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Still by Lauren Winner

February 15, 2012 in Blog, Book Reviews, Spirituality with 0 Comments

This review was originally featured at RELEVANT Magazine.

Click here to read it there!

Click to buy "Still" by Lauren Winner now!There's a term in the Academy to describe the space that exists between identities. It refers to that place we find ourselves when the structures, institutions and traditions we've always put our faith in, built our identities upon, fall or are stripped away and we are left… in transition. If you've ever lived that doubt on the other side of faith, you know what I'm talking about.

Academics call it "liminal space". In her new book Still, Lauren Winner simply calls it "the Middle".

Largely thanks to her own writings, Lauren's entire Christian experience has been well-chronicled. Both a well-loved author and a professor at Duke Divinity school, Lauren describes herself among other things as a "professional Christian" (yes, with the appropriate amount of self-awareness).

Recently, Lauren's mother died and shortly after, she and her husband of five years divorced. Both events shook Lauren to her core and she found herself in a liminal space, a Middle, she was not prepared to face. Surrounded by doubts, beset by a sense of failure, Lauren's faith shifted beneath her. In her own words, the Middle is a place where:

Click to Visit Lauren Winner's Amazon Author's Page!The assumptions and habits that sustained you in your faith life in earlier years no longer seem to hold you… This book is about the time when the things you thought you knew about the spiritual life turn out not to suffice for the life you are actually living.

With this, Lauren invites us into her own spiritual journey.

We walk through her Middle with her, experiencing both her disillusionment with her faith and the salvation she finds in the Church.
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Hometown Prophet by Jeff Fulmer

January 18, 2012 in Blog, Book Reviews, Fiction, Spirituality with 0 Comments

HometownProphetThe Scriptures promise that in the latter days, God's people will prophesy. So what happens when God start sending visions Old Testament-style to a rather unlikely fledgling follower living in the buckle of the Bible Belt?

Under Jeff Fulmer's guidance, Nashville's recent historical events take on an apocalyptic tone. The results are explosive.
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Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll

January 3, 2012 in Blog, Book Reviews, Spirituality with 24 Comments

Real MarriageIf Love Wins was the most controversial book last year, Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll is set to win the award this year. Mark Driscoll has long been in the public eye as a confrontational, no-holds barred pastor who likes to shout. Theologically, he's part of the New Calvinist movement and a staunch Complementarian when it comes to gender roles. It's this stance that's drawn him the most attention, from his popular, candid and sexy Song of Solomon tour to blaming Ted Haggard's public fall on his wife (because she "let herself go"), from claiming that stay-at-home dads in his church would be subjected to Church discipline to praising Jesus as a blood-thirsty, sword-wielding UFC fighter.

So when, in the wake of yet another controversy over gender, Driscoll announced that he and his wife would be writing a book on marriage, the Evangelical world was intrigued to say the least.

So how is the book? Well, unsurprisingly, there aren't really any surprises. But in the preface, Driscoll makes a plea to us:

Don’t read as a critic trying to find where you think we might be wrong. Although we seek to be faithful to the Bible, this book is not the Bible, and, like you, we are imperfect, so there will be mistakes. Take whatever gifts you find in this book, and feel free to leave the rest.

Driscolls1I suppose that's a fair request, and while it's not in line with the persona Driscoll is famous for, we can (and should) extend him this grace. And, all in all, it's a really good suggestion.

Real Marriage isn't all bad, however much Driscoll's critics wish it was. But there's plenty to be leery of.
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Top 10 Books of 2011

December 26, 2011 in Blog, Book Reviews, Fiction, Spirituality with 17 Comments

In no particular order, here are my 10 favorite books of 2011. Click on the titles to see my full reviews. If I haven't reviewed the book, then it'll take you to the Amazon page.

Fiction

Night of the Living Dead Christian by Matt Mikalatos

For my review of this book, click here.

Matt joins up with a ragtag group of monsters who are all seeking transformation. Their mission is to save Luther Martin, a werewolf whose inner beast has cost him his family. Along the way, Matt and his new friends learn what it really takes to find spiritual transformation.

This book is outstanding. We need more totally silly, totally serious theology like Matt gives us. Not everyone will enjoy the monster metaphor, but if that's your cup of tea, then you need this book. It'll make you take a hard look at the monstrous aspects of your own soul. And you'll ache for the same transformation Matt and his band of monsters discover. While laughing the whole time.

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Interview with Author Matt Mikalatos

December 16, 2011 in Blog, Book Reviews, Fiction, Pop Culture, Spirituality with 0 Comments

Back in October, author Matt Mikalatos released his excellent sophomore novel Night of the Living Dead Christian. I've already reviewed the book here, so you already know why you should read it. But Matt has graciously agreed to an interview on my blog. I got the chance to ask him a few questions about where the ideas for his book came from, and how he uses the monsters metaphor to explore spiritual transformation. Here's what he had to say:
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Insurrection by Peter Rollins

November 28, 2011 in Blog, Book Reviews, Spirituality with 1 Comment

Insurrection by Peter Rollins reads as a manifesto calling for a radical change to the Evangelical Church. It's a call to have a "religionless Christianity" that will look very different from what has come before. Rollins states as much in his introduction:
Each epoch in the life of the Church arises from the white-hot fires of a fundamental question, a question that burns away the husk that was once thought to be essential in order to reveal once more the revolutionary event heralded… They offer us a unique opportunity to rethink what it means to be the Church, not merely critiquing the presently existing Church for failing to live up to its ideals, but rather for espousing the wrong ideals.
Insurrection-e1314531941742The "wrong ideals" for Rollins are embodied in the (in)famous Chick Tracts published by Jack T. Chick. Though he doesn't cite them until well into the second half of Insurrection, breezing through a few of them before digging into Insurrection would not only help determine what sort of religion Rollins would have us abandon, but might also make us more sympathetic when Rollins steps beyond the bounds of Orthodoxy, as he does in several places.

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Earthen Vessels by Matthew Lee Anderson

November 9, 2011 in Blog, Book Reviews, Pop Culture, Spirituality with 0 Comments

earthen-vessels-why-our-bodies-matter-faith-matthew-lee-anderson-paperback-cover-artAnyone who's been raised in contemporary American culture probably shares a view of our bodies as a sort of "Earth Suit" that houses our true Selves. Our bodies are a commodity that we can use and shape however we want. In his first book, theologian Matthew Lee Anderson observes that this is a reflection of the values of the larger American culture:
Our bodies are no longer begotten, but are made, constructed by our own individual will and by the institutions of society that tell us how to act. They are the primary place where we exert our power and domination, which is why we quarantine those who can no longer control their own bodily functions.
Writing as an Evangelical Christian, Anderson observes that the Evangelical church hasn't done much to dissuade us from thinking of ourselves this way: disembodied Souls that live (temporarily) in a soon-to-be-discarded shell. He observes:
The evangelical legacy with respect to the body seems to be more one of inattention than outright rejection or even a conscious ambivalence.
For someone who was raised Evangelical and who has since come to discover the importance of our bodies, Anderson's book comes as a breath of fresh air. He skillfully and thoroughly explores what it means to live in a physical world as a physical person who follows Jesus. His stated goal:
I want to examine the role the physical body plays in our spiritual, social and ecclesiastical lives by exploring the shape our bodies should take in response to the love that God demonstrates to us through the person of Jesus Christ… My question is how that grace shapes our arms and legs, our skin and other organs.
Anderson's exploration of what it means to be a body begins with a strong critique of how we've been trained to think of our bodies by contemporary American culture. He quickly moves into the Scriptures, to explore what the Scriptures teach about our bodies.

Anderson suggests that our bodies are good gifts of a creative God that at once affirm God's love for us and, through our bodily limitations, our role as creatures.
With this framework in place, Anderson moves deftly from topic to topic, exploring how a firmly embodied spirituality changes the kinds of questions we ask and the assumptions we make as Christians concerning a surprising variety of issues. Anderson handles more obvious issues such as the beauty cult, abortion, gay & lesbian identity and tattoos. But his methodology also allows him to discuss convincingly issues like technology, pornography, Christian singleness, the inevitability of death and even the so-called worship wars. He concludes with twin reflections on the import of our bodies in our personal and corporate spiritual lives.

