Loading ...About You by Dick Staub
Amazon confirmed it. Reading About You: Fully Human, Fully Alive left me thinking of two other wildly popular books – Purpose-Driven Life and Your Best Life Now. If everyone who bought either or both of those books from any vendor buys Dick Staub’s new book he will be both wealthy and an unwelcome provocateur for those wanting simple and feel good.
Staub harnesses some very traditional themes – personal relationship with God and sin as missing the mark – along with a fully orbed understanding of what it means to be human to explicate what Jesus means in the invitation to an “abundant life.” Absent from Staub’s narrative of God’s purpose in Jesus is the reductionism common in the sales approach to faith. Also missing is the nebulous, unknowing of what it means for life now by those on the other end of the proverbial spectrum.
With nary a hint of my-way-is-better-than-your-way, Staub couches what it means to be human in the grand story of God – and he does so in more than “Four Spiritual Laws” and in less space than the Institutes. In popular idiom and in personal story, Staub hopes his reader’s capture that to be human in the Way of Jesus means to come to our senses with regard to our dehumanizing and diminishing ways trusting in the very personal Jesus who demonstrated the mark of being fully human (Incarnation) by living into the integrated intellectual, spiritual, creative, relational and moral features that mark human beings.
Readers looking for a more “Whole-istic” approach to life and faith will find About You helpful. For those looking for a book to give someone curious about the “why” of Jesus’ coming, About You could prove to be a great way to share a loving conversation about life and faith – in the present.
About the Author
Andrew Hackman
I grabbed this selection based on the subtitle. The book is called by About You by Dick Staub. The subtitle reads: Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us fully human.
Given the recent declaration by Anne Rice, this caught my eye. There are a lot of Christians out there feeling uncomfortable with the institution of church and are wondering what a faith outside of the Christian subculture can look like. I assumed I was getting a book that would dive into those kinds of questions.
I should have researched a little more.
This book isn’t about that. The title was a dead give away. This book is about you.
Which means it was not at all written for me. It states in the first paragraph:
“Would you like to make sense of your life? Do you want to achieve your potential greatness?”
I have never read a book by Anthony Robbins or Joel Osteen, but I bet they sound a lot like that.
Soon after the author writes:
“Perhaps your life has unfolded ideally and just as you planned. But for most of us, life deals us some serious blows and detours.”
And that is who this book is for … and why I am hesitant to critique it too much. It could be that a book like this is just the “shot in the arm” a person who has been beaten down needs. They need to hear about how they have a great design and destiny. For myself, the only thing I might add to my life is a 7 figure income (or six would be fine… heck, I’d even take a high 5).
My only direct critique is that the author, for some reason, feels the need to make disparaging remarks about science in one of the chapters.
“Science can make truly great progress in the study of the natural world, but is of little value in examining spiritual, non-material reality.”
In a very cliche’d manner, the author sets up a science/spirituality opposition. I believe this antagonism only exists as we create it. I confess that the author’s attitude soured me on the rest of the book.
As I said, I am not the best audience to review this kind of a book, however I would wager that for someone in need of the like, there are better options available.
Aug 21st, 2010
Seguewm
New to the Christian faith? Want to get the larger picture on what it means to be a healthy Christian? Need to better understand how to satisfy the deep soul longing within you? This book may have been written just for you.
Dick Staub presents the Christian life in the beauty God designed it to be. He offers a freshingly holistic Christian worldview, pulling in quotes from a variety of well known and respected Christian authors to underscore his rendering of life in the Spirit.
God knows you. God has a plan for your life right now. He is, if you are willing to listen, encouraging you to discover and become fully allive in Him
Hopefully, if you are a mature Christian, you will not find anything particularly new in this volume. The quotations will be familiar. You won’t bump into anything particularly edgy or heretical. Yet Dick eloquently reminds even experienced disciples that our God is a real God – a loving, Creator God – with something fresh and awe-inspiring planted for us in each and every day.
Aug 21st, 2010
Canadian Evangelical
‘About You’ by Dick Staub
This short book purports to be a work of “theological anthropology” but is actually a Christian self-help book. Like many self-help books, it is full of folksy stories that are supposed to be thought-provoking. Plus it has the required mixed bag of inspirational quotations, ranging from the sublime (Pascal and C.S. Lewis) to the ridiculous (Danny Glover) to the plain unknown (George Smoot, whoever he is).
Staub seems to have a thought, writes a few paragraphs about it, and this becomes one of the many little sub-sections making up the book. Bite-sized pieces for easy digestion, I suppose. Each sub-section has a title such as “Take the Leap,” “Become the Masterpiece You Are Meant to Be” or “Only One You.”
It all adds up to very little. Don’t waste your money or your time on this one.
Aug 26th, 2010
jc4jc
I was a little disappointed with Dick Staub’s About You: Fully Human, Fully Alive (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 2010). Having read The Culturally Savvy Christian, I expected new insights rather than a restatement of theological anthropology; Staub’s thesis being “most people can and should live fuller lives and will be chronically unhappy if they don’t.” Staub does present his materials well and I found some valuable take-aways.
As I blog my comments, I do so in the shadow of Staub’s comments that we have seamlessly connected electronic devices to our human central nervous system. These devices now control us. As humans we were created to be in relationship. But true relationship can only be forged in person. Authentic relationships involve life in person and within a physical community. Cyberspace and electronics can aid our relationships, but in the end cannot substitute for physical presence.
Staub meaningfully sees God the rescuer as looking for those who come to their senses and know they are lost and dehumanized. Because “our spiritual decay spreads to every part of our lives and through us to the culture we create and sustain” (p. 123), we need God the great physician who makes house calls on those who finally realize they are sick unto death.
Rather than “what would Jesus do,” Staub (p. 136) gives good advice for those of us living in Jefferson County: “Read the gospels and get acquainted with who Jesus was in his culture as a way of sorting out who I should be in mine.”
I praise God with Dick Staub that Jesus Christ came so that I could be fully human. May He so live in me and love through me that others are attracted by my humanness.
groups.yahoo.com/group/jc4jc/
Sep 7th, 2010
PJtheEMT
Dick Staub’s book, About You: Fully Human Fully Alive, speaks to the modern generation as a whole- regardless of whether the audience is secular, religious, or well educated in philosophical thought. His book is a meld between a self-help style book and philosophy, rolled into one unique volume. This book is a clever and unique outreach method by which the gap between secular theology, and the skeptic secular audience and Christian theology is bridged. It is a good spring board to introduce those who are not familiar with the bible to the greatness of Jesus and to empowerment. Perhaps this is an attempt at ecumenicalism whereas differences in theology and religious ideas are overlooked in the quest to find a common bond. Nevertheless, for those seeking the message of the gospel as taught by Jesus and the writers of the bible, then this is not necessarily the most appropriate book as some critical aspects of the gospel message are underemphasized or left out entirely.
In general, the biggest “sin”, for Straub (even though the biblical concept of sin is overlooked in the book), is not in denying the sacrifice of Jesus, but rather in not living up to one’s full potential. This book appeals to the secular, yet universally common quest to reach our full human potential. An underachiever is described as one who fails to reach his “fully human” potential. Being spiritually alive is not sufficient, we must also be “winsomely alive and human” as well. Straub makes the two goals of spiritual life and human life as two distinct concepts. To achieve the concept of “restoration” we must know theology- defined as God’s purpose for us- as well as integrating anthropology- in which we follow our human nature and human destiny.
According to Straub, Jesus came to make us fully human. This is not necessarily completely true, if one were to use the bible as a guideline. As far as the bible is concerned, Jesus came so that we may have eternal life. Straub focuses on peripheral ideas which makes for a good, empowering self help book to help motivate the reader to develop and pursue his/her talents and gifts- but it is not a book that presents the gospel message of Jesus.
