"Stories That Feed Your Soul" by Tony Campolo

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Tony Campolo, Stories That Feed Your Soul. Regal, 2010. 224 pgs. 

Yes, this books is exactly what the title claims: a collection of stories meant to 'feed your soul' (what a strange image once you think about it). 117 stories from Tony Campolo; funny, interesting, inspiring, boring, very short, short, and shorter these stories cover a huge gamut. 

Campolo divides these stories according to eight themes he finds in Romans 8: Freedom from Condemnation, The New Life in Christ, Intimacy with God, The Call to Rescue Creation, Living with Hope, Praying in the Spirit, God's Plan for Us, and The Assurance We Need.  Campolo choose to organize them this way because he has found Romans 8 to be a rich and fruitful chapter in his own life, and reflecting on the themes therein is something he wants others to do as well. 


As a whole, this book was enjoyable. Campolo has done a decent job selecting stories and he is not bad at drawing lessons from them. Of course, some of the lessons are corny; but what preacher isn't guilty of that? (says a fellow preacher). Some of the stories are better than others, naturally, and personally I found it a bit of an odd read, but not bad. 

Still, it is hard to rate a book like this.  It is not really 'a book', per se, not even in the sense that a collection of short stories might be called a book. Most of these stories fit on a page; perfect for sermon illustrations (I will probably use a couple), or a quick read in the bathroom, but not something you really want to sit down and read. 

Conclusion: 3.5 Stars. Conditionally recommended. I am not sure how to say this; if it sounds interesting, read it. If not, don't worry about it. I think that about sums it up. 


This book was provided by TheOoze for review. 

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