidents--God planned everything and everyone. Therefore, every human has a divine purpose, according to God's master plan. Like a twist on John F. Kennedy's famous inaugural address, this book could be summed up like this: "So my fellow Christians, ask not what God can do for your life plan, ask what your life can do for God's plan." Those who are looking for advice on finding one's calling through career choice, creative expression, or any form of self-discovery should go elsewhere. This is not about self-exploration; it is about purposeful devotion to a Christian God. The book is set up to be a 40-day immersion plan, recognizing that the Bible favors the number 40 as a "spiritually significant time," according to author Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, touted as one of the nation largest congregations. Warren's hope is that readers will "interact" with the 40 chapters, reading them one day at a time, with extensive underlining and writing in the margins. As an inspirational manifesto for creating a more worshipful, church-driven life, this book delivers. Every page is laden with references to scripture or dogma. But it does not do much to address the challenges of modern Christian living, with its competing material, professional, and financial distractions. Nonetheless, this is probably an excellent resource for devout Christians who crave a jumpstart back to worshipfulness. --Gail Hudson

The review text refers to the Hardcover edition of The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren.