Reviewed by:

Kayla Houvenagle, a professional writing major at Taylor University from Immanuel Southern Baptist Church.

Introduction

Title: Removing your Shame Label: Learning to Break from Shame and Feel God’s Love

Author: Eddie Capparucci, LPC

Publisher: Abundant Life Counseling (Self-published)

Publication Date: 2016

Format: Print book

Length: 225 pages

OVERVIEW

Removing your Shame Label is a book about the often unaddressed “shame cycle” many Christians experience. This cycle is born from many lies, including the idea that God evaluates a person’s “performance” by which to judge, punish or reward him or her. Such individuals become convinced that if they repeatedly sin, God will want nothing to do with them until they can do something to “fix” themselves. Since humans simply can’t fix themselves without God’s help, any attempts to do so are met with failure and shame, thus sustaining this shame cycle.

Eddie Capparucci, a Christian counselor with his own practice, has written the book with a deep understanding of the subject due to the struggles of his clients with this issue. Capparucci uses examples from his clients’ situations and his own mistakes and failings. He refers to many Bible verses to back up and illustrate the insights he shares in his book. 

The author coaches his readers on how to combat the issue of shame, starting with explaining where it comes from and then presenting ways to manage the cycle so the victims can live their lives to the fullest for God.

            The book, being self-published, has some occasional grammar errors and some typeface that is visually unappealing, but the content itself makes the book worth reading.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5)

4

Suggested Audience

This book is written for an adult Christian audience. This is due to the mature nature of some of the sins used as examples, and the fact that the people committing the sins and living in shame are adults. God is presented as the cure for the cycle, which readers wouldn’t recognize in themselves unless they were Christians trying not to sin.

Christian Impact

This text deals with the fundamentally Christian struggle of trying and failing to be good enough for God. Whereas the book does have tips that non-Christians could benefit from, the ultimate cure for the self-hate and other problems the cycle creates comes from one source: God. Thus, this is a book specifically targeted at suffering Christians.

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