The sheer breadth of topics Anderson considers - to say nothing of his excellent, gracious writing style - invites multiple, careful readings and discussion of his arguments.
Given the subject matter, I was pleased that Anderson notes that he writes from a particular, embodied place and perspective. And as such, I didn't agree with everything he said. Nor, I suspect, will you. But Earthen Vessels is more about reframing and rebooting our conversations about these issues than it is ending them. And in that regard, Anderson's book is a fine catalyst. He draws on a wide range of thinkers - from the Church fathers to C. S. Lewis to N. T. Wright and John Piper. His tone is consistently firm yet gracious, which serves to invite us into this vital conversation.

Perhaps the only glaring omission I noted in Earthen Vessels was a surprising lack of non-Western Christian voices.
earthen-vessels-iv-jun-jamosmosI assume, for instance, that some African theologies take the body more seriously than Evangelicalism. Anderson did not cite any non-Western thinkers or theologians; I wonder what they might have to teach us. Of course, it's entirely possible no such works exist; Anderson doesn't comment either way. In any case, a dialogue with theologians from culture that take the body more seriously than we do would doubtless prove fruitful.

Earthen Vessels is pretty technical. Those who don't have any theological training will find it intimidating.
Still, anyone who's teaching or leading a small group or class would find it to be an indispensable tool. This book is worth taking your time and savoring with a group of friends. Each chapter - practically each section demands serious discussion and application.

Bottom Line: A challenging, insightful book that calls us to reexamine nearly every aspect of our lives. We do, after all, experience everything through our bodies. Get this book, read it and start talking!

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Night of the Living Dead Christian

September 21, 2011 in Blog, Book Reviews, Spirituality with 0 Comments

978-1-4143-3880-4 Every good monster-movie enthusiast knows that the Christian life is anathema to the undead, at least traditionally. Okay, at least for vampires. In the wake of his stellar breakout book, Imaginary Jesus,Matt Mikalatos decides to take the presence of the undead among us at face value. Christians claim to be the resurrected dead, but what if we've been raised only to a half-life? That sort of Christianity may be exactly what James described:
"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ...Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." (2:14, 17, NRS)
Those who follow Jesus want a living, vibrant, exciting faith. So why does Christianity seem to foster so many undead, half-living monsters?
Writer, husband and father? Or MAD SCIENTIST? *cue evil laugh*Night of the Living Dead Christian takes the metaphor at face value and dives in head-first: bring on the Zombies! Well, not just zombies. In Night of the Living Dead Christian, Matt teams up with a mad scientist, an android, a vampire and a whole Church-full of zombies to help his neighbor, Luther Ann Martin, find a cure for his lycanthropy (which for you laypersons means that Luther is a werewolf). As in Imaginary Jesus, Matt's non sequitur, real-life-meets-the-fantastic humor keeps you laughing and rolling your eyes.

And Matt handles the metaphor so deftly his point is always clear just below the surface, ready to engage you in some serious self-reflection.
Luther the Werewolf is any of those people who feel that they have a beast living inside them that they can't quite control. Those of us who can relate to Luther’s self-description:
There are many nights when I crave that sudden infusion of air, that falling away of the higher functions and the sharpness that comes with listening to my instincts, with doing what my body tells me to do.
Luther's wrestling with his base nature is truly the core of the book. His voice frequently interrupts the narrative with deep, theological musings on the nature of fallen humans crying for rescue and redemption. What reader can't hear their own struggles in Luther's? Which of us cannot hear the Werewolf?

That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of other monsters. The Zombies are those of us who find it easier to follow an intelligent, charismatic leader, to let his spirituality be ours. Those of us who have found it easier to surrender our brains than to engage our own faith.

The Vampires? The selfish, those who take and take and take from others, who can't stand a moment of self-reflection, who never give back.

As Matt's team works to help Luther escape the beast within, Matt comes face to face with his own monstrous nature: he's a mad scientist. As the vampire tells him,
You think you’re smarter than other people. You have your little knot of henchmen. You’re trying to fix the world around you whatever the cost, never thinking of the damage you’re doing.
We can't help but wonder which monster(s) we are as we meet them. We can't help but see ourselves in them. Monsters have always been a safe way for humanity to explore our inner demons. In Night of the Living Dead Christian, Matt uses them as a mirror for our Christianity and asks how we can be truly, fully transformed.

