As a Christian living in a blue state, I was interested in reading Purple State of Mind. The advertisements made it sound as though it would be a good discussion between an intelligent and committed Christian and an intelligent atheist/agnostic. It was noted that the two had been friends for a long time and that they dialogued together about their differences to help create more understanding of where both were coming from.

Ultimately, my biggest problem with the book is that those conversations either did not happen or they were not really summarized in the book, itself. That is unfortunate, because Craig Detweiler, the Christian author, has stated that one of the reasons for writing the book was to give more of a rationale for his own more passive role in the film. Unfortunately, he continues in a very passive role in the book. Ultimately, he appears to be a good listener and an empathetic person. However, there is not much of a dialogue that goes on here. If someone is a Christian and really does not have anyone in their lives who will bring up negative things about Christianity, then they may find this book interesting.

Personally, I was disappointed because there was no real give and take in the book. Mr. Marks, the (at this point) non-believer, makes some points. Mr. Detweiler agrees the church has been very flawed. He goes into great length about how Christians need to do a better job of listening to others. He does not engage in any kind of a deep response to the criticisms aimed at the church or the followers of Christ in this culture. Even if I was not a Christian, I would have been disappointed. This is like point/counterpoint....only without the counterpoint. As such, it was not that interesting or helpful to me. I will say, that Mr. Detweiler appears to be a profoundly nice person. However, I was expecting something more from the book.