Tag Archives: Book Review

Rod Dreher’s Live Not by Lies and the Call to Suffer for Truth

08 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Have you ever been afraid to say something that you believed was true?

I recently finished reading Rod Dreher’s Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents and that question was my litmus test about whether his book is exaggerating the challenge that Christians are facing in our current cultural moment. 

Dreher argues that we are making a turn towards soft totalitarianism (in contrast to hard totalitarianism) and that the church is wholly unprepared for what is coming. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s work, Dreher describes a totalitarian society as “one in which an ideology seeks to displace all prior traditions and institutions, with the goal of bringing all aspects of society under control of that ideology” (7).

Survivors of Soviet totalitarianism speak to similarities that they see from their time behind the Iron Curtain and swift changes in the United States today: 

“What unnerves those who lived under Soviet communism is this similarity: Elites and elite institutions are abandoning old-fashioned liberalism, based in defending the rights of the individual, and replacing it with a progressive creed that regards justice in terms of groups. It encourages people to identify with groups – ethnic, sexual, and otherwise – and to think of Good and Evil as a matter of power dynamics amongs these groups. A utopian vision drives these progressives, one that compels them to seek to rewrite history and reinvent language to reflect their ideals of social justice.” (xi)

One of Dreher’s main concerns is a change from old school liberals who could disagree agreeably and contemporary progressive social justice warriors who seek to silence dissent. In his own words:

“The contemporary cult of social justice identifies members of certain social groups as victimizers, as scapegoats, and calls for their suppression as a matter of righteousness. In this way, the so-called social justice warriors… who started out as liberals animated by an urgent compassion, end by abandoning authentic liberalism and embracing an aggressive and punitive politics that resembles Bolshevism.” (10)

There may be better ways to engage Dreher’s argument and test the truth of its diagnosis and its prescription. But this was the question that kept coming to the forefront of my mind as I read: Why has it often been so difficult for me to say what I believed in the various places I have been since I started seminary in 2002?

I don’t mean difficult in the way that I assume it is always hard to have difficult and tender conversations. I mean difficult in that there was a social pressure that was so strongly opposed to certain ideas that it felt like to speak them was to take a very real risk of being rejected by the entire community forever for having uttered them.

For some of you reading this, I will seem to you to be exaggerating. Maybe it will help if I offer three of my most vivid memories of my time as a seminary student. 

Before I go any farther, my intention here is not to take a cheap shot at my seminary. I’m not sure my seminary intended to make it hard for me or any other student to speak our convictions. But the truth is I experienced seminary as a place where it was almost impossible to say certain things out loud.

Memory #1:

I am sitting at a round table in the refectory at dinner with a group of peers, all about the same age as me. As I was eating, the conversation turned, again, to topics like politics and social issues, where there was assumed agreement. I don’t remember what exactly was being talked about but all of the sudden it just hit me: These people hate my family and friends I love back home. I’ve been eating with them for months and no one here really knows me. And based on their words, they despise me.

Memory #2:

There was a campus wide protest on behalf of LGBTQ people. The protest was enacted in the form of a day of silence in order to protest the ways that LGBTQ people are silenced every day. You participated in the protest by taping your mouth shut and wearing a sticker that said that you were not going to be speaking at all that day to protest and express solidarity with LGBTQ people. 

Nothing in my previous experience had prepared me for this. I remember thinking that I understood why people who were passionately in favor of the church embracing gay marriage and the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians would work to see change. I actually wanted to listen to arguments for and against the church’s position. 

What jarred me was the feeling that this protest seemed to have been conceived in a way that put the maximum amount of shame on those who were not with them. Simply to speak that day was to reveal oneself as an oppressor, a bigot, a homophobe. From my perspective, the protest was a clear litmus test: you are for us or you are against us and we are going to force you to take sides right now one way or another. 

In my naivete, I remember being confused that the faculty and administration of the school seemed to entirely support the protest even though it undermined the ability to have class discussions in every class taught that day. And it seemed odd to me that in an academic environment you would protest not through careful conversation, logic, and ideas, but by refusing to participate in any discourse at all.

I never felt the same way about seminary after that day.

Memory #3:

I took a course that was a practicum in preaching in my final semester of seminary. At some point during the semester, every student preached a sermon to the rest of the class. I only remember one sermon that was preached that semester. The sermon was memorable for two reasons. First, it was the only time a student in any class I ever took in seminary talked about homosexuality in a way that did not affirm gay marriage or the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians. It was the first and only public argument I heard during my three year seminary experience. That made it memorable.

(If this does not seem odd to you, it might help you to know that this was the issue, by far, that was the most controversial and threatening to divide the church when I was in seminary. It is also the reason the church was poised to split this year if the General Conference had not been postponed due to Covid-19. It might also help to know that the official position of the UMC was and still is what can loosely be defined as affirming traditional sexual ethics. So this student was the only person I ever heard who actually spoke publicly in favor of what the church taught, in a place where many students were preparing for ordination in this same church.)

The second reason I remember the sermon is because it was so bad. It was painful to listen to. I remember initially being hopeful that someone had the courage to speak to the plain and consistent prohibition of same sex sexual activity in Scripture. That hope quickly turned to cringing because the preacher failed to show love towards people who struggled with same sex attraction. I don’t remember hearing a word of hope. I don’t remember hearing the gospel. 

This last memory has haunted me the most because it illustrates what happens when dissent and differing viewpoints are stifled in an educational environment. Resentment and anger increase because people who dissent see exactly what is happening and many of them simply go underground. And everyone misses the opportunity to think better and to pursue the truth. This is a problem in general. But it is a crisis in an academic environment. 

Have you ever been afraid to say something that you believed was true?

I’m guessing you have. My experience is that fewer and fewer people are willing to risk anything to stand for the truth. 

Dreher is pessimistic, some might say characteristically pessimistic, here:

“Christian resistance on a large scale to the anti-culture has been fruitless, and is likely to be for the foreseeable future. Why? Because the spirit of the therapeutic has conquered the churches as well – even those populated by Christians who identify as conservative. Relatively few contemporary Christians are prepared to suffer for the faith, because the therapeutic society that has formed them denies the purpose of suffering in the first place, and the idea of bearing pain for the sake of truth seems ridiculous.” (13)

Is there any hope here?

Yes. But Dreher does not offer superficial comfort. 

“The task of the Christian dissident today is to personally commit herself to live not by lies. How can she do that alone? She needs to draw close to authentic spiritual leadership – clerical, lay, or both – and form small cells of fellow believers with whom she can pray, sing, study Scripture, and read other books important to their mission. With her cell, the dissident discusses the issues and challenges facing them as Christians, especially challenges to their liberties. They…. Identify the challenge, discern together its meaning, then act on their conclusions.” (18-19)

Let me offer one final memory from my time in seminary. It is equally vivid. And, from my perspective, it is entirely hopeful.

Memory #4:

I walked into a classroom with a handful of other people. My heart was racing. I felt scared. I didn’t know if I would be able to talk. I sat down with my lunch. I knew everyone there. But I was as nervous as I have ever been in my entire life. 

I had been invited to join a Wesleyan band meeting, an accountability group where you confess sin in order to experience forgiveness and pray for each other’s healing, and this was my first time to attend.

The person to my left opened us with prayer and went first. After he confessed, someone else reminded him of the promise of Scripture, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.”

And then the person on his left went and so on until I was the last one.

I still remember the gift that they had given to me in each trusting me enough to show such vulnerability and honesty before they knew how I would receive it or respond. Their courage enabled me to tell the truth that day. And their love, support, encouragement, and willingness to press in and hold me accountable changed seminary. It changed my life.

Through this group, God began to heal these other memories. 

This group was in many ways like the cell groups that Dreher describes. And it was through the relationships developed in this group that I had conversations about deeply contested ideas and beliefs that I was unable to have in my classes. (Although the first time I reached out to someone to talk about human sexuality, I asked to meet off campus.)

