Sorry for the sporadic posting. Hopefully I'll get back on routine next week, but I wanted to ahead and get my review up for Booksneeze, since I've had the book for a couple of weeks.
 | Jungle Warfare: A Basic Field Manual for Christians in Sales |
I've been kind of locked up on this book review, and that's why I've held it up for a week. So, this is going to be a slightly split-personality review. You'll see the split when it happens, trust me.
I took this book to review, not because I'm imminently qualified to comment on Christopher A. Cunningham's sales abilities, but rather to take a look at the Christian aspect of this work. I'm far from qualified to critique anyone's sales techniques on their own, because the time I tried to survive as a sales rep resulted in earnings of $0.00 in 5 weeks.
It was enough of an exposure, though, to see the jungle Cunningham is speaking of in this work. As with any other profession, there are legitimate questions of how to retain your Christian faith while sustaining yourself in the work. Cunningham provides some good insights and on-topic directions.
Moreover, I was extremely pleased that his stretches of illustration were from the World War II Jungle Warfare Manual, and not from Scripture. I have read a few sales books that claimed to be for Christians in sales that were full of Scripture out of context, twisted to support points that were only slightly related. This was a refreshing change from that, and makes the book a useful one.
As long as you tear out page 80. Or just the 2nd paragraph of Cunningham's writing. You see, this is my difficulty with this review and this book. There's 207 great pages, and 1 page that, probably unwittingly, denies the eternal nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The rest of the book is well worth reading for the Christian in sales. It's worth reading by Christians in business, and it's worth reading for ministers, to remind us that the people in our congregations are dealing with these types of problems.
Then, there's this one sentence that throws the whole thing into doubt. Nowhere else do I see bad theology in this work. I don't see it on his blog or in his influences. I think it just slipped past him and his editor, and that it's something people looking for theological statements will catch, and many will overlook.
As such, I'll say what I've said of other books: get your theology from the Bible. Build the foundation of your wisdom from the Bible, but seek Bible-following people to build on that foundation. As such, Cunningham, with Jungle Warfare, has provided a good piece for people in sales and business. Just skip that one page.
Doug
PS: Read Disclosures! to satisfy your need to know how I got this book for free.
Additional PS: As a happy Booksneezer, I'm curious if they've considered using electronic delivery, preferably via Kindle, for participants. It would save on shipping, although we'd lose the ability to giveaway/pass-on books.
Doug
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