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The Battlefield for the Mind is a "Christian Living" book that is a mix between a Spiritual Warfare manual and a self-empowerment book. It seems to be some form of a Charismatic "Counseling" text, helping people live happier and more successful lives by teaching them how to have proper thoughts and behaviors that are "in accord with the Bible". It seems that Joyce Meyer is cashing in on the whole "Christian self-help" craze, helping everyone learn some new fangled "Christian" way to get the effects of Prozac without the expense of actually purchasing it (and the shame of hiding it from your friends). She uses a lot of Christian lingo, but the underlying philosophy is straight out of the Adveda Vedanta school of Hinduism. The theology of the book is thoroughly "word faith" (i.e. health and wealth; your words create reality...hence the Adveda Vedanta connection), with plenty of secular counseling concepts (like self love) and hints of an absolute plethora of heresies (like neo-orthodoxy). Her "gospel" is completely anthropocentric (God exists to give us things) and Joyce seems to almost have a flippant, nonchalant, ignorant contempt for the Scriptures. Like many other more eccentric Charismatics, she quotes the Bible with absolutely no regard for (or more likely complete misunderstanding of) context and original meaning. She most likely has heard the word "hermeneutics", but her practice reveals that she equates "hermeneutics" with "whatever I feel it means at the time". Her usage of scripture is downright nonsensical, with verses often being quoted and strung together into syllogisms based simply on a certain English rendering of a verb that suits her purposes. An example of this how Joyce takes Habakkuk 3:19 as a 2 part instruction on how to develop the ability to develop perseverance in strife. Ignoring the personal pronouns, she says we need to "walk" and "make", conveniently providing her own definitions for what she means by those two verbs. Her usage of scripture is so atrocious, one has to wonder how she ever earned a ThD in Theology...Oh wait. Her ThD is from Life Christian University, an unaccredited diploma-mill. Never mind. As for the academic level and quality of the book, I was almost offended. I honestly cannot believe that a million people paid money for this book. Joyce Meyer writes as possibly a seventh grade level, with absolutely no research going into the book. Her bibliography has 4 sources; one of which is her Bible and one is a concordance. Joyce seems to be able to support any idea from any verse in the entire scriptures. The book seems to have a high level of intensity throughout, as if every single word Joyce says will change your life. Like other Charismatic writers I've read, Joyce writes more like she is blogging rather than writing a serious piece of academic research or literature on a serious subject. She uses far too many font choices, italicizing what seems like every 10th word (apparently for impact) and using multiple exclamation marks at least once a paragraph. I felt like I was reading something that was the result of an "all nighter" pulled by a college freshman. There were no footnotes anywhere, for there was no research. Apparently all Joyce needed was the Bible and the Lord, which makes sense seeing that she believes that she gets direct propositional revelation from God. In finding things that were good about the book, I also had to struggle. The theology was horrifying. The writing was juvenile. The usage of scripture was essentially deceitful. I guess it is good that Joyce is trying to use the scriptures and teach people things from the Bible, but she's so deceived and out to lunch that it is hard for me to recommend The Battle for the Mind to anyone as a serious recommendation. If I were talking to a Charismatic about the book, I certainly would not be as hard as I was in this review, but it's honestly a frighteningly bad book. I'm astounded at her success, for it reveals that people must be so desperate for truth that they'll literally grasp anything that comes along.