Book Review: "Courageous" by Dina L. Sleiman

Courageous by Dina L. Sleiman

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Several characters in this story wrestle with spiritual issues, attempt to discern what is God’s will in various situations, and seek truth, faith, and the peace of God. Initially, since the story touches on differences in religions and spiritual beliefs, I was hopeful that it would have a powerful message of redemption, a loving presentation of the truth of the Bible, and a clear distinction between the Christianity of the Bible and the heartbreaking errors of belief held by the other religions in the story.

While all three of these hopes were partially realized, I was severely disappointed overall. First, there was only a very vague and shallow description of redemption in the lives of a couple of the struggling characters, and the ‘peace’ they received came to them supposedly simply through attending a ‘prayer meeting’ held by a group of children. Receiving of the Lord’s peace and forgiveness is certainly possible to anyone who expresses true repentance of sin! But since it is a personal matter, it must be dealt with personally - must be taken up by the individual and settled between the Lord and them alone. This type of scene was not related. Second, while the Gospel (the fact that Jesus Christ made the atoning sacrifice for mankind by dying on the cross, then rising from the dead, and that faith in Him and belief on Him is the only way a man’s or woman’s sins are covered and they can get to Heaven) was presented/touched on in a couple of places, it was vague and unclear; it was certainly not stressed, though there were several excellent opportunities for the characters to do so, even enhancing the impact of the story. Third, a clear distinction between the religious beliefs of the characters was just not there. There were even conversations among the characters, discussing how their religions were different, then stating that they were ‘not so very different from each other’. I found this disturbing. Either you have the truth, or you do not. Either you are believing the truth, or you are believing a lie, no matter how sincerely. And sadly, so many believe lies.

Overall, I felt that the author’s stand on the fundamental teachings of God’s Word was shaky, at best. This is the primary reason I must say that I was disappointed in this book.

There were a few other issues that I personally did not appreciate. One was that, though intimate immorality was discussed and portrayed as wrong, there were several kisses shared by an unmarried man and woman, and this was treated as if it was fine. The other was that there were ‘women knights’, and women actively involved in battles. Even the author concedes that this is not historically accurate – traditionally, while women sometimes were trained in self-defense skills or as archers, the men were the knights, the protectors, and the guards for the women and the children precious to them.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for my honest review.

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