Book Review: "Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist" Revised Edition by John Piper

If you are going to purchase a copy of John Piper’s “Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist”, I urge you buy the Revised Edition.  If you already have the first edition, by all means invest in the Revised Edition; there is enough new grist in the Revised Edition to make an upgrade that is well worth the $14.99 suggested retail price.

Why?

First, the context and style of the Revised Edition gives the book greater weightiness.  You may be thinking, “Context and style issues shouldn’t take precedence over issues of content.” I would tend to agree with you in all most all cases; however, it’s context and style that lend greater credence and cogency to the overall content of this edition, and it’s context and style that set this edition apart from the previous edition(s).  With respect to context and style, in the 25 years since the first edition came out, two contextual aspects make this edition more meaningful.  (A) The Revised Edition was updated in the midst of the ongoing caldron of John Piper’s ever growing life and ministry experience.  Over the past 25 years, the concepts written upon the pages of “Desiring God” appear to have developed far beyond thoughts, ideas, and concepts.  The content of the book seem to have been tried in the fires of the author’s life and ministry – in good times and in difficult times.  In the preface, the author confesses that both his ministry and life have had some difficulties since the publishing of the first edition.  Piper writes:

“One of the older women of our church quipped to us at our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, ‘The fist twenty-five years are the hardest.’ We have not found it to be so. We are nearing the end of the second twenty-five, and undoubtedly they have been the hardest.  The body ages and things go wrong, Marriage, we found, passes through deep water as husband and wife pass through midlife and beyond.  We made it.  But we will not diminish the disquietude of those years. . . The other ‘marriage’ in my life (with Bethlehem Baptist Church) has been a mingling of sweetness and sorrow.  As I sit here pondering the years, the sweetness so outweighs the sorrow that I have no desire to dwell on the pain.” (pg. 11)

It is clear that when John Piper writes about desiring and enjoying God, he is not witting about sycophantic Pollyanna emotionalism that is conjured up with a little moralistic hocus pocus.  Piper is talking about a desire that is the product of our new birth in Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

(B) In the passing years since the first edition of “Desiring God”, Piper has had to answer several meaningful critiques of the theory of Christian hedonism.  As a result, the Revised Edition has a bit more of an Apologetic flavor.  The apologetics in this edition addresses some questions that the first edition left wanting (questions about the supremacy of Christ in the will of man, the laboriousness that accompanies Christian sacrifice, and the pressing hardship of Christian suffering).  The addition of a chapter on Christian suffering as the sacrifice of the Christian hedonist is a needed addition that makes the revised edition well worth the purchase.

Second, and most vitally, the content of the Revised Edition of “Desiring God” is exceptionally biblical and theologically robust.  I approached this book with my guard up against any whiff of emotionalism that seems to be prevalent in too much Christian self-help literature.  So, I did find myself trying to argue against Piper’s assertions and theories; but, more often then not, I found myself trying to argue away or minimalize Bible texts.  From a Reformed theological perspective, Piper first grounded his theory in sovereign grace and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.  Chapter one deals with God himself as totally sovereign and supremely pleased in himself apart from anything else (Psalm 115:3).  In chapter two, Piper argues that no one can delight in God as we are commanded to (Psalm 37:4) unless God transforms us into new creatures in Christ via the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit.  In other words, we need to be born again, which is God’s doing.  Following these two initial chapters, the rest of Piper’s theory flows out from sanctification and the ordinary means of Grace: worship (ch. 3&4), the Word (ch. 5), and prayer (ch. 6).  The remaining chapters build upon God’s sanctification and our implementation of the ordinary means of grace: money, marriage, missions, and suffering.

On a side note, “Desiring God” helped me to reconcile my admiration for Rev. Jonathan Edwards and my respect for Dr. R. Scott Clark of Westminster Seminary California.  Clark has asserted that Edwards has utilized Platonist idealism in his work “Religious Affections”.  According to Clark, Edwards rightly recognized that many or his contemporary pastors during the great awakening were confusing true conversions with false religious affections.  Where Edwards goes wrong, according to Clark, is that he tried to correct this problem by defining true conversion in terms of an ideal (in the Platonist sense) religious affection.  For Clark, the true measure of conversion is not an ideal affection.  Clark believes that true conversion is evidenced by a person’s progress in sanctification – particularly a person’s utilization of the ordinary means of grace in the process of sanctification.  Piper has helped me to bridge this divide in two ways.  (1) Piper places the Christian's desire for God within the framework of Sanctification.  Piper asserts that sanctification finds its end when a Christian finds his/her ultimate desire, delight, and joy in God and his will.  The sanctified Christian not only does the will of God more fruitfully, the sanctified Christian does the will of God with every increasing desire, delight, and joy.  As such, Piper makes much of the ordinary means of Grace in the context of sanctification that leads to transformed desires of the heart.  (2) Possibly as an outworking of the prior point, Piper’s use the term ‘desire’ instead of ‘affection’ implies the engagement of a transformed/sanctified will as opposed to a passive reception of a feeling.  Ultimately, Piper retains a high view of Christian progress in sanctification that utilizes the ordinary means of grace while highlighting the need for transformed desires in sanctification.

Third, and finally, I had some mixed thoughts on the binding and format of the book.  I liked that the book included a study guide.  The study guide is easy to use without being simplistic.  The inexpensive printing/binding makes this book accessible to wide audience.  However, I wish there were an edition printed on heavier paper with a hard cover stitched binding.  As a pastor, I tend to make many marginalia notations in books. “Desiring God” is such an influential and ground breaking book that any thoughtful Christian will be utilizing and writing notes in this book (whether or not you agree with Piper’s Christian hedonism theory).  The notes I took in this book tended to bleed through, and I am not sure how well the binding will hold up with extended use. That said, the binding and printing issues are only enough for me to downgrade the book one half a star out of five. 

Disclaimer: I received this book free for the purposes of review from WaterBrook/Multnomah Publishers.