The old stories really are true: the Christian life - the full, true life lived in the freedom Jesus offers - is still anathema to the undead in all of us.
A simple concept, but not easy. The how of transformation refuses all formulas and systems. As fun and witty as NotLDC is, it's not a book of neat and tidy answers. Matt allows the messiness of reality to ruin his story, so the resolution is at once less than we want and more honest. The honesty is our source of hope: NotLDC refuses to offer us cop outs. The deus ex machina at the end of the story truly is the only ending we can honestly hope for. So while Matt doesn't give us easy answers - the kind that only work in books and never in real life - he does point the way towards true, transformed life.

Matt's books are love-letters to the Evangelical community in all our broken mess. New believers or those exploring Christianity may not pick up on a lot of the subtle jokes and gags, but the story is sufficiently rich that anyone will enjoy and be challenged by what they find. Those who do pick up on the jabs will be pleased to note that Matt takes shots at everyone, including an honest look at himself. It's a great book to read on your own, but it'd work even better as a discussion starter.

Bottom Line: This book is outstanding. We need more totally silly, totally serious theology like Matt gives us. Not everyone will enjoy the monster metaphor, but if that's your cup of tea, then you need this book. It'll make you take a hard look at the monstrous aspects of your own soul. And you'll ache for the same transformation Matt and his band of monsters discover.

Have you read Night of the Living Dead Christian yet? What did you think? What kind of monster are you?

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The Gospel According to Jesus by Chris Seay

September 2, 2011 in Blog, Book Reviews, Spirituality with 0 Comments

9780849948169The Gospel According to Jesus by Chris Seay is a very good introduction to some pretty deep theological waters. With a down-to-earth tone, clarity and great stories, Seay introduces the uninitiated to the discussion of the doctrine of Justification.

Gospel According to Jesus is clearly not a work aimed at the scholastic community; Seay’s tone is much more informal and the book lacks the more formal academic arguments biblical scholars would demand for some of his claims. That work has been done elsewhere (see N. T. Wright, for example). To his credit, Seay is clear that academic rigor is not his goal; this is a book for non-academics.

The main thesis of Gospel According to Jesus is that the American Church has misunderstood the Biblical term righteousness as a primarily legal/moral term. Seay claims righteousness is essentially a relational word and defines it thusly:
The best simple translation of the word righteousness is “restorative justice”. God is stepping into our brokenness and making things right, taking fragments shattered by sin and restoring them to fullness. The reality is that God is calling us to take part in his glory, which comes from heaven to earth, and to live in his abundance together. Seeking righteousness is about being an active agent for his restorative justice in all creation.
From this thesis, Seay builds a case that the whole Bible is geared towards restoring God’s shalom not only in each individual person, but in the whole of creation. His case is simple, clear and compelling, and the picture of righteousness he paints is both exciting and engaging. Seay draws from the whole breadth of the Scriptures and from theologians from throughout Christian history.

Seay ends with ten practical steps we can take to practice righteousness here and now. Some are more practical than others, but all are great fodder for group discussion and accountability.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. The Scripture quotations are from Seay’s The Voice translation, which for those who haven’t experienced it, is an excellent new translation. Those who are familiar with Seay’s work will not be surprised to learn that Gospel According to Jesus is an Emergent take on Justification, but there’s no sense of drawing party lines in the book. It’s a good, clear, simple read that will challenge any reader to take a fresh look at Jesus’ command to
Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.
Bottom Line: This book is easy to read, and is a great, uncomplicated introduction the doctrine of Justification. If you’ve ever scratched your head and wondered what the fuss was all about, pick up a copy of this book and start reading!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me by Ian Morgan Cron - Book Review

July 6, 2011 in Blog, Book Reviews, Pop Culture, Spirituality with 13 Comments

41I0PLduuCL Jesus and the CIA (as I call it for short) is one of the all-around best books I’ve read in a while. Ian is a natural storyteller, and he reflects on his own life such that I was caught up in his journey, swept along with him through the tumult of his life.

That’s saying something, because Ian Cron has lived a life most of us couldn’t imagine. It’s a credit to his skill as a writer that I felt so drawn to him.
Ian (I’m going to use his first name in this review because – having read his book - I feel like that’s what he’d want me to do.) opens his book at his father’s death-bed. We learn quickly that Ian’s dad was an alcoholic and that his relationship with Ian was bad.

As his father dies, Ian reflects on how our homes shape us:
What if your memories of home are more akin to The Shining than The Waltons? It doesn’t matter. Home is not just a place; it’s a knowing in the soul, a vague premonition of a far-off country that we know exists but haven’t seen yet. Home is where we start, and whether we like it or not, our life is a race against time to come to terms with what it was or wasn’t… What does it say about [Western culture] that our literary canon begins [in the Odyssey] with a story of a kid looking for his dad?
So begins Ian’s exploration of his past, his story. He was born into a family who lived large, movie-star-esque lives. His dad, it turns out, worked on-and-off for the CIA, but also worked with some of the biggest movie stars of the day. Their lives were glamorous, until his drinking destroyed it all.

Around the time Ian's family lost everything, Ian found God through his first communion at his family’s Catholic church. This section of the book was powerful, especially as Ian described the sacred moment of receiving for the first time the sacred meal:
[The bishop] placed the Host on my tongue… and I fell into God. I have spent forty years living the result of that moment… That day, Bishop Dalrymple, sweat dripping from the end of his bulbous nose, tied a rope around my waist that was long and enduring. How did he know the number of times that I would stretch that rope to its breaking point or how often I would drift onto the plains in a whiteout and need a way to find my way back home?
The rest of the book is Ian’s journey towards peace. It’s not an easy journey by any means. Ian describes himself as feeling 'out of true' - displaced and disoriented in a world with no constants. He falls into all the typical struggles of boyhood and adolescence, exacerbated by his erratic, abusive father and a genetic tendency towards alcoholism.

Despite Because of those dark times, Ian's story is truly, simply a wonderful story. His writing is superb - his use of imagery is powerful, profound and provocative without feeling cheesy or forced. He connected me with his experiences even when I hadn’t shared something similar. Ian’s journey towards God hasn’t looked much like mine at all. But even still, Ian drew me deep into his experience with God. And that is the magic of this book.

Above all, Ian’s journey is very human. He’s far from perfect – just like me, and his honest exploration of his own faults is both encouraging and challenging.
As Ian leads us through his life, we slowly discover that his journey is ours, too. The insecurities he faces are ours. The adventures he discovers await us, too. That’s ultimately what makes Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me such a successful memoire. Reading this book is an introspective, healing exercise. The unlikely path Ian takes towards reconciliation drew me along with him. The quiet, unexpected moments in which the Sacred would burst uninvited into Ian’s life were a breath of fresh air for me as well. (As you read, watch for the deer… it’s a wonderful moment.) The tether tied to Ian’s heart in that first communion began to tug on me as well.

Ian’s story of redemption and reconciliation is moving and beautiful. Even those dark days through which he unflinchingly led us become sacred and powerful in the final light of God’s love. It’s a great, easy and fun read that will have you laughing and get you a little choked up. (Watch for the cliff diving. I seriously almost lost it. Incredible.) From his experiences as a child with a mysterious, mercurial, alcoholic father to becoming a father himself, plagued by his own alcoholism and insecurities, Ian's path was never easy. But as he concludes,
I am at home behind the [communion] altar... The rope he tied to my waist long ago proved strong, and it has led me home through many storms.

Bottom line: You’ll be a better person after you read this book. Ian is an outstanding writer and his journey is worth your time. Do yourself a favor and get it.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Read the first three chapters here. You’ll be hooked. I promise. Or, if you want, scroll to the bottom of the post and find it there, too.

Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me by Ian Morgan Cron

I was given a review copy of this book by Thomas Nelson, Ian’s publisher, as well as an additional copy to give to a blog reader. I was not required to give a positive review. That was solely because this book rules. Thank you to Ian for his writing and to TN for sending me such an awesome book!

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