Escape Routes: for People Who Feel Trapped in Life's Hells

by Johann Christoph Arnold

You name the hell...there is a way out. After decades of pastoral counseling, Johann Christoph Arnold still marvels at our capacity to make life miserable for ourselves and one another. This book, his tenth, maps out a sure way out of life’s hells and toward a happy, meaningful life.

In contrast to the makeovers and quick fixes hawked by popular culture, Escape Routes offers a tougher prescription. Using real-life stories as travel guides, Arnold exposes the root causes of loneliness, frustration, alienation, and despair and shows how anyone, regardless of their age, income bracket, or social status, can find freedom and new life. The choices he presents are "to be selfish or selfless, to forgive or to hate, to burn with lust or with love."

No matter what your problems, or who you are, this book will help you on your way, provided you’re ready to take its medicine.
,br> Arnold “Call it life, call it there’s not a person I’ve met who hasn’t been lonely, discouraged, depressed, or guilt-ridden at one time or another, if not sick, burned-out, or at sea in a relationship. Sometimes I know this because they have told me about their problems; sometimes I can tell just by looking in their eyes. That’s what got me started on this book—the fact that all of us have known some form of hell in our lives, and that insofar as any of us find freedom, confidence, companionship, and community, we will also know happiness.”

197 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

People have come to expect sound advice from Johann Christoph Arnold, an award-winning author with over two million copies of his twelve books in print in more than twenty languages. A noted speaker and writer on marriage, parenting, and end-of-life issues, Arnold was a senior pastor of the Bruderhof, a movement of Christian communities, until his death in April 2017.

Arnold’s message was shaped by encounters with great peacemakers such as Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, César Chavez, and John Paul II. Together with paralyzed police officer Steven McDonald, Arnold started the Breaking the Cycle program, working with students at hundreds of public high schools to promote reconciliation through forgiveness. This work also brought him to conflict zones from Northern Ireland to Rwanda to the Middle East. Closer to home, he served as chaplain for the local sheriff’s department.

Born in Great Britain in 1940 to German refugees, Arnold spent his boyhood years in South America, where his parents found asylum during the war; he immigrated to the United States in 1955. He and his wife, Verena, have eight children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Reviews

[Sadie Forsythe]

I started, but didn't finish this book. I was somewhat discouraged when I discovered that it is actually a religious book (I hadn't initially realized that), but I was still willing to read it. However, in chapter two about a women who had been raped and molested several times, starting in childhood, there came point in which she "contacted her father, who had physically and sexually abused her as a child, and wrote him a letter asking his forgiveness for the hatred she had harbored toward him up till then" and I said "fuck this." If that's the sort of message this book is trying to send me, I'm not here for it.

[J.S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a leader in my church, I sometimes counsel people who are dealing with the consequences of a life away from God. I often hear the cry that God isn't helping them because they're still essentially in the same place as when they decided to turn their lives around. The image that comes to mind is that they've been digging a hole for years - perhaps a lifetime - and upon finding themselves unhappy, they now want out. But just because they've stopped digging doesn't mean they're automatically *out of the hole* they spent so much time making. The consequences of past actions remains, and the perseverance to continue to right the errors of the past - and get out of the hole - requires further effort. I guess that's why this book initially appealed to me.

The book is organized into chapters dealing with various issues such as loneliness, despair, money, sex, etc. Overall, each chapter felt a bit shallow. The issues are described but the advice and counsel often felt a bit lacking. Nonetheless, the stories were nice and even kind of uplifting - kind of a feel-good read in many ways. (I rec'd a copy through a GoodReads giveaway.)

[Yvonne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an easy book to read. Managed to finish it in a day amidst distractions and responsibilities. It touches on the issues that affect the human population today and gave ideas on how to resolve them with illustrations from real-life case studies. However, there was no deep substance to the book and the author sort of just touch-and-go on each issue. Perhaps, he was trying to cover too many issues in one book. 'Jack of all trade but master of none' can perhaps, describe this book.

[Debra · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I'm only 3 chapters in, I am going to stop reading. The book offers what can only be compared to a series of drunk logs of alcoholics and then one or two sentence about what recovery looks like. Yes, the examples are all pertinent to the author's description of people who feel trapped in life's hells. . . . but, the so-called escape routes are so short and non-descriptive that I cannot help but wonder how a reader could choose to escape their own hell.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is more uplifting than the title suggests! Arnold is a intense, profound writer drawing from a broad base of wise sources (Henri Nouwen, C.S. Lewis, etc) and digs deep into the spiritual struggles people face. He uses many personal stories of those he has ministered to during his long career. His own background is fascinating. I'm interested in reading more of his writings.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much of this book is moving and has parts that make you think about your life, future, past or others you knew with similar lives of the stories shared. I had a hard time following some of the random stories shared. The translation was often not there and I would backtrack as stories sometimes blended together. Overall wise stories that gave me positive influence for my life. I do not think the title quite matches what is in the book. Many people feel full of despair and have different tough times they need to get pulled out of. I think this is a good book but it needed more editing for clarity. The author passed away years ago. He was a wise man. I am glad he wrote books to share his thoughts and wisdom.

[Sarra]

(Contains homophobia, and exonerates an abuser while blaming their victim)

[Rick Fifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that wants to help you find the truth. A book that does not beat you down with religion but, through the examples of others helps guide youth the right path.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

CAUTION HERE MAY BE SPOILERS!!!

A great book by the sorely missed J C Arnold, I've read a few of his books and I always come away feeling that this book has or will help me with my life. He brings up some troubling topics in this one and it may be a sensitive subject for some. He does a great job of passing on the message that their is hope and a way out of your situations.

Honestly I'm a big fan of the author and a Baptist Christian myself so I'm pretty biased to this guys books.

But even still, it's a good read. And compared to some Christian authors id say he's not even that heavy on the God aspect, some just go on and on but J C Anrold manages to keep things even. Nice 🙌🏻🙏🏻

[Sharon Hardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspirational stories of people who managed to move from horrible situations to happier, more fulfilling lives. There is not much new about the routes they took, with new faith and Christian teachings as the bases, but Arnold's writing is smooth, compassionate without being sugary. Each chapter or story by itself would be interesting and inspiring, but they flow from one to another to create an optimistic cumulative whole.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of excellent advice and enables you to improve your outlook. Had a memorable experience as a result of the insight and good timing.
"Life's deepest fulfillment comes from valuing every human encounter, and showing love to everyone we meet especially if they are lonely, despairing, or beaten down."

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be good for anyone, not just teachers/parents, although teacher/parents have unique challenges that this book would apply to.