Dick Straub is to be commended for reaching out to the secular and skeptical reader, and providing a thought provoking spring-board which may lead the reader to investigate the message of Jesus further. But if you consider the brief synopsis of the views presented on page 188, salvation consists of realizing our human potential rather than placing our faith in Jesus Christ who died in our place for our sins. Jesus is relegated to a model or avatar by which we should emulate and follow, but the issue of salvation in the biblical sense as presented in the bible is not fully addressed. Jesus is depicted in a non offensive, palatable way, that even the most skeptical, hardened of atheists will not reject. Nevertheless, Jesus was more blunt and never compromised in order to win over his listeners. In fact, even in the bible, many of his listeners were offended by his teachings. Overall, while these are important issues that I have raised- as a stand-alone, self help book, this book succeeds in empowering the reader to reach his/ her full potential. I recieved a copy of this book as a blogger for TheOOZE Viral Publishers. I’m sorry about posting this book twice. Due to technical difficulties I had to create a new sn account.
Sep 10th, 2010
SGill4613
There are a good many reasons one picks up a book to read. I think the best ones are the books that my friends recommend to me, because there’s something in it which they found to bear witness to the truth of life, whatever that is. Then there are books which we pick up to read because they have an interesting tag line. Something that tells the people via the dust jacket that this book is something which will capture your attention. These books, I’ve found, have more of a 50/50 shot at being decent.
We’re getting deeper into that point in which the “emerge” term, with its various endings, is being applied to anything and everything in order to sell more product. And very little of it is worthy of the title.
About You by Dick Staub was a disappointment to me. Filled with movie and cultural references that I am not familiar with, you need to get half way through until you even get something close to good. And even then, it feels more like a self help book than what I was hoping for.
The tag line “Fully Human, Fully Alive: Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us Fully Human” could have been filled with stories about how to live abundantly in Christ and instead it was just a simple treastie on how there is something we lack without Christ. As with most books where the quotes and references are the main vehicle to get the point across, I would never recommend it to someone who’s looking for an interesting read.
If I had to sum up this book in a word… “meh”.
Sep 20th, 2010
TheLogo
About You is, not surprisingly, about you. It is about you in the sense that it is about all human beings. Staub’s thesis, a quote from Hans Rookmaaker, is on the cover: Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian, Jesus came to make us fully human. Staub, then, offers a theological anthropology of what it means to be fully human and that Jesus has called us to this. He begins with several chapters exploring the idea that we all long for something better, that we know we were made to be more. He then has three sections: one explores the fall of mankind and resulting death, the next the path to becoming alive, and the third how we can be made new.
Lately there seems to have been a spate of new books published which attempt to redefine and re-explore the gospel. I have reviewed several of them, and another is on the way. Mostly, they are disappointing. Meanwhile, Staub, in a book which advertises no such thing, has done a better job of presenting the gospel in non-Christian language, in a new light, and in an appealing manner than any of these other attempts.
Obviously, About You, does not incorporate a full theological exploration of the gospel and all its facets. However, as far as the gospel is about you, Staub has nailed it. The parts of the gospel which are not about you are present in Staub’s book, if perhaps a bit to subtly for my taste. For example, the idea of serving others comes up in a brief paragraph at the end of the book and that is all. The danger of this book is that it could easily be read by people who are already completely self-focused and they would likely miss the parts of the book meant to pull our focus off of ourselves and onto God and others. This is not really a criticism of Staub, as one cannot write a book for everyone, as it is a warning about the content of the book. The language and focus lend themselves to this problem, but do not create it.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Staub has combined the insights of some of the greatest Christian thinkers, both recently and throughout history, to present a clear and appealing presentation of parts of the call of Jesus.
