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Why Did God Give Us Emotions
Why Did God Give Us Emotions takes a detailed look at the many sources of our emotional responses and the role our emotions play in our thoughts, actions, relationships with others, and our relationship with God. Peurifoy holds a master’s degree in counseling, has attended Fuller Theological Seminary, and has spent over twenty years in private practice and teaching. With the gift of making seemingly complicated issues easy to understand, Peurifoy “From the very start I had two I wanted to look at what science has learned about emotions from a biblical perspective, and I wanted to do it in a way that would strengthen the reader’s walk with God.” Why Did God Give Us Emotions is essential reading for both those struggling with emotional issues as well as for the general reader who wants to not only understand their emotions more fully, but who is also seeking skills for managing emotions more effectively. Pastors and counselors will find both the insights offered and the recommended activities at the end of each chapter to be a valuable resource for many years to come. The group discussion questions at the end of the book also make it an ideal vehicle for small group study.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 2009
About the author
Reneau Z. Peurifoy
10 books10 followersReneau Peurifoy has published books both as an independent publisher and by traditional publishers. His first book, “Anxiety, Phobias & Panic,” published by Hachette, has sold over 300,000 copies and is in multiple languages. He has been invited to speak at eleven national conferences put on by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), the nation's primary organization for anxiety-related problems.
Peurifoy’s most recent work, “Why You Feel the Way You Do,” explores the seven core emotions identified by affective neuroscience that we share with our pets and the three key things that positive psychology has identified as the most important emotional factors that impact personal happiness. It provides readers with practical approaches for quieting destructive emotional triggers and negative core response patterns and also includes ways to reduce the negative effects of social media and devices.
Peurifoy has a wide range of experience in front of groups and has appeared extensively on dozens of television and radio programs. Peurifoy's warmth and comfortable manner generate a strong rapport with audiences. Because he believes so strongly in the material he has developed over his years as a therapist, teacher, and workshop leader, his excitement over sharing it is genuinely contagious.
After twenty years of working with anxiety disorders as a marriage and family therapist, he retired to teach at a local College in Sacramento, California. He has now left teaching and spends his time writing, speaking, and conducting occasional classes. He also has a YouTube channel that features videos on practical life skills.
Peurifoy’s most recent work, “Why You Feel the Way You Do,” explores the seven core emotions identified by affective neuroscience that we share with our pets and the three key things that positive psychology has identified as the most important emotional factors that impact personal happiness. It provides readers with practical approaches for quieting destructive emotional triggers and negative core response patterns and also includes ways to reduce the negative effects of social media and devices.
Peurifoy has a wide range of experience in front of groups and has appeared extensively on dozens of television and radio programs. Peurifoy's warmth and comfortable manner generate a strong rapport with audiences. Because he believes so strongly in the material he has developed over his years as a therapist, teacher, and workshop leader, his excitement over sharing it is genuinely contagious.
After twenty years of working with anxiety disorders as a marriage and family therapist, he retired to teach at a local College in Sacramento, California. He has now left teaching and spends his time writing, speaking, and conducting occasional classes. He also has a YouTube channel that features videos on practical life skills.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 13, 2018
Most definitely not an overnight read, Why Did God Give Us Emotions?: A Biblical Perspective on What Science Has Discovered about Emotions requires both effort and insight on our part―after all, you can’t expect an epiphany in the form of instant gratification, can you? The most outstanding characteristic of this spiritual workbook is its clarity. The author, Reneau Peurifoy, uses an allegory of how six blind men “see” an elephant as being a completely different object, depending on which part of its body they each feel: a leg; its tail; its trunk; its ear; its side; and a tusk. From what they feel, they, in turn, perceive the elephant as a pillar; a rope; the thick branch of a tree; a big fan; a huge wall; and a spear. In short, they all get it wrong.
