You’re Only Human is a breath of fresh air. We are constantly driven to do more, produce more, manage time better, be better, on and on, ad nauseam. Kelly M. Kapic argues that this message undermines our very humanness. To be human means to be created with limits—and that’s good news.

We must learn the value and truthfulness of our finitude, eventually getting to the point where we might even praise God for our limits. (11)

The book is divided into two parts, the first detailing our limitations, the second exploring the freedom that comes when we give up our desire to be God and revel in our creature-hood.

This is the sort of book that has quotable lines on almost every page. The chapter on time alone is worth the price of the book. Beginning with an epigraph from John O’Donahue—“Stress is a perverted relationship to time” (119)—Kapic unpacks the tyranny of clocks and the inescapable feeling that we never have quite enough time. The truth is, we’ve been given just the right amount of time by the God who created us. When we let go of the the anxiety of having to do more in less time, we become open to the presence of God in new life-giving ways.

You’re Only Human is a profound book. It places its finger on dehumanizing systems of thought and announces good news to the oppressed. This a thoroughly biblical, thoughtful anthropology that deserves to be widely read.

Kapic, Kelly M. You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News. Brazos Press, 2022.