The Purpose of Christmas - A Review

The Purpose of Christmas

by

Rick Warren

A Review

Howard Books presents a new edition of a short, 4 chapter, book originally written in 2008 by Rick Warren, founding pastor of the world-famous Saddleback Church in Irvine, CA. The author is best known for the classic The Purpose Driven Life. I suppose this reviewer should be open and honest by saying he has never read that classic or any other book by Rick Warren until the publisher dropped the current book in his mailbox for review.

The current book presents three purposes for Christmas:

1. Celebration 
2. Salvation 
3. Reconciliation 

I suspect that the author does not mean to say these are the only three purposes for Christmas, but they are three purposes for Christmas. Along with an introductory chapter, the author makes each purpose into a chapter. The chapters are then subdivided into shorter sub-points focusing on these three purposes. I felt like I was reading the transcript of a 20-year-old sermon series – with the thesis statements and their sub-points being clearly stated in the text and its subdivisions.The book is readable and not hobbled by sermonese. What is missing are solid references for much of the material – scripture references are well-documented, but other content is not. This makes it hard to distinguish between opinion and fact.

I appreciated the suggested “Birthday Party for Jesus” found at the end of the book – appropriate for families, adult, youth or children’s groups. The idea is presented early in the book, but the details are laid out in the final pages of the volume.

The book may make a great gift for the church to give to its members as a pre-Advent gift. It might also find a home in the church library for families to borrow for the Christmas season. 

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.