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Our Road to Damascus: 7 Lessons for a Life of Purpose and Meaning

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Loved it! 😍

A book on finding true meaning and purpose in life and therefore accepting a transformative change that's an essential prerequisite.

Our Road to Damascus by Dan Assisi is a book on personal change based on the awe-inspiring transformation of Saul, once Christianity’s worst enemy, into Paul, one of its most fiery proponents, after a personal encounter with Jesus Christ on the road from Jerusalem (Israel) to Damascus (Syria). Change is vital to our growth and inevitable. In this book, the author uses Paul as a model to expound on transformative change, its pain and benefits, and seven lessons to make a transformative change successful in real life. The choice of Paul is because his transformative experiences are unparalleled in human history.


Readers other than Christians and folks deep into Christianity will need an introduction to Paul, the apostle. So, I’ll make a brief introduction before proceeding. Paul (born Saul, 4 BCE to c.62-64 CE) was highly intelligent and a good athlete. He became a powerful member of the Jewish Sanhedrin when he grew up. He was a devout Jew, and like other Jews of his time, rejected Jesus as Israel’s “Messiah.” Believing Christ was a deceiver, he wanted to destroy Christianity. While on a journey from Jerusalem to Damascus to arrest Damascene Christians and bring them to book, Jesus met him in a powerful, blinding vision. That encounter led to a profound, 180-degree change, transforming Saul into Paul!


Although it’s undeniable that the author is passionately inspired by Paul and the Bible underpins it, it would be a mistake to assume that this book is for Christians alone. It would be much more appropriate to treat it as a book on spiritual growth for all written by an author with a Christian worldview. For example, in Chap. 10, the author uses “Universe” in the sense of a global yet unknown God. Again in Chap. 5, the discussion about learning leverages science (e.g., Lev Vygotsky’s ZPD and related studies).


Though a serious book, the author has made it enjoyable by using simple language and by blending in humor and brief digressions of interest at several places. The only flaw I found is he repeats himself occasionally.


I recommend this book to ALL readers because we are all deeply spiritual by nature. Stephen Covey’s quote, “... We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” puts it across very well. Challenged by life’s situations, our natures are continually seeking answers to spiritual questions, an unending quest until we find true meaning and purpose in life or the symbolic “Damascus” of this book. So if you are sufficiently mature and open-minded, Our Road to Damascus is definitely for YOU. The author hopes to inspire us through this book to follow in Paul’s footsteps and start on our own journeys to Damascus (destinations of fulfillment), very soon!

Reviewed by

An engineer and part-time IT Consultant based in Bangalore, India. Part-time copy editor/reviewer. An IEEE Senior Member. Deep thinker and innovator. Highly analytical, clear, accurate, and thorough. Over 100 book reviews published to date-80 on Reedsy and 22 on Online BookClub.

On The Road With Paul

About the author

Dan Assisi, Ed.D. is an award-winning author and celebrated speaker who has delivered 100s of talks on spirituality in over 60 cities on 4 continents. Known for a mix of deep thinking and witty humor, Dan takes a rational approach to reminding audiences everywhere of our spiritual nature. view profile

Published on December 12, 2020

60000 words

Worked with a Reedsy professional 🏆

Genre: Religion & Spirituality

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