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Who Am I? Discovering Your Identity in Christ

WHO AM I?
Discovering your identity in Christ
By Mary Pytches
Hodder & Stoughton. 167 pages. £6.99
ISBN 0 340 72234 7

This book is written to help Christians who have a negative self-image - those who 'when they look at themselves do not like what they see' (p.2-3). The author recognises that failure to realise who we are in Christ hinders our spiritual growth.

In the language of anecdote and popular psychology, Mary Pytches considers how identity is constructed by describing the 'building blocks' of identity: attachments (who we know), culture, experience, performance and appearance. She refers to Gideon as a Biblical example of someone with a poor self-image and cites stories of people she has met during her ministry. And in each chapter, she suggests questions for personal reflection.

Much of what Mary Pytches says is clearly true and helpful (e.g. the influence of families on self-image), but unfortunately, my concerns outweigh my appreciation of this.

The subtitle of this book is 'Discovering your identity in Christ'. However, the description of what that means and how we discover it is seriously inadequate. Jesus' death on the cross is mentioned only in passing and is not properly explained or applied. The chapters that deal with finding 'eternal identity' in Christ are thin and unclear in places and the few Bible references are largely unexplained. The section on hearing God's voice - where Mary Pytches advocates looking to the ordinary events of life to hear him speak - highlights her view of Scripture as marginal. She describes how, at a meeting, she caught sight of the name 'Bose' on a loudspeaker and concluded that someone had experienced being 'bossed' about by a loud authority figure. The fact that someone present fitted that category is not, in my view, justification for her approach. There are some helpful Bible references in one of the exercises - but the complex concepts are not explained.

I am sorry not to recommend this book. Mary Pytches is clearly a genuine and compassionate woman who wishes to help Christians who are struggling with their identity - but she does not show how to find answers in the Bible or, particularly, in the cross of Christ.

Mary Davis
Cambridge