Books often meet a need. My friend was devastated when her mate left her after forty-three years married. She went searching for help. This book delivered. There is a need for this type of book, one that offers spiritual truth in addition to practical hands-on ways to apply then incorporate it into real life. Traditionally, in evangelicalism, the realm of feelings and emotions was largely treated as a simple formula of confess the sin, get right with God, and all will be well. Those who were struggling often felt alone in their suffering. This is a somewhat academic book with an emphasis on feelings and emotions as they relate to spiritual living. I found it to be somewhat dry in the first few chapters which relate to a biblical foundation for truth but increasing in interest as Borgman delves into the nuts and bolts of dealing with our human emotions like anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, fear, anxiety, worry, and depression; then offering solutions found in confession, renewing of the mind, relationships, reading, meditating, prayer, and imagination. Faith and Feelings opens the door for greater exploration of the relationship of feelings with faith.
Many evangelicals have become suspicious of the emotions and generally discount them. This is tragic. Others have so exalted experience and the emotions that they have minimized truth, doctrine, and theology. This too is tragic. The glorious reality is that truth and emotions, faith and feelings, theology and experience are not enemies, but the best of friends.
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