Sep 27th, 2010
Ian McLaren
I recently sign up to do some reviews for The OOZE Viral Bloggers, and the first book that I could get my hands on was About You by Dick Staub, which features the following tagline: ‘Jesus Didn’t Come to Make Us Christian; Jesus Came to Make Us Fully Human.’ In all honesty, this isn’t necessarily a book I would have picked up and read on my own volition, as, at first glance, it appeared to be another ‘find your best purpose driven life’ type of book. While, to my surprise, I found that it was something more than that and I’m glad to have spent some time with it, I’m left with a few lingering and troubling questions.
Allow me to expand.
Staub begins the book by very rightly pointing the reader back to the point of creation, a story that outlines the following reality: “You are not the accidental result of a random, purposeless process but, in fact, were created by a loving, personal God who had you in mind before the beginning of time.” The first few chapters serve to build on this reality, flushing out the creation story and what it means to be created in the image of a loving and relational God, and how we are to live in a way that reflects the intended order of creation. Staub than outlines the symptoms of the ‘disease’ that has caused us to lose sight of all this, a process of dehumanization that was caused not by the eating of the fruit in the garden, but by the fact that Adam and Eve did not trust and obey God [bang on with this point]. In short, things are not the way they are supposed to be, and we are meant to embark on a journey to recovering what it means to be fully human – in body, mind, spirit, creativity, relationships, and morality. The rest of the book serves to help the reader along in this process, outlining how God is continually pursuing us, how Jesus is the ‘great humanizer’, and the marks of what it means to be fully human.
Let me say that I very much enjoyed the first bits of the book, and believe that Staub’s outline of the creation story and the human condition thereafter; it’s accurate and quite well-written. But while he encourages the reader to seek after a holistic mode of living that embraces all that is good within us (engaging our minds, bodies and spirits in creative and meaningful ways), and while I don’t seen anything inherently wrong with that, I can’t get past the fact that the vision of full humanity that he outlines in the book seems to be counter to the words of Jesus, when he says the following: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
While Staub’s vision of full humanity seems to involve a continual progression towards personal, and in some respects, communal betterment, the way of Jesus seems to point downwards, a path that includes much sacrifice, suffering, and even death. Staub encourages us to become fully human and fully alive; Christ points us down a path that leads to the cross. I see some value in the kind of message that Staub is bringing forth, and I think there is some truth to what he is saying in regards to recovering a deeper sense of what we were created to be and do, but I have a hard time reconciling all of this with Jesus’ call to authentic discipleship.
On a more shallow level, there were two moments in this book that irked me, specifically Staub’s attempts to reference movies: he refers to Brad Pitt’s character in Fight Club and Tyler Darden (it’s Durden), and he refers to a movie starring Alex Baldwin, when we all know it’s Alec. Small things, I know, but it bugged me.
Basically, part of me resonated with this book as I was reminded of what it means to be created by a loving God, in his image, and for a purpose. I’m just not sure if Staub’s ‘program’ for the recovery of full humanity meshes very well with the Way of Jesus. This is a tension that exists all around us, and it’s up to each of us to continually work out what it means to follow Christ.
In short, it’s a good book, but I’m not prepared to go all the way with it.
Oct 3rd, 2010
sheyduck
Here is the latest review of books I have received from ViralBloggers. i receive them free on the condition that I read and review them here within 30 days.
I had previously read Staub’s The Culturally Savvy Christian and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to this read. I was not disappointed. Staub communicates well in written form, so even disagreeing with points here or there doesn’t detract from this read.
Staubs thesis statement is on the cover of the book, a quote of Hans Rookmaaker: “Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us fully human.” Staub offers a nice correctional move, i think, away from the spirit-body or heaven-earth dualism so common in the West and American Christianity. He catches the truth that God began with creation and called it good before sin entered the picture.
Here is a sample; testimony to Staub’s style and grace. On page 92 he begins a brief section titled “To Be Fully Human Mean s to Embrace Moral and Intellectual Certitude in a Relativistic Age.” The section is a three paragraph presentation that does not even approach the kind of exclusivism or condescension some might expect from a call for moral and intellectual certitutde. Staub is all about you finding your particular connection to God, in Whose image you were created. I think About You can help with that quest.