So, too, are we likely not to be able to understand ourselves and our own emotions if we focus on only one aspect of our being. Peurifoy considers our subjective, physical, mental and spiritual emotions, in terms of how they relate to our entire being, as well as in terms of how they relate to one another. A thoroughly God-centered work, this guide to emotional well-being guides you step-by-step through the healing process. And this is where your work comes in. Rejecting the role of the reader as passive bystander, Reneau asks of us that we unpack our emotions as we go, in the form of a journal. By doing so, he helps us to relate his sound advice, gleaned from many years as a practicing Christian marriage and family therapist specializing in anxiety disorders, to how we perceive the world (and, oh boy, can we sometimes see it in strange ways―see the analogy above!). He also provides suggestions on how to find a good church, how to develop a regular prayer life, and how to seek help when you really need it. For all the chapters, Peurifoy also gives several small group discussion questions, so that you can transform your personal encounter with his text into a small group therapeutic setting.
Packed with biblical references and checklists, Why Did God Give Us Emotions? stimulates us to grow, not only inwardly, but also in the relationships that we have with others around us. If you feel emotionally troubled and would love to undergo a spiritual facelift, why not buy a copy of Why Did God Give Us Emotions?: A Biblical Perspective on What Science Has Discovered about Emotions. It’s the equivalent of hours of therapy (and who among us can afford to pay for other forms of face-to-face counseling these days?).
So, too, are we likely not to be able to understand ourselves and our own emotions if we focus on only one aspect of our being. Peurifoy considers our subjective, physical, mental and spiritual emotions, in terms of how they relate to our entire being, as well as in terms of how they relate to one another. A thoroughly God-centered work, this guide to emotional well-being guides you step-by-step through the healing process. And this is where your work comes in. Rejecting the role of the reader as passive bystander, Reneau asks of us that we unpack our emotions as we go, in the form of a journal. By doing so, he helps us to relate his sound advice, gleaned from many years as a practicing Christian marriage and family therapist specializing in anxiety disorders, to how we perceive the world (and, oh boy, can we sometimes see it in strange ways―see the analogy above!). He also provides suggestions on how to find a good church, how to develop a regular prayer life, and how to seek help when you really need it. For all the chapters, Peurifoy also gives several small group discussion questions, so that you can transform your personal encounter with his text into a small group therapeutic setting.
Packed with biblical references and checklists, Why Did God Give Us Emotions? stimulates us to grow, not only inwardly, but also in the relationships that we have with others around us. If you feel emotionally troubled and would love to undergo a spiritual facelift, why not buy a copy of Why Did God Give Us Emotions?: A Biblical Perspective on What Science Has Discovered about Emotions. It’s the equivalent of hours of therapy (and who among us can afford to pay for other forms of face-to-face counseling these days?).
January 21, 2010
In his book, Why Did God Give us Emotions?, Reneau Peurifoy stresses the importance of recognizing how the individual aspects of emotions interconnect. Emotions are complex and mysterious. They can bring us to heights of ecstasy down to the rocks of despair. They can bind us together or tear us apart. They move some to perform nobles acts of courage and self-sacrifice, while in others they are the force behinds terrible acts of evil and destruction.
Peurifoy focuses on four main aspects of emotions:
* Their subjective nature
* Their physical side
* Their mental side, and
* Their spiritual side.
Why Did God Give Us Emotions? addresses topics like:
* Core Beliefs
* The Window of the Soul
* Emotions and God’s Will
* How God Speaks to You (What Stops us From Hearing God?)
* Emotions That Come Out of the Blue
* Emotions That are “Taboo”
* True Emotional Healing
From the very start Peurifoy had two goals in mind:
* He wanted to look at what science has learned about emotions from a biblical perspective, and
* He wanted to do it in a way that would strengthen the reader’s walk with God.
He states, “Over the last two decades, I’ve seen the strengths of science and psychology in helping people and making our lives more comfortable. I’ve also become acutely aware of the inability of science and psychology to address the true source of human misery: sin and our separation from God. I believe that God has helped me write a book that will be useful to many.”
