BOOK REVIEW: Soulprint by Mark Batterson

Contemporary Christian preachers and authors seem to fall on one of two extremes.  Either they are so concerned with “careful” exposition of Scripture that they miss any truth that relates to daily application, or they are so focused on numbered lists of self-help principles that they fail to place God and His Word at the center.  Mark Batterson deftly avoids both of these trappings in his book, Soulprint.

Batterson makes himself clear right off the bat.  “This is no self-help book,” he writes, “Self-help is nothing more than idolatry dressed up in a rented tuxedo.”  Amen to that.  His goal with Soulprint is to convince followers of Jesus that they need to discover themselves by putting God at the center of their life and its meaning.  He does this by exploring five defining moments in the life of King David, and relating those to defining moments in our own lives.

David is a very effective example for this subject, and it’s nice to see Batterson tackling a little more scripture this time around.  In his book Primal he focused mainly on the Great Commandment.  In his book In A Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Batterson hung his hat on just one obscure verse (2 Samuel 23:20).  Here, though, he gives a great re-telling of the life of David along with some solid expository teaching from select verses.  Altogether, these elements give this book a weight and “push” that his others seemed to be lacking.

This book is worth picking up just for the chapters on David sparing Saul’s life and David’s sin with Bathsheba.  The former is written in praise of integrity, the latter in praise of brokenness.  Both are gut-wrenching.  Batterson is one talented writer, and he pulls out all the stops here.

This is a great book for those grasping for identity, and for those seeking meaning in the seemingly random events of their life.  Also, I would also say it should be required reading for anyone who is doing a teaching or preaching series on the life of King David.