Book Review – Gentle & Lowly by Dane Ortlund - Cave To The Cross Apologetics

Gentle & Lowly – Read With Longsuffering

Gentle & Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane C. Ortlund

Synopsis:

Christians know that God loves them, but often think that he is perpetually disappointed and frustrated, maybe even close to giving up on them. As a result, they focus a lot on what Jesus has done to appease God’s wrath for sin. But how does Jesus Christ actually feel about his people amid all their sins and failures? This book draws us to Matthew 11, where Jesus describes himself as “gentle and lowly in heart,” longing for his people to find rest in him. The gospel is primarily about God’s heart drawn to his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering. These chapters take readers into the depths of Christ’s very heart for sinners, diving deep into Bible passages that speak of who Christ is and encouraging readers with the affections of Christ for his people. His longing heart for sinners will comfort and sustain readers in their up-and-down lives. (Taken from GoodReads page)

Review

First of all, I am in the minority of reviewers as most really enjoy this book. Second, let me be clear that I don’t find the author to have been unbiblical (for the most part) and the overall covering of the topic is fairly accurate of sound doctrine.

With that being said, I did not enjoy this book at all. The overall somber tone of the book and very flowery language made the topic drull and boring. The prose made my internal reading voice read it in a slow and whispery manner. A lot of the book has quotes by authors that it seems like it would be better if I were to read those books. The number of quotes and direct attribution from other authors like John Bunyan and especially Thomas Goodwin makes major parts of the book superfluous.

There is some good coverage of the topic and would be beneficial for new Christians. There is also a little bit of the balance of love and correction. However, there are times when Ortlund takes it too far. He talks about correction being something that pains God and that it’s unnatural for Him to do. Again, I don’t attribute this as “blasphemous” to the author but the flowery nature of the writing tends to dip into these types of incorrect views. There are many chapters that didn’t have much of a point of being there and the coverage and length would put them as subheadings with the quickness they were covered.

I did not enjoy this book and if you did that is ok. I enjoy a good kick to the heart in my reading from time to time. However; the flowery prose, the abbreviated coverage of the topic, and the direct quotes en mass by other authors did not do justice to the topic.

Final Grade

D-