The Heart of Perfection

How the Saints Taught Me to Trade My Dream of Perfect for God’s

By: Colleen Carroll Campbell

Narrated by: Colleen Carroll Campbell

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

Winner of the 2020 Catholic Press Association Book Award 

In a book hailed as “liberating” (Gary Chapman, New York Times best-selling author), an award-winning author and mother of four weaves her own stories and struggles with those of seven ex-perfectionist saints (and one heretic) who show us how to pursue a new kind of perfection: freedom in Christ.

Spiritual perfectionism - an obsession with flawlessness rooted in the belief that we can earn God’s love - is dangerous because so many of us mistake it for virtue. Its toxic cycle of pride, sin, shame, blame, and despair distorts our vision, dulls our faith, and leads us to view others through the same hypercritical lens we think God is using to view us.

As a lifelong overachiever who drafted her first résumé in sixth grade and spell-checked her high school boyfriend’s love letters, Colleen Carroll Campbell knows something about the perfectionist trap. But it was only after she became a mother that she started to see how insidiously perfectionism had infected her spiritual life, how lethal it could be to her happiness and her family, and how disproportionately it afflicts the people working hardest to serve God.

In the ruins of her own perfectionist mistakes, Colleen dug into Scripture and the lives of the canonized saints for answers. She discovered to her surprise that many holy men and women were, in fact, recovering perfectionists. Their grace-fueled victory over this malady - not perfectionist striving - was the key to their heroic virtue and contagious joy.

In The Heart of Perfection, Colleen weaves the stories and wisdom of seven ex-perfectionist saints (and one heretic) with Scripture and beautifully crafted tales of her own trial-and-error experiments in applying that wisdom to her life. 

Gorgeously written and deeply insightful, Colleen Carroll Campbell’s The Heart of Perfection is a “must-read” (Jeannie Gaffigan, executive producer of The Jim Gaffigan Show) that “gives us permission to...walk in the freedom of God’s unconditional love” (Jennifer Fulwiler, author of One Beautiful Dream). For a free Heart of Perfection reading guide for book clubs, visit Colleen-Campbell.com. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Colleen Carroll Campbell (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Life changing

the topics discussed are struggles that are so relevent to women and mothers and often never talked about. So thankful for the wisdom from this book. A true treasure.

well researched, authentic, moving

it is easy to listen to as well. this book is worth several listens! well done!

Best book

To put it simple, this book is just great! The knowledge for Saints and the personal applications are so easy to read and relate to....I pray Colleen writes more soon while keeping the balance with her family. But truly one of her gifts is no doubt writing and I’m blessed to have read
this book. When you read a book and your faith is stronger you know it’s done right. God bless, you
Colleen...May God continue to do amazing things through you....

Great book!

If you struggle with believing you don't deserve God's love because of your sins, this book is for you! The author narrates and has a lovely voice with the expression she used in writing it. She made me realize that God doesn't ask for perfection from us, but we expect it for ourselves and we are wrong in that. Once we can see this and believe it from this book, we have a freedom to live without all of our never able to achieve expectations.

Great story. Great Narration.

This was a thought provoking book. It was written and narrated by a woman who is as succinct and articulate a writer as I have had the pleasure to listen too in a long time.

Her narration performance was impressive as well.

Thank you.

Colleen, I want to thank you for this book. I am far from a perfectionist but there is so much in your book that even I can learn. I really appreciate the telling of the saints and how you correlated your own story to it. This book is a treasure for anyone. Colleen brought to life the lives of the saints in such a way that it makes me work harder at being one.