The Fencepost

Usually when something becomes a big hit with almost everyone, my reaction is to stay away from it. I’m a natural skeptic, and the ubiquitious is typically a target for my raised eyebrow and folded arms. For instance, When LOST came on the air and people went crazy over it, I avoided it until ABC re-aired the first few episodes in January 2005. So I watched it then and was hooked. I actually wept during the finale, though now I don’t remember why, and I still don’t understand exactly what happened.

I waited two years to get my first iPhone. I’m only now giving Evernote a try. And my wife and I watched the first five seasons of The Office on Netflix this year because, well, everyone else liked it and that meant it wasn’t for me. I’m no early adopter, preferring a “we’ll see” attitude toward most everything.

I’m no different when it comes to Christian books, Bible studies, or other phenomena. Usually, stuff like that goes away after a while, and then something else comes along to take its place. The writings of Donald Miller might fall into that category, except they haven’t gone away. A coworker told me I “had to” read Blue Like Jazz back in 2006. So yes, I refused. And then I saw the book everywhere – on people’s work desks, in their hands at Starbucks, and on top of their Bibles at church. I continued my resistance.

Until a new friend I respect a great deal told me she has given away seven copies of the book. Every time she buys one, it ends up in someone else’s hands. That said more to me than any recommendation I had heard.

So a few months ago, Blue Like Jazz was only $1.99 for Kindle. I thought, if I’m ever going to buy this book, it will be now. I told my friend I would read it and let her know what I thought.

But first I should tell you what I expected. I’m basically Reform, quasi-Calvinist theologically. Liberal, Moderate, and especially Emergent Chrisitanity are all repugnant to me. And something about the vibes this book gave off made me think it was going to fall into one of those camps. Other well-known theologians and Christian bloggers do not care for Donald Miller, and so I expected I would not either.

Having completed the book, here are three main things I’ve learned.

1. Blue Like Jazz is not a danger to the church or to an individual believer. If you approach it expecting a neat, tidy foray into one Christian’s spiritual experience, you will be disappointed. This book is messy. It doesn’t answer every question it asks. Miller takes you on an honest journey through his search for truth – and Jesus’ search for him – and I think he expects you to be okay with that.

2. Donald Miller nails two critical truths: The chief problem with man and mankind is personal sin, and Jesus is the only solution. Even from early in the book, Miller makes these two things clear. His doubts and struggles – both emotionally and spiritually – don’t always make these evident, but he eventually gets back around to one or both of them.

3. This book is not an evangelistic tool and shouldn’t be used as such. The details of salvation are present but disconnected. It would take many conversations to tie everything in this book together into an explanation of how God saves people from sin. I would more recommend this book to a mature believer, or to one struggling with doubts about God, or perhaps to someone who has been hurt or disappointed by the church. Miller has been all of those, and yet he doesn’t make excuses for remaining in doubt or disillusionment. He deals with his sin head-on, although it takes him a while to get there, and he learns to bring his problems and his repentance to Christ alone where they belong. I would have preferred that Miller provided a clearer understanding of how we need to progress toward a fuller theological understanding of grace and redemption. But that’s not why I read the book in the first place.

All these things are good, and they would have been enough to make me both like and recommend Blue Like Jazz. But something else much more important happened as I read it, and it’s the main reason I want others to give it a try.

Reading Donald Miller’s story was like reading my own, even though our two paths to Christ are starkly different. Miller’s was sort of like those Family Circus cartoons, where Billy wanders throughout his entire house, and there’s a dotted line that shows his trail. When he finally gets to his mom with her aggrivated expression, Billy says, “What? I came when you called!”

My path to Christ was more like an express bus pass. Get on, no stops, sail through childhood, graduate from high school, leave for college, and when you get off Jesus will be there to greet you. I’ve never hung out with hippies in the woods, lived with a political protestor, or set up a confession booth in the middle of a drunken sin-fest. At least that’s how I saw things, until I read this book.

And now I see that my life in Christ has been just as messy, just as filled with doubts, sins, and disappointments as Miller’s. It’s just that the details of my journey are “cleaner,” more presentable and predictable. But more than anything, I see how much like Donald Miller I really am. And that’s the part of the book that has affected me so profoundly. Like him, I have long struggled with introversion, a lack of empathy and compassion for others, and a deep-seated self-centeredness that has denied me many opportunities for meaningful relationships during my life. The Lord is doing a work in me these days, forcing me to repent of these sins so that He can make me more like Him. Allowing this book to fall into my hands at this time seems to be part of His plan.

If you’re a skeptic like me, I encourage to read Blue Like Jazz for what it is, without criticizing it for being what it doesn’t claim to be. I wonder if you’ll find yourself in its pages like I have.

At Together for the Gospel in Louisville a few weeks ago every attendee received enough free books to compensate for the registration fee. One of those books was a hardcover edition of the ESV Study Bible. Yes, that one. And while there was a bookstore downstairs at the Convention Center, most of us 7,000 guys (and a few gals) waited until near the end of the event so we wouldn’t buy something that would wind up free on our chairs an hour later. True story: I saw a guy unwrapping an ESV Study Bible one session prior to the “big drop.” Poor guy.

