Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Everyday Greatness By Stephen R. Covey

As a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program http://brb.thomasnelson.com/ I had the opportunity to review Stephen R. Covey’s compendium of moral inspirational stories, Everyday Greatness.

Covey’s book is like a textbook in morals. Moral values are categorized and explicitly described via real life stories which serve as examples or case studies. Morals are grouped together in sections. Each section begins with a brief introduction- the style is reminiscent to the learning goals which can be found in an elementary text book prior to each new unit. For each moral topic, there is a short summary in an easy to digest format called the “Wrap Up” and “Reflections” at the end of each chapter. Also included are relevant quotations from a colorful assortment of literary, political and religious figures.

While not explicitly biblical, the humanistic moral values within the pages are not offensive and are compatible with Christianity nonetheless. The book draws upon the worldly wisdom of philosophers and other assorted well known figures ranging from Nietzsche, Tom Hanks, Ghandi and Mother Theresa to John McCain and George Bush.
Perhaps this book is most useful as a starting point to introduce non religious readers and non Christians to basic moral values.

This book is not to be used explicitly as a Christian resource but rather as a generic, secular resource for anyone wishing to strive for a moral life. This book is a good instruction manual on general moral values and good citizenship. It is clear that this ambitious piece of work represents a lot of research and hard work on the part of Stephen R. Covey. The books weakness in promoting the Christian faith and biblical values serves as a great strength as well as it is an effective resource to draw the interest of a secular audience. Nevertheless as a Christian, I would have liked to see more biblical quotes and biblical wisdom along side the secular quotes and secular wisdom.

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