Book Review: The Reconnected Heart by Jonathan Andrews
Book Review: The Reconnected Heart by Jonathan Andrews
26 February 2022
Clinical psychologist and Christian Dr Jonathan Andrews approaches relationships with a dual lens in his book The Reconnected Heart. Mockup created by Freepik.
Church life is all about relationships – in fact, being human is all about relationships because we are relational beings. Unfortunately, living in a fallen world means these relationships are with fallen people with fallen intentions (including ourselves).
In his book, The Reconnected Heart – How Relationships Can Help Us Heal, Dr Jonathan Andrews, a clinical psychologist, explores this idea of broken relationships and connections in the light of the Bible. However, his main argument is not in the brokenness of these relationships but their healing. Dr Andrews divides this book into three main sections to give us a deep and wide overview of the nature of our relationships: 1. The importance of connection; 2. How relationships hurt; and 3. How relationships heal. This book is insightful because it spends the bulk of the content on part 3. As he says, “Hearts break every day, but hearts also heal every day.”
First and foremost, this is a psychology book written by a Christian clinical psychologist. So, you will have a dual-lens look at the topic of relationships from a biblical and psychological perspective. I believe Dr Andrews has done a great job in balancing the two. Practically, this book offers plenty of tools to diagnose relationship issues and move people towards healing in and through relationships. I found these practical sections invaluable in my ministry as a local church pastor.
The downside of this book is that it is a psychology book written by a Christian clinical psychologist! Some people might find it a bit too dense with unfamiliar terms and jargon.
This book is a comfort when you go into a new relationship or seek to fix a broken one. Isn’t that what the Gospel is?
The Reconnected Heart is available at major bookstores, through The Wandering Bookseller, and on Kindle through Amazon.com.au.
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