Oct 4th, 2010
Ron Cole
I’ve been an avid listener of Dick Staub’s ” The Kindlings Muse ” for years, and read his earlier work the ” Culturally Saavy Christian “…Dick has always been engaging, pushing the conversation into the intersection faith and culture. So I guess I was expecting more, but, the title is a give away ” About You.”
I think ” About You ” tries to address the irreligious, spiritual seekers, religious, and the spectrum of all kinds of Christians despite the label they use. But in the end, it will likely appeal to a small group of Christians who have bought into the idea…that the faith of Jesus is more about self help, than the radical scandalous redemptive imagination that got Jesus killed. ” About You “, seems to pigeon hole faith into being, becoming ” fully human”, in that regard I see ” About You ” as being more self help rather than world changing.
The book explores the idea of a full and abundant life on three levels; Anthropologically, our human potential and the dilemma of not reaching it; Theologically, Gods existence and involvement in our human story; Practically, steps you and I can take to enjoy a more complete and satisfying life now.
In the end, if you’re into faith as self help, ” About You “, maybe what you’re looking for. For my money books like ” Simply Christian ” by NT Wright, or Jesus, by Marcus Borg might be better choices. But if your looking for something above Joel Olsteen’s self help…buy it. I wouldn’t recommend buying it.
Oct 4th, 2010
bkjohn
“About You” by Dick Staub and published by Jossey-Bass. This book is not just about being a Christian, but it is about what being a Christian will do for you- make you fully human. The author covers the topics from creation, to the fall, to our restoration and how all of them effect our humanness and how Christ has come to fully restore us. I particularly liked chapter 7 where the author gives 8 characteristics of what being fully human may look like.
means to see the Image of God, value and worth in everyone you meet.
To be fully human means:
1) to seek God and nurture your soul
2) cultivate your mind
3) creativity and excellence in all you do
4) developing In-person relationships in a virtual age
5) means learning to love, forgive and accept each other
6) means to embrace moral and intellectual certitude in a relativistic age
7) Rediscover the proper rhythm of human life
This is a great book. A nice read and easily to be understood. A good book for new Christians, someone wanting to understand what being a Christian is about and your pastor (there is a lot of good preaching material). I would give this book 5 stars.
http://www.intercessioncity.blogspot.com
Oct 4th, 2010
Warren Wade
warrenwade.wordpress.com
“The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive” ~ St. Irenaeus
Full of anectodes, stories and life-reflections, Mr. Staub sets out to answer three questions in this “About You,” published by Jossey-Bass:
1) What can humans do to please God? 2) What was the mission of Jesus? 3) What does fully human look like? All of these are addressed in inter-related ways.
In an attempt to answer what a “full human” looks like, he takes the beginning of the book and catalogs the theological conditions that have left humankind not “fully human” and the evidential experiences of day to day living. To be honest, I felt like he actually spent too much time talking about what was not “fully human” instead of talking about what was which is where the next 2 questions come into play.
This is where I think the book has import. As I was perusing the web, looking for some information on the author himself, I read one review that said that this was a primer for Christian living. And I think it’s true. The Rookmaker quote of “Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian; Jesus came to make us fully human” and the rest of Mr. Staub’s writing does a great job in informing the current or new believer that a life in Christ has nothing do to about religious constructs, rules or piety, that in order to be in tune with God, one must operate as a Christian. On page 138, I was struck by a handful of questions (this was the only part of the book that I noted for myself):
“the question we should ask is not “Are you a Christian?”/..[but] “Are you becoming more fully human?”
“Not, “Are you going to heaven when you die?” Instead, “are you living a fully human life now?”
and (my favorite)
“How successful are you at avoiding the world” but “How effective are you as a loving, transforming presence in the world?”
