Official Review: Astonished Beyond Measure by Blake Western

Ashley Crane · Post by **Ashley Crane** » 02 Sep 2017, 21:18

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Astonished Beyond Measure" by Blake Western.]

1 out of 4 stars

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When I was six years old, I saw Jesus. I was sick with a dangerously high fever and He appeared in the doorway of my bedroom. He was draped in cream-colored robes, surrounded by white light, and beckoned me to follow him. I will never forget or cease to be astounded by that vision. This is my personal connection to the book, Astonished Beyond Measure: Surprising Responses to Jesus by Blake Western. I wanted to know more about how others have responded to Him because I am still processing and contemplating my own experience twenty years later. However, I found myself disappointed by the unoriginal and unnecessary thesis, lack of fresh information and analysis, poor development of arguments, and elementary style of writing.

In this non-fiction book, Western uses stories from the Bible to discuss people's reactions to Jesus's extraordinary qualities and feats. He includes accounts of healing the sick, raising the dead, walking on water, and refusing to conform to human laws and prejudices. He briefly summaries the stories and then states over and over again throughout the book that people were amazed because Jesus is amazing and everyone should let Him into their lives. That is his thesis, and Christians, the people who would be most likely to read it, do not need to be informed or convinced of this. They already believe that Jesus is incredible because that is the foundation of their entire religion.

In addition to my personal experience, I wanted to read this book because I expected to learn about, as the title indicates, surprising responses to Jesus. It was quite a letdown. I had hoped for new or rarely known information on the topic or analysis and insight from a historical and psychological perspective. There was none of that. I grew up going to church and Sunday school every week and did not learn anything from this book that I didn't already know, nor would any other experienced churchgoer. Western didn't even choose any lesser-known bible stories to make his points or go into detail to demonstrate the extent of people's amazement. Pretty much everyone knows about Jesus turning water into wine and multiplying bread and fish to feed thousands.

I also disagree with some weak and contradictory points the author tries to make. He states that Jesus gets angry just like us, but it's okay because his anger was never out of control or unjustified like ours. It seems like a forced way of trying to explain away the fact that He was only human sometimes. Many people with high levels of emotional intelligence have a lot of control over their anger, and when an emotion is considered justified, is completely subjective. Most people think their current emotional state is justified, otherwise they would not feel that way to begin with. If he was trying to say that Jesus's vulnerability was different and better than ours, why? He had called out earlier that Jesus was both man and God living separately in one body, and so sometimes, He was just a man. Western also discusses how Jesus loves people of all backgrounds and religions, and then later says that those who don't believe in Him will be Damned. "It is unbelief that is blindness, separation, and that leads to judgment. It is that which leads to Hell."

I did not enjoy this book in the least and the writing is what truly bothered me the most. It is approximately at a 5th or 6th grade level. There were some grammar mistakes, but I'm specifically referring to the style. It's full of short, choppy, simple sentences combined with dictionary definitions and ridiculously unnecessary explanations of obvious common knowledge. When pointing out how man cannot control nature, but Jesus can, Western explains that "Another mighty force of nature is an earthquake," and "Water is very powerful and often moves and destroys things." Yes, we know. There are also multiple paraphrased sections that are immediately followed by almost identical direct quotes. "Mary and Joseph were also amazed when they saw Him. 'So when they saw Him, they were amazed' (v. 48)." It's to the extent of being insulting to the reader.

I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars for the juvenile writing and lack of original information, insight, and ideas. He had almost nothing to say that hasn't been said in most everyday sermons and Sunday school classes. The only type of person who I can see gaining anything from this book is someone who knows nothing about Christianity and suddenly decides that they are interested in exploring it. I would not even recommend it to them due to the painfully basic and repetitive writing. Many of the chapters end with "We are super-amazed!" I, however, am not.

******
Astonished Beyond Measure
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Mallory Whitaker · Post by **Mallory Whitaker** » 03 Sep 2017, 22:14

I'm so sorry you didn't like this book. From your review, it doesn't sound like something I would enjoy either. I hate when a book is repetitive, especially about points that are more or less common knowledge. I won't be reading this one. Thank you for the great review!

Ashley Crane · Post by **Ashley Crane** » 03 Sep 2017, 22:28

Mallory Whitaker wrote:I'm so sorry you didn't like this book. From your review, it doesn't sound like something I would enjoy either. I hate when a book is repetitive, especially about points that are more or less common knowledge. I won't be reading this one. Thank you for the great review!

Yes, it was quite frustrating, but I decided to finish it anyway since I like to try to finish what I start. I was also hoping that as I read maybe it would somehow get better. Oh well, at least I had the opportunity to give others a heads up on what to expect. Thank you!

LINA M-EMBER AMA · Post by **LINA M-EMBER AMA** » 04 Sep 2017, 02:18

Ashley, sorry you had to endure such a tedious read. I hope the writer gets his book professionally edited. The book's title is attractive, the review revealing. I would not want to go through your recent experience, Ashley. Thanks for the heads up.

Post by **kandscreeley** » 04 Sep 2017, 08:26

Wow! I hate it when books get 1 star. I hate to give them out as well. Sometimes, it is required. I'm sorry this one was so disappointing to you!

RegularGuy3 · Post by **RegularGuy3** » 04 Sep 2017, 08:40

Thanks for the honesty. Anyone glossing over the humanity aspect on this topic is completely missing the point.

kislany · Post by **kislany** » 04 Sep 2017, 13:43

Pity that the book was such a letdown. I'll probably avoid reading this book as well. Thank you for your honest and candid review.

Ashley Crane · Post by **Ashley Crane** » 05 Sep 2017, 19:13

LINA M-EMBER AMA wrote:Ashley, sorry you had to endure such a tedious read. I hope the writer gets his book professionally edited. The book's title is attractive, the review revealing. I would not want to go through your recent experience, Ashley. Thanks for the heads up.

Lina, I thought the title was attractive too. It's really a shame. Glad I could help.

-- 05 Sep 2017, 20:24 --

kandscreeley wrote:Wow! I hate it when books get 1 star. I hate to give them out as well. Sometimes, it is required. I'm sorry this one was so disappointing to you!

Me too! It really was though. I gave it a chance, I tried to see his perspective, but it had to be done.

-- 05 Sep 2017, 20:25 --

RegularGuy3 wrote:Thanks for the honesty. Anyone glossing over the humanity aspect on this topic is completely missing the point.

I hear you, no problem.

-- 05 Sep 2017, 20:25 --

kislany wrote:Pity that the book was such a letdown. I'll probably avoid reading this book as well. Thank you for your honest and candid review.

You're welcome

mumoscar · Post by **mumoscar** » 06 Sep 2017, 02:10

The title is quite welcoming but too bad you went through the book only to come out disappointed. I would also expect to hear the bible stories from a different perspective, not the usual one. From your description the book doesn't sound interesting. Thanks for taking time to analyse it even though you didn't feel like at some point.

Angela Stripes · Post by **Angela Stripes** » 07 Sep 2017, 15:07

One thing that frustrates me is the repetition of stereotypes without any new insights or perspectives. At some point, everything that can be said is, but that's when personal experience comes into liven up the discussion.

Sounds like this author had good intentions, but less than effective ways of carrying that out. I can totally see how that gets insulting to a point.

Thanks for an honest review, and sharing your own experience!