Book Review: Head, Heart & Hands by Dennis P. Hollinger

July 16, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

One of the many problems within Christianity today is the
unhealthy division between the head, the heart and the hands- or thought,
passion, and action. Different groups tend to emphasis one area of Christian
life over the others. In doing so, they not only neglect what they
de-emphasize, but what they do emphasize suffers from imbalance. To give
examples, I would say the Reformed tradition tends to over-emphasize the mind,
Charismatics the heart, and the emerging church the hands. Dennis Hollinger
seeks to bring these elements together in his book Head, Heart & Hands.

“What we need today, in a fragmented world, is a whole faith
of the head, heart and hands, with each dimension feeding and sustaining the
others.” (16) Dr. Hollinger begins by painting a picture of what we experience
too often- fragmented people living fragmented lives. This sets the stage for
looking at each area of Christian life individually.

There are two chapters on each the head, the heart and the
hands. The first explains the Biblical foundation for the element and its
implications for our lives. The second examines how the element is often
distorted, either by neglect or by over-emphasis. Dr. Hollinger then presents
the three elements integrated in three chapters. The first examines a number of
Old and New Testament passages that make a case for the necessity of all three
elements working together. The next chapter draws from non-Biblical examples of
this model found in education, social psychology, and philosophy. The final
chapter examines the implications of integration for our lives, and the
challenges we must overcome.

At the very least, Dr. Hollinger is incredibly thorough. Had
I written this book (which I did have in mind before this came along), I would
not have been able to cover each element to the great detail that Dr. Hollinger
does. The reason is that I tend to favor the mind, and therefore couldn’t cover
the heart and hands well. What makes this book good is that the presentation of each
element is balanced.

What makes this book great, though, is how well Dr.
Hollinger explains the relationships between these elements in the Christian
life. “Our minds cannot be brought into harmony with God’s designs and truth
without hearts that are near to God and actions that reflect God’s ways. Our
hearts cannot experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit without
knowledge of God to guide us and without actions that reflect the fruit of the
Holy Spirit. And our actions of both proclamation and presence will wither
without a theology to guide them and a heart to drive and sustain them. Head,
heart and hands together. That is the paradigm from God’s Word.” (158)

Head, Heart & Hands is indispensable reading for those who wish to live a
complete life completely surrendered to Christ. It should be required for every
disciple of Christ who seeks to live to His glory.