These are spectacular questions for the new and recurring Christian! So often, the Christian experience is limited or impaired by tenets of orthopraxy that individuals aspire to, are not able to grasp, and end up being frustrated by in the long run.
One last thing, I think what I would have liked more out of this book was about that last question: “how effective are you as a loving, transforming presence in the world?” I think I would have just liked to hear more about the external, immediate effects of becoming fully alive not just the internal affects that have external effects.
Despite that, you can tell that Mr. Staub has a passion for living which made this book enjoyable to read. Thanks for writing this, Dick.
Oct 19th, 2010
renee
oh boy.
This book is a neatly packaged, cliche-driven Christian self-help book.
While I appreciate very much a raw, honest acknowledgment of the difficulties of life and change, this book was nothing like that. It was broken up into pieces, each with their own personal stories, personal encouragement, and biblical allusion. It was formatted like a best-seller and stuffed full of quotes worthy of being written on a 3×5 card.
There was a time when I would have desperately read a book like this. I might even have believed it for a little while. I probably would have taped the creed at the end to my bathroom mirror.
Ultimately the problem with books like this is the minimizing factor. They try very hard to be encouraging and hopeful- but it’s just a mask, and underneath the mask is rotting flesh. The reality is that life is difficult. Very difficult. We are not made up of single decisions and instant moments. We can’t just ask once to be transformed and expect it to really happen.
Real transformation, real ways toward healing consist of moment by moment choices. In this breath, am I choosing what to believe? Can I choose differently? Should I choose differently?
Often when I read these kind of lightweight Christian self-help books, I think of Job’s friends. They meant to be helpful, but they only made things worse.
Nov 8th, 2010
maverick24
So what it is to be fully human?
This book tends to answer that question.
This dare answer as to why most of us forget what is to be human when we are created from the image.
This is an in depth analysis of why most of us exist but are dispirited, indifferent and lacking in passion.
Some give up while others try to fill the empty space.
Each chapter proves to be a very interesting read, one that dares to filled up that empty space, it is something you will want to read about meditating the words from the bible.
A supplement for you to fully immerse yourself outside the confines of the traditional church.
What is to be truly human? This book will make you think and renew your mind. Perhaps, this will even remind you what makes Rick Warren’s bestselling book “The Purpose Driven Life” a best seller.
Well written, it talks a lot of things like what the fuss about religion and science which goes hand-in-hand, how humans really crave relationships.
Here is a book for those who seeks God and it’s all about us—how to be more humane despite all the ups and downs of our lives.
Nov 20th, 2010
alexstroud
I hear you asking, “Three reviews in one day? What’s up, Alex?” Well, I’ve had these books for a while now and I’m ready for more. I’ve been lazy and haven’t reviewed these for you and I can’t get more books until I do. So, here you go.
The third, and final review for today is About You by Dick Staub. I can actually review this one for you in one word: HOKEY.
If I said “way too optimistic author/speaker who teaches that positive thinking is all there really is to faith,” who would come to mind? For some of you, the instant response is Joel Osteen.
(Others of you are plotting how to let me know just how offended you are by that statement. How dare I say anything negative about Joel!)
Staub is a page right out of Osteen’s book. The subtitle of this book is “Jesus Didn’t Come to Make Us Christian; Jesus Came to Make Us Fully Human.” In my own mind, that’s a loaded statement. What does it mean to be human, first of all? Though Christ came to bring us life to the fullest (John 10:10), isn’t our mortality (humanness) that which makes us, often times, less like Christ?
I’m not saying that Christ came to make us divine, but he certainly didn’t come to make us more human.
This book is designed to help people see their own self-worth in the midst of any disaster. I can appreciate that. However, it waters down the Gospel and perpetuates the myth that being a follower of Christ is a hunky-dory, stop and smell the roses kind of life. The same Jesus that came to bring us abundant, meaningful life, also said, Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
Too hokey for me.
Jan 31st, 2011
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