7 MenAnd the Secret of their Greatness

Eric Metaxas          Thomas Nelson, 2013.

 3.5  / 5.0 

This collection of biographical sketches is meant to give us a resource of role models. 7 Men reaches as far as Metaxas' aspirations, but will probably disappoint most readers.

When I was in elementary school I checked out and read a short biography of Don Shula, repeatedly. I'm not really sure why. I had never heard of Don Shula. Football to me meant the University of Alabama. I had adopted the Chicago Bears as the NFL team to receive my love, but I never watched their games and probably couldn't have named anyone on the team besides the Fridge (every little boy knew there was a football player named after a refrigerator). I think it was the first biography I had ever read; I liked the format, and I just kept coming back.

Eric Metaxas' 7 Men reminds of that book. It's the kind of biography that I got hooked on when I was eight. It is not the kind I get excited about reading now.
I'm not saying I dislike it because 7 Men is hagiography and I prefer sordid exposé. It's not and I don't.

The book hits pretty much where Metaxas aims. In the forward he admits wanting to publish something in the vein of Foxe's Book of Martyrs or Plutarch's Lives--biographical sketches the reader can consult to find role models. I think he succeeds in his plan.

Metaxas got a lot of attention and praise for his books on Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer. This collection of essays is a different beast. Short life summaries of Bonhoeffer and Wilberforce are presented alongside stories about George Washington, Eric Liddell, Jackie Robinson, John Paul II and Chuck Colson. The men aren't presented as perfect. Metaxas doesn't hide their documented failures or wrong-mindedness, but neither does he speculate on private terribleness that history can't support. I like what he says in the forward about our relatively recent obsession with questioning authority:

But this didn't just mean we should question whether authority is legitimate, which would be a good idea. No , it seemed to me to go beyond that . It seemed to say that we should question the very idea of authroity itself. So you could say that we've gone all the way from foolishly accepting all authority to foolishly rejecting all authority. We've gone from the extreme of being naive to the other extreme of being cynical.

Like the Don Shula I met long ago these men are sculpted into an empty gallery rather than painted into a landscape. Their families, friends, influences and trials are listed but not illuminated. There isn't time and there isn't room.

I think Metaxas did what he set out to and yet, probably disappointed fans of his last two biographies (not me; I haven't read them). I would recommend 7 Men to young readers, especially young men, or as good church study / sermon illustration material.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publishers for review. Thanksbooksneeze.com!