I bought a grand total of three books at T4G. Tim Challies‘ The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment was one of them. Because I had almost completed a seminary course in Spiritual Discipline and Development, subjects like these have been fresh in my mind. I’ve posted reviews of the textbooks we used by Richard Foster and Don Whitney. Neither of those books features discernment as a spiritual discipline. Since I’ve struggled mightily with the biblical validity of spiritual disciplines as currently taught in churches, Challies’ book seemed like a possible antidote. Discernment is a gift and a skill with which I’ve been fascinated for a long time, and one I’ve had to use much more often lately for a variety of reasons. Tim Challies’ blog has recently become a favorite on my Google Reader list, too.

The book seems to have fallen into my hands at just the right time. There were many “get out of my head” moments as I encountered concepts and truths that spoke directly where God has me lately. It’s very comforting to know there’s someone else in Evangelical circles who thinks it’s a good idea to carefully measure what we’re being taught on Sunday mornings – or Sunday nights, or Wednesday nights for that matter. Challies does an excellent job of weighing the strengths and necessities of biblical discernment with the dangers and temptations inherent in its practice. After all, we’re talking about empowering all believers with the knowledge and skill to discern right from wrong and truth from error. There are plenty of folks in the church who don’t want to take such matters seriously, or who would rather not have their fellow Bible study attendee point out the problems in their current materials.

The church needs a resource like this that reminds us we are, in fact, empowered to discern and that we have the obligation to grow in this skill for the sake of our spiritual health and that of our church. Thanks for a great read, Tim. I have a feeling I’m going to be returning to this book again and again.

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life is Donald S. Whitney’s offering on the subject of personal spiritual development and growth through intentional practice. Whitney is Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Senior Associate Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. When he developed the concepts for this book Whitney served as Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. He speaks regularly on the subject of spiritual discipline and founded the Center for Biblical Spirituality.

Whitney’s book follows the seminal “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster, whom he quotes and to whose work he refers occasionally here. This text also joins publications by Dallas Willard and Walter Brueggemann as leading sources on spiritual discipline and formation. “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” does not enjoy the widespread evangelical acceptance and adoption of Foster and Willard, but carries the endorsement of theologian J.I. Packer (9-10) and finds implementation in many Southern Baptist-affiliated colleges and seminaries.

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With about a month remaining in my Spiritual Formation and Development class through Temple Baptist Seminary, I must say I’ve learned a lot. I’m embarrassed that an early knee-jerk reaction to this subject almost led me to drop the class. But the professor was kind enough to call me personally to explain why he thought that would be a mistake. Thankfully, the man was correct. I’m better off in many respects for having familiarized myself with Spiritual Formation and its impact on the Evangelical church today. These are my thoughts, which will comprise much of my upcoming book reviews for the class and assessment paper on the subject as a whole. I’ll get to the reason for my near-abandonment of the class shortly.

Our two texts are Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, by Richard Foster, and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, by Donald Whitney. I admit my ignorance of this subject prior to the course, but now I’m having what I sometimes refer to as “stroller syndrome.” A married couple who have their first baby suddenly notice strollers everywhere, when really they were there all along. But having a baby in their once-babyless world opens their eyes to baby reality. So, that’s how it is with me and Spiritual Formation. I now encounter the subject almost everywhere I look, when it was probably in front of my face the whole time.

You see, Foster in particular is a pretty big deal, it turns out. He wrote “Celebration” in the 1970s and has issued two updates in subsequent decades. The book’s endorsements are many and feature well-known names in Evangelicalism. He’s the founder of the Renovaré Spiritual Formation organization and continues to lecture and write prolifically. Whitney’s book was a 1991 product and is lesser known outside of Baptist circles. The edition I have shows no update references. He is a Southern Baptist pastor and seminary professor who has established a Spiritual Formation curriculum that many seminaries use today.

While I waited for these books to arrive at my home last January I decided to check Foster out at the LifeWay library. I skimmed the 1980s edition of the book they have on the shelf. What I found there sent my discernment bells going off in full-alert mode. I immediately wrote to Temple’s registrar to ask that they remove me from the class roll and refund my tuition. Not 30 minutes later the professor called me to explain that Temple does not teach this class because they affirm the tenets of Spiritual Formation. Rather they offer it as a means of Bible-based analysis and awareness. Relieved, I remained in the class. It’s been an excellent exercise in measuring both Foster and Whitney in light of the Bible. I have yet to finish Whitney’s book, but Foster’s is done. It’s been difficult reading it with an objective eye after my initial reaction, but I think I’ve managed to form a solid opinion based on a careful critique. I’ve also read extensively from both critics and proponents of Foster and Spiritual Formation. Therefore, what I have to say comes from my own thoughts as well as the measured valuation of those I trust.

Essentially, I cannot recommend the practices of Spiritual Formation as they are understood and implemented in the church at large to any professing Evangelical or Reform believer in Christ. This is not an easy thing to say, because one might erroneously assume I am against the more orthodox practices Foster promotes – Bible study, prayer, service, fasting, and worship, to name a few. These are fundamental and biblically expected behaviors in the life of both believer and church body, and so the tendency might be to think Foster’s use of the terms must be biblically sound. In a few cases in his book, they are indeed. Yet Foster’s approach to basic Christian practice is intertwined with so much error I cannot see how anyone could successfully extricate them redemptively aside from a wholesale rejection in favor of biblical models. There are plenty of good theological books on Bible study, prayer, service, fasting, and worship. Read them. Learn from them. But do not assume Foster is a reliable source on them. Allow me to explain why I say that.

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