I am not sure if I think Dreher is right in everything that he says in this book. Since much of what he is doing is predicting what is coming, only time will really tell. 

We should all hope that he is wrong.

But as I read the book, I kept remembering all of the times it has felt close to impossible to say something I believed was true or say that something that was being affirmed is not true.

Certainty that one is on the side of justice seems to be replacing careful thinking, nuanced argument, and even the space to ask questions and explore ideas.

Throughout my time in theological education, I have often sought advice from those who have gone before me. Particularly before my tenure review, I was discouraged by how often I was encouraged to keep my head down and not make waves so that I wouldn’t jeopardize tenure. This seems to me to be the kind of practical atheism that far too many American Christians have embraced:

Profess faith in God. But make decisions as if God doesn’t exist and is powerless.

I encourage you to read Live Not by Lies, if nothing else, because it is a bold challenge to such malnourished formation of Christians. He reminds us of a Christian imagination where actual human beings created in the image of God have refused to bow the knee to worship idols. And they have suffered for their faith in very real ways. But above all, their testimony is that they have counted the cost and joyfully taken up their cross and determined to follow Jesus Christ, their Lord and only salvation.

We are desperate for real Christianity, not the cheap imitation we have tolerated for far too long and tried to pervert to our own worldly advantage.

I conclude with a reminder from Jesus himself:

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’

Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

– Matthew 16: 21-27

Kevin M. Watson is a professor at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He teaches, writes, and preaches to empower community, discipleship, and stewardship of our heritage. Click here to get future posts emailed to you. Affiliate links used in this post.

New in Wesleyan Scholarship: The Sermons of John Wesley

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living, Methodist History, Wesley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

The Sermons of John Wesley: A Collection for the Christian Journey, edited by Kenneth J. Collins and Jason E. Vickers is now in print. I have been anticipating the arrival of this book since I was asked to write an endorsement of it last fall. Here is the full endorsement I originally wrote:

Collins and Vickers have provided a collection of John Wesley’s sermons that is a gift to both the church and the academy. The organization according to the Wesleyan way of salvation appropriately emphasizes Christian formation and the potential for the sermons to function as a means of grace. The decisions about which ones to include (especially including all of the standard forty-four sermons) provides important continuity with Wesley’s own decisions about which of his sermons were the most essential for the “people called Methodists.”

This volume provides an alternative to the standard one volume collection of Wesley’s sermons, John Wesley’s Sermons: An Anthology, edited by Albert C. Outler and Richard P. Heitzenrater. The Oulter and Heitzenrater volume is the one I read when I was in seminary and I expect that it will continue to be used in many seminary courses. John Wesley’s Sermons is an exceptional volume that uses the critical edition of Wesley’s sermons from the Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley and was edited by two heavy-weights of Wesleyan studies.

A reasonable question, then, would be: Why the need for a new collection of Wesley’s sermons?

Collins and Vickers anticipate this question in their introduction to the volume. The key contribution that the volume makes is that it contains all of the original forty-four sermons that were printed in the edition of Wesley’s Sermons on Several Occasions. These sermons were included in the “Model Deed” that stipulated that Methodist preachers must not preach or teach doctrine contrary to that which was contained in this collection. Collins and Vickers argue that “when Wesley drafted this disciplinary instrument, he obviously viewed these forty-four sermons, and not his entire sermon corpus, as being of remarkable and distinct value in the ongoing life of Methodism” (xiii). The Outler and Heitzenrater volume, on the other hand, omits nineteen of the forty-four sermons. A strength of this new collection, then, is that it contains all these sermons, which Wesley indicated were of particular value for the “people called Methodists,” in one volume.

The Collins and Vickers volume also contains eight of the nine sermons that Wesley added in 1771, omitting the sermon “On the Death of George Whitefield.”

This new volume has the advantage of presenting a (nearly) complete collection of the entirety of the sermons Wesley identified as having particular significance for early Methodism. It also includes an additional eight sermons that the editors felt were particularly helpful in “pass[ing] on the legacy of the Methodist tradition in a practical and relevant way to the current generation” (xix).

