Catholic Review: To Light a Fire on the Earth

To Light a Fire on the Earth: Proclaiming the Gospel in a Secular Age by Bishop Robert Barron with John L. Allen, October 31, 2017. 260 pages. Published by Image. Source: Blogging for Books.

The highly anticipated follow-up to Bishop Robert Barron's hugely successful Catholicism: A Journey to the Faith

Robert Barron is the #1 Catholic author in America. He has a dedicated fan base and his Word on Fire ministries is the most powerful Catholic ministry in the United States. Barron has 815K Facebook followers. His organization Word on Fire has 240K members on Facebook, bringing the total to over 1 million social media fans.

This book, a conversation between Barron and Vatican journalist John L. Allen, Jr., will cover topics such as Jesus in the 21st century, prayer, spiritual life, the fate of Catholicism in modern times, and many other issues. For those looking to understand the Church in the contemporary world, as well as for those seeking guidance on how to intelligently embrace their faith, The Word on Fire will resonate with Catholics from all walks of life.

I really wanted to like To Light a Fire on the Earth, but the formatting and overall-ness of the book just made it an okay not great read.

• Honestly, I was not expecting it to be a biography about Bishop Barron based on talks he had with the journalist John L. Allen. Yes, he spoke, occasionally, about evangelizing to the secular world and how to bring the Gospel to those who are not of the faith (or who have fallen away), but it just felt flat. Even though a broad range of topics is discussed throughout the book, it felt as if they barely scraped the surface of the topics discussed. 

• When I selected this book for review, I was hoping for a book that would be spiritually fruitful. But that was far from one I got. Considering some of the books I have delved into this year concerning the Catholic faith, this one was a feather-weight lacking the substance that I was hoping to find enclosed in the pages. While it is not a terrible book, it would be more suited for those who are new to the Catholic faith or those who want to learn small pieces of the faith.

• I probably would have enjoyed it more had it been formatted differently. The way it's written, with dialogue from John L. Allen speaking about Barron interspersed with snippets from Bishop Barron, was just so awkward to me. It made the narraitive feel like it bounced around from topic to topic without really going too deep into anything. Like I said, it seems to be more geared towards bringing in the reluctant then anyone else. The content that is covered is good reading though. 

Final Verdict: To Light a Fire on the Earth-  I was hoping for, well, not a biography. Good content, just not enough depth for me to really enjoy it. 

To Light a Fire on the Earth earns

A copy of this book was received through Blogging for Books for review consideration. All thoughts are my own.