What’s Odd About ‘The Purpose-Driven Life’

This exceedingly popular American evangelical book does not make sense if you aren’t already evangelical

In 2002, Rick Warren, the founder of an American evangelical megachurch, published The Purpose-Driven Life. Sometimes I like to learn about cultural trends, and this book certainly was one.

It happened to be on a bookshelf (free!) where I was volunteering at a telephone hotline during an overnight shift in 2007.

I did not expect to like or agree with the book, and in that regard my expectations were fulfilled. I found even less philosophy than I expected. It seemed to me that Warren did not intend this book as philosophy. That made it a little harder to evaluate his claims.

If you’ve heard of The Purpose-Driven Life, which has enjoyed two decades of astonishing popularity, you may be interested to read my impressions that I share here. I can’t say what the book has meant to everyone else, but I know how I reacted to it at the time.

What’s In ‘The Purpose-Driven Life’

The first half of the book assumes the reader believes in God, in the immortality of the soul, and in the Christian version of the Bible. The second half of the book, building on that, goads committed Christians to join churches to strengthen their faith. Readers who want this material may find what they’re looking for.

Insofar as I do not share these beliefs and goals, the book was not written for me, as it does not attempt to persuade skeptics and outsiders. The lack of appeal to skeptics is worth mentioning, however, given that the 2002 book was translated into 85 languages and had sold 50 million copies by 2020. That’s stratospheric popularity for a book that merely aims to preach to the choir. It seems to have sold beyond its natural audience. I read it, after all.

Warren had a chance to “speak” to me through this book, but he didn’t address me. It might seem a bit rude for me to be a “fly on the wall” in complaining about a book that was never meant for me, but I’ll toss some responsibility back into the court of the author and publisher: If they don’t want unsympathetic readers, they shouldn’t have printed 50 million copies. When you make big cultural waves, you generate curiosity outside your bubble (even if those people only wish to find out whether you communicated anything…