I have just finished reading The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield. I will admit, that like most people I’m sure, I chose to read this book purely out of curiosity. No matter what we personally think about Barack Obama, he’s young and is going to be in the political spotlight a long time. In my opinion, this was the most historic election ever held in American history. I received the book before the election but have just now had time to read/review it.
Mansfield seemed to approach this topic from a journalistic point of view. He does not include any personal interviews with Obama himself. The chapters of the book unfold from Barack Obama’s childhood with an agnostic mother to living in Indonesia with his mother and Muslim stepfather to his 20+ years at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
This book was an easy enough read. I believe Mansfield saw an opportunity to get this book out fast; however, with more time, I believe there could have been “more to it”. After reading this, I believe Barack Obama truly believes himself to be a Christian. I also believe, however, that he allows his politics/constituents to run his life rather than his religion. For a Christian to say, “There are aspects of the Christian tradition that I’m comfortable with and aspects I’m not. There are passages in the Bible that make perfect sense to me and others that I go, ‘Ya know, I’m not sure about that’ “…that really bothers me…either you take the Bible as COMPLETE truth, or you don’t.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious. It was NOT a “waste of time” in my opinion. If you would like to receive this book for free…well, there is the cost of a 200-word review…please go to http://brb.thomasnelson.com/
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