My Review:
I feel that with Reneau Peurifoy accomplished his two goals in a very concise, yet easy-to-read method for individuals to comprehend. He has many subtitles to each of his chapters that capture the nature of each of his subjects. He doesn’t leave us with a ‘knowledge-only” book. He has recommended activities after each chapter that help you apply his principles while looking into your own emotional being, past and present, as well as God’s perspective.
His book also contains “discussion questions for small group study, provided along with guidelines for managing emotions more effectively so they glorify God, rather than bring Him disgrace.”
I definitely recommend this book as a good resource for anyone suffering from emotional issues, big or small. I am specifically excited that Peurifoy’s book is from a Godly perspective.
Peurifoy focuses on four main aspects of emotions:
* Their subjective nature
* Their physical side
* Their mental side, and
* Their spiritual side.
Why Did God Give Us Emotions? addresses topics like:
* Core Beliefs
* The Window of the Soul
* Emotions and God’s Will
* How God Speaks to You (What Stops us From Hearing God?)
* Emotions That Come Out of the Blue
* Emotions That are “Taboo”
* True Emotional Healing
From the very start Peurifoy had two goals in mind:
* He wanted to look at what science has learned about emotions from a biblical perspective, and
* He wanted to do it in a way that would strengthen the reader’s walk with God.
He states, “Over the last two decades, I’ve seen the strengths of science and psychology in helping people and making our lives more comfortable. I’ve also become acutely aware of the inability of science and psychology to address the true source of human misery: sin and our separation from God. I believe that God has helped me write a book that will be useful to many.”
My Review:
I feel that with Reneau Peurifoy accomplished his two goals in a very concise, yet easy-to-read method for individuals to comprehend. He has many subtitles to each of his chapters that capture the nature of each of his subjects. He doesn’t leave us with a ‘knowledge-only” book. He has recommended activities after each chapter that help you apply his principles while looking into your own emotional being, past and present, as well as God’s perspective.
His book also contains “discussion questions for small group study, provided along with guidelines for managing emotions more effectively so they glorify God, rather than bring Him disgrace.”
I definitely recommend this book as a good resource for anyone suffering from emotional issues, big or small. I am specifically excited that Peurifoy’s book is from a Godly perspective.
January 26, 2016
In reading through Why Did God Give Us Emotions?: A biblical perspective on what science has discovered about emotions I have found it to be a much deeper book that originally expected. Author Reneau Peurifoy gives a complete overview of the different aspects of emotions - physical, spiritual, etc - while also putting them in the context of Christian beliefs (or misconceptions).
It is this combination that makes this book stand out from the rest. There are many resources that deal with happiness or anxiety or small slices of the emotional spectrum but few of them are written to address such a complete and balanced view of the role God gave emotions to play in our lives, and do so with a balance of medical knowledge and Biblical insight. Peurifoy also provides some good cautions about relying too much on emotions while giving some very practical exercises and examples of where our emotions can be trusted and where they can become a false guide.
I would not say this book is light reading, if you plan to use it the way Peurifoy intends it with a journal and exercises to put each chapter into a working and potentially life-balancing practice. I wish I'd found this book years ago.
It is this combination that makes this book stand out from the rest. There are many resources that deal with happiness or anxiety or small slices of the emotional spectrum but few of them are written to address such a complete and balanced view of the role God gave emotions to play in our lives, and do so with a balance of medical knowledge and Biblical insight. Peurifoy also provides some good cautions about relying too much on emotions while giving some very practical exercises and examples of where our emotions can be trusted and where they can become a false guide.
I would not say this book is light reading, if you plan to use it the way Peurifoy intends it with a journal and exercises to put each chapter into a working and potentially life-balancing practice. I wish I'd found this book years ago.
November 14, 2012
This book helped me immensely in my ministry. Great book on brain chemistry and even better it's from a biblical perspective.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews