Crossway Book Review: Disciplines of a Godly Young Man by R. Kent and W. Carey Hughes

This father/son combo serves as a practical guide designed specifically for young men to aid them in pursuing a life of godliness. The key text throughout the book is 1 Timothy 4:7-8, "But have nothing to do with irreverent and silly myths. Rather, train yourself in godliness, for the training of the body has a limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, for the present life and also for the life to come."

The book is set up around twelve "disciplines" of the Christian life: purity, friendship, mind, devotion, prayer, tongue, work, perseverance, church, giving, witness, and ministry. It is both an easy read and clearly written. It is not heavily theological and is helpful for the young man who is either brand new in the faith or for a young man who has never been a reader.

THE GOOD

1)The Hughes' have delivered on their intent to be practical. There are lots of helpful things they have to say in the area of application. The young man will glean many ideas that will help him jump start his walk with Christ.

2)Each section ends with a series of questions designed to help the reader dig deeper in the area of that particular discipline. This makes this book ideal for a small group study and discussion. In fact, I personally think the book's primary value is in the area of small group ministry.

3)The book is designed to be an "entry level" type book and is very easy to read. It will not intimidate the new believer or the young man who is part of the "non reader" group that the book mentions.

THE BAD

1)There is little explanation of the gospel in this book. It is never clearly stated that godliness is the result of Jesus Christ's substitutionary atonement on the cross. If fact, there are times when the book seems to imply that Jesus' primary work on the earth was to serve as our example to follow in disciplining ourselves.

2)The Hughes warn about the danger of legalism but go on to give a list of over 100 items in their book. They try to explain that this is not legalism, but it comes across as very confusing.

3)The message of the book boils down to "try harder". Throughout the book there is a reference to discipline being like going to the gym and the reader is on numerous occasions are exhorted to employ "spiritual sweat". The cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 12 are even said to be cheering "you can do it!" to believers down here on earth (p. 125). It would have been good to see "you can't do it, but that's ok because Jesus did it for you!" which serves as the true motivation for godliness.

Overall Disciplines of a Godly Young Man is a mixed bag. The Hughes have a lot of good things to say about disciplining your mind and church attendance, for example. However, the book is mostly self effort and not a reliance upon God's grace. Trusting in God's race as you discipline your life is not mentioned until the final three pages, almost as an afterthought. As I already mentioned, this book would make an excellent book to handle in a study group, and I recommend it for that purpose.