As indicated in my endorsement of the book, I think the most important contribution of this volume is that it is organized according to the Way of Salvation. The Outler and Heitzenrater volume was organized to focus on the development of Wesley’s thought over the course of his own life. This approach has significant value for seminars in Methodist history and doctrine. The main strength of the organization of the Collins and Vickers volume, on the other hand, is that it can readily function as a catechetical tool for helping form contemporary Wesleyans in their own theological tradition.

For more on The Sermons of John Wesley, including some insightful questions about the collection, see Fred Sanders’s interview with co-editor Jason Vickers at Patheos.

The Sermons of John Wesley: A Collection for the Christian Journey will be an important resource for helping to form the next generation of Wesleyans in the Christian faith.

Recent Wesleyan/Methodist Scholarship

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living, Methodist History, Wesley

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, ,

I have recently found myself either purchasing or adding to my “wish list” a number of books in Wesleyan/Methodist studies. Here a few books that are newly released, or soon to be released.

New Releases:

The Ashgate Research Companion to World Methodism, edited by William Gibson, Peter Forsaith, and Martin Wellings, 537 p. ($149)

From the book description:

This Companion brings together a team of respected international scholars writing on key themes in World Methodism to produce an authoritative and state-of-the-art review of current scholarship, mapping the territory for future research.Leading scholars examine a range of themes including: the origins and genesis of Methodism; the role and significance of John Wesley; Methodism’s emergence within the international and transatlantic evangelical revival of the Eighteenth-Century; the evolution and growth of Methodism as a separate denomination in Britain; its expansion and influence in the early years of the United States of America; Methodists’ roles in a range of philanthropic and social movements including the abolition of slavery, education and temperance; the character of Methodism as both conservative and radical; its growth in other cultures and societies; the role of women as leaders in Methodism, both acknowledged and resisted; the worldwide spread of Methodism and its enculturation in America, Asia and Africa; the development of distinctive Methodist theologies in the last three centuries; its role as a progenitor of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements, and the engagement of Methodists with other denominations and faiths across the world.

Keeping Faith: An Ecumenical Commentary on the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith of the United Methodist Church, D. Stephen Long, 118 p. ($18)

From the book description:

Keeping Faith offers resources to help Christians reclaim the importance of doctrine and thereby to know and love well God and God’s creation. Although it gives particular attention to the Wesleyan and Methodist tradition, it is of necessity an ecumenical effort. Neither the Wesleyans nor the Methodists invented Christian doctrine. In fact, the Wesleyan tradition contributes little that is distinctive or unique. This is a good thing, for unlike other disciplines where originality and uniqueness matter greatly, Christian doctrine depends on others and not the genius of some individual… This work is an ecumenical commentary on the Confession of Faith and the Articles of Religion found in the Wesleyan tradition and also draws on ancient and modern witnesses to God’s glory.

Key United Methodist Beliefs, William J. Abraham, and David F. Watson, 172 p. ($15.99)

Read my recent review here. From the book description:

Deepen your faith and enrich your life through this study of core Methodist beliefs. Written by popular seminary teachers, this book will connect you to the life and ministry of John Wesley, demonstrating relevance for the lives of Christians today as it offers an introductory examination of each.

Wesley, Wesleyans, and Reading Bible as Scripture, edited by Joel B. Green and David F. Watson, 350 p. ($39.95)

From the book description:

The theology of John Wesley has proven exceedingly influential in the religious and spiritual lives of Wesley’s followers and his critics. However, Wesley did not leave behind a written doctrine on scripture. This collection presents an array of diverse approaches to understanding John Wesley’s charge to read and interpret the Bible as scripture. Contributors move beyond the work of Wesley himself to discuss how Wesleyan communities have worked to address the difficult scriptural–and theological–conundrums of their time and place.

Coming Soon:

The Sermons of John Wesley: A Collection for the Christian Journey, edited by Kenneth J. Collins and Jason E. Vickers, 608 p. ($49.99)

From the Book Description:

With an eye on serious Christian development, Kenneth Collins and Jason Vickers have arranged this collection of the sermons of John Wesley in terms of the way of salvation in general and the “ordo salutis” in particular. This book contains the sermons that John Wesley approved, in addition to the standard 52 of the North American tradition, organized to correspond to the logic of Christian discipleship and formation. The editors include an outline and short introduction to each sermon detailing its importance and context. Sermons include “Sermon on the Mount,” which is key to understanding Wesley’s ethics, “Free Grace,” “On Working Out Our Own Salvation,” and “The Danger of Riches.” The book is designed to enhance the reader’s understanding of Wesleyan practical theology and written in an accessible style that will be appealing to the wider Wesleyan family of churches. Also included are all of the 44 standard sermons of the British tradition.

Wesley and the People Called Methodist 2nd ed., Richard P. Heitzenrater, 352 p. ($29.99)

This second edition of Richard P. Heitzenrater’s groundbreaking survey of the Wesleyan movement is the story of the many people who contributed to the theology, organization, and mission of Methodism. This updated version addresses recent research from the past twenty years; includes an extensive bibliography; and fleshes out such topics as the means of grace; Conference: “Large” Minutes: Charles Wesley: Wesley and America; ordination; prison ministry; apostolic church; music; children; Susanna and Samuel Wesley; the Christian library; itinerancy; connectionalism; doctrinal standards; and John Wesley as historian, Oxford don, and preacher.

The Works of John Wesley, vol. 13 Doctrinal and Controversial Treatises II, edited by Paul Wesley Chilcote and Kenneth J. Collins, 944 p. ($57.99)

From the book description:

The second of three volumes devoted to Wesley’s theological writings contains two major sets of material. The first set (edited by Paul Chilcote) contains writings throughout Wesley’s ministry devoted to defense of the doctrine of Christian perfection, including “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection.” The second set (edited by Kenneth Collins) collects Wesley’s various treatises focused on predestination and related issues, often in direct debate with Calvinist writers, including “Predestination Calmly Considered.”

The Cambridge Companion to American Methodism, edited by Jason E. Vickers, 398 p. ($32.99)

A product of trans-Atlantic revivalism and awakening, Methodism initially took root in America in the eighteenth century. In the mid-nineteenth century, Methodism exploded to become the largest religious body in the United States and the quintessential form of American religion. This Cambridge Companion offers a general, comprehensive introduction to various forms of American Methodism, including the African-American, German Evangelical Pietist, holiness, and Methodist Episcopal traditions. Written from various disciplinary perspectives, including history, literature, theology, and religious studies, this volume explores the beliefs and practices around which the lives of American Methodist churches have revolved, as well as the many ways in which Methodism has both adapted to and shaped American culture.

Key United Methodist Beliefs

27 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Book Review, Christian Living, Methodist History, Wesley

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , ,

“Belief matters.”

These are the very first words of the introduction to Key United Methodist Beliefs by William J. Abraham and David F. Watson. In light of my recent thinking and writing about the connection between right belief and right practice, I can’t think of a better way to begin a Wesleyan catechism.

If you have been following my recent writing, you will also have noticed the discussion about the invisibility of the Wesleyan message in online and print media compared to other parts of the church catholic. One of my hypotheses is that a major reason that the Wesleyan message is not getting a broader hearing today is because there are so many different voices claiming to represent the Wesleyan or Methodist tradition.

All of this has led to the belief that renewal will come to Methodism in America through a renewal of both Wesleyan doctrine and practice.

The challenge, though, is that in some parts of American Methodism there is a persistent mistrust of the value of doctrine. The concern generally seems to be that a church with clear doctrinal commitments will use them to bludgeon other people or exclude them.

While I appreciate the concern, I continue to be convinced that a deep retrieval of the significance of doctrine will be a part of any coming renewal of American Methodism. Along these lines, William J. Abraham and David F. Watson (no relation) have given a gift to the church in their new book Key United Methodist Beliefs.

After the simple affirmation that belief matters, they continue:

What we believe about God, about God’s saving work within creation, about human wrongdoing, about the goal of our lives and our eternal destiny all matter. They make a difference with regard to how we think about ourselves and other people, about life and death, what we should value in life, and what kind of person we should hope to become. It is common to hear people talk about beliefs as if one is simply as good as another. For some, the one great sin is to insist on a clear difference between truth and falsehood, between right and wrong, but this perspective cannot coexist with Christianity. For that matter, it cannot coexist with Judaism or Islam, either, but that is not our topic here. The claims that we Christians make about what God has done for us – for all creation – in and through Jesus Christ really do matter. (ix)

Someone might concede that beliefs matter, but point out that belief itself is insufficient. Indeed, there have been many periods in the history of Christianity where movements have arisen in opposition to a fierce and rigid dogmatism that at times led to violence. It is not enough for those who take on the name of Jesus, calling themselves Christians, to have right thoughts or ideas about Jesus. Belief must lead to action. One of the beauties of Key United Methodist Beliefs is that Abraham and Watson anticipate this objection and address it head on at the beginning of the book. Here is how they conclude the introduction.

Right belief, by itself, of course, is not enough. As Wesley put it, a person may be “as orthodox as the devil… and may all the while be as great a stranger as he to the religion of the heart.” Right belief does matter, though, because it helps us know God more fully, and it is by knowing and loving God, and by God’s knowing and loving us, that we become the people God wants us to be. We read in the Roman Catholic catechism, “The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love.” The goal is love, and God is love. We should do all we can, therefore, to know God. (xii)

This book is helpful because it is a strong articulation of the importance of beliefs for United Methodism that also demonstrates that those who argue for the necessity of doctrine for the life of the church make the argument for both doctrinal and practical reasons. In other words, right doctrine is always connected to right practice. From start to finish, it is clear that the authors of this book are convinced not only that orthodoxy (right belief) matters but also that orthopraxy (right practice) matters.

Abraham and Watson’s consistent connection of belief to practice has the potential to advance the conversation about the role of doctrine in the church beyond the strawman argument that those who care about right belief do not care about practice, or Christian living.

To cite one of many examples. In the chapter “Who Is God the Father?” Abraham and Watson affirm a key belief: “To think of God as God the Father is to believe that God loves all people and wishes to save us from sin and death” (6) They then conclude: “The nature of God the Father is one of self-giving, and in like kind, we should give of ourselves to God and our neighbors as well” (7).

The title of the book is a bit misleading, as the book is about much more than “United Methodist” beliefs. To me, it is really a Wesleyan catechism. Unfortunately, the title of the book will likely narrow the potential audience, when many Wesleyan communities would have been likely to use the book if the title were “Wesleyan Beliefs” or “A Wesleyan Catechism.”

Each chapter is oriented around a central question and is divided into five sections: A Wesleyan Faith, A Lived Faith, A Deeper Faith, The Catechism, and In Your Own Words. The first three parts are narrative, as you would expect in a typical book. The fourth part, in true catechetical format, is a question and answer format, which often includes Scripture passages that amplify the answer. The fifth chapter is basically questions for discussion, which could help an individual reader reflect more on the impact of a particular belief for their own life or it could be used as a basis for discussion in small groups.

And just in case I was on the fence for the first nine chapters, chapter ten, “How Should Wesleyans Live?” is largely an engagement with the “General Rules”: do no harm, do good, and attend upon the ordinances of God.

Key United Methodist Beliefs is an exceptional resource that has the potential to be useful in a variety of contexts. If I were a local church pastor, this would be a resource I would use in preparing people for confirmation or membership. I highly recommend this book. At a minimum, it should be in every Wesleyan/Methodist pastor’s personal library.

Mainline or Methodist?

05 Tuesday Aug 2008

Posted by in Book Review

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, ,

Discipleship Resources has just released Mainline or Methodist? by Scott Kisker. I got a copy of the book in the mail yesterday and couldn’t stop reading it until I ran out of pages. My initial interest was largely due to the fact that Scott was one of my teachers and mentors at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is one of a handful of people who have had a major impact on who I am, and who I am becoming. (Fair warning: this might be the least objective comments I have ever written about a book.) So, I was initially excited about the book because of the person who wrote it. However, as I began reading it, I got really into it because of what was being said, not who was saying it.

In Mainline or Methodist? Scott Kisker argues that “real Methodism declined because we replaced those peculiarities that made us Methodist with a bland, acceptable, almost civil religion, barely distinguishable from other traditions also now know as ‘mainline.’ Like the Israelites under the judges, we wanted to be like the other nations. We no longer wanted to be an odd, somewhat disreputable people. And we have begun to reap the consequences” (13). Kisker argues that authentic Methodism does not seek to solve its own problems, it does not see itself as the answer. Instead, it looks to God’s grace and God’s power to save us. After outlining the hole that the contemporary UMC has dug for itself, and the distance it has wandered away from its Wesleyan roots, Kisker argues that true Methodism offers a vision, message, method, conversation, and a way forward for the United Methodist Church. Bold yet graceful, Mainline or Methodist? challenged me and also stimulated my thoughts about what it means to be a pastor in the United Methodist Church and where I hope our church is heading. My hope is that people like Scott Kisker will be used by God to impact the future and direction of Methodism.

I commend this book to you and would be interested in your thoughts if you have a chance to read it.

Book Review: In Constant Prayer

14 Wednesday May 2008

Posted by in Book Review

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, ,

In Constant Prayer is the second book in Thomas Nelson’s The Ancient Practices Series. (I previously reviewed the first book in this series – Brian McLaren’s Finding Our Way Again – here.) Robert Benson makes a powerful case for why every Christian should pray the daily office. Benson is a gifted and engaging writer. He does two things exceptionally well: he is able to explain a practice that may be unfamiliar to many mainline and evangelical Christians in a way that is both lucid and persuasive, and he writes in a way that really brings you into the conversation. He comes across as very humble and willing to be vulnerable. This is not a book written from an expert in prayer to people that the author is clearly on a pedestal above his audience. Instead, Benson writes to people who really want to make time for God, but often struggle to do so. And he writes not as someone who has found all the answers, but as someone who is willing to admit that he has often struggled himself to make time to pray the daily office.

The daily office is “in the simplest terms… a regular pattern and order for formal worship and prayer that is offered to God at specific times throughout the course of the day. Each set of prayers, known as an office, is made up of psalms, scriptures, and prayers” (9-10). Benson’s professed goal is “to open up some of the mystery of the daily office for those who have had little or no exposure to this ancient way of Christian prayer” (10). For Benson this is no trivial matter as he has become convinced that “if the Church is to live, and actually be alive, one of the reasons, maybe the most important and maybe even the only reason, will be because we have taken up our place in the line of the generations of the faithful who came before us. It will be because we pray the prayer that Christ himself prayed when he walked among us and now longs to pray though us” (72-73).

Perhaps the highest praise that I can offer for this book is that in a time when there are more books on prayer than any sane person could read, this is one of the books I would recommend to someone who seeks encouragement in their prayer life and who seeks some basic guidance for not thinking about praying, but for actually praying.

The book also contains a sample office of morning prayer. Since reading this book, I have begun praying this morning prayer and am considering purchasing one of the prayer books that he mentions in the book.

I would especially recommend this book to spiritual leaders who are finding that their own devotional life is drying up. Benson is very candid about the reality that we sometimes fail to make time to spend in prayer with God. He writes in a way that is not accusatory and he even includes himself in the group of people who sometimes fail. But he lifts up the daily office as a tested and well-worn practice that helps “the rest of us” grow in our relationship with God. If you are struggling with consistent time with God in prayer, or you are “stuck” in your prayer life, this book would be well worth the read.

Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren

08 Thursday May 2008

Posted by in Book Review

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, ,

“The purpose of the ancient way and the ancient practices is not to make us more religious. It is to make us more alive. Alive to God. Alive to our spouses, parents, children, neighbors, strangers, and yes, even our enemies” (182). This seems to be the central thesis of Brian McLaren’s latest book Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices. This is the first book in a new series published by Thomas Nelson called “The Ancient Practices Series.” The series consists of eight books dealing with ancient Christian practices. Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices, is the introductory volume in this series.

Recently, there has been quite a bit written about a third way that goes beyond the polarizing options between conservative and liberal or left and right. McLaren, however, writes that “more and more of us feel, more and more intensely, the need for a fresh, creative alternative – a fourth alternative, something beyond militarist scientific secularism, pushy religious fundamentalism, and mushy amorphous spirituality…. The challenge of the future will require, we realize, rediscovery and adaptive reuse of resources from the ancient past” (5-6)

As a result, McLaren’s book, and the series of book that he is introducing, seek to flesh out this “fourth way” by reaching “beyond a reductionistic secularism, beyond a reactive and intransigent fundamentalism, and beyond a vague, consumerist spirituality” (6).

I always enjoy reading McLaren’s work because he is a gifted writer. His conversational style and his ability to bring you into the story that he is telling make it easy to go along with him for the ride that he wants to take you on. He has the ability to make you feel as if he is actually speaking directly to you saying, “Hey, here are some things that I have been thinking about. Let me show you what I am seeing and see what you think about it.”

Finding Our Way Again is certainly no exception to McLaren’s ability to engage the reader and invite them into a conversation. McLaren is at his best in the chapters where he explains the ancient practices of katharsis, fotosis, and theosis. In these chapters he explains these concepts by asking the reader to imagine themselves to be “a young spiritual seeker who has just come into possession of a time machine… You come to a monastery and are given a hospitable welcome. You meet with the abbess, a short, wrinkled, slightly hunched-over woman who walks with a stick at a pace that exceeds the speed limit you would imagine for a wrinkled, slightly hunched-over woman” (148). I suspect that most authors would not be able to pull this off in a believable way. However, at least for me, I read this passage and never blinked. Before I knew it, I was fully absorbed in this new world with an abbess from the Middle Ages explaining these ancient practices through very ordinary stories and exercises.

In this volume, at least, McLaren also seems to occasionally overstate his case. I found his argument for “Why Spiritual Practices Matter” in the second chapter to be the least convincing of the book. The chapter begins with a focus on the role that I play in forming my character that seems to tend toward works righteousness. The notion of sin that is presented seems to be one where sin is the result of bad habits that come from my not tending the soil of my character closely enough, rather than something that is deeply ingrained within each one of us and cannot be uprooted by our own efforts, but only by the grace of God.

I also thought that McLaren was a little too anxious to make these Christian practices applicable to everyone, whether they are a Christian or not. He writes, “In these two ways, then, paying attention to ‘life practices’ is worthwhile for everybody, those who consider themselves spiritual and those who don’t: first, because nobody wants to become a tedious fart, and second, because nobody wants to miss Life because they’re short on legroom and sleep in economy class [a reference to a story he just told about being on a long flight in economy class]” (17). To be fair, McLaren does immediately qualify this by saying “I haven’t told the whole story though… Spiritual practices are ways of becoming awake and staying awake to God — that’s the third reason” (17-18). But still, the argument seems to be a bit of a reach. His argument seems to be analogous to saying that everyone should play basketball because nobody wants to become overweight and die of a heart attack. There is a difference between making the case for the importance of a good diet and exercise and universalizing the importance of one particular type of exercise. I may be misunderstanding McLaren’s argument, but it seems that in wanting to try to find something universally beneficial about the ancient practices, he would either fall into the trap of universalizing practices that are specifically Christian (Would non-Christians agree that there is a benefit to following the liturgical year?) on the one hand, or watering down the specifically Christian content of the Christian practices and making them nearly unrecognizable on the other hand.

Aside from the arguments I found to be distracting in that particular chapter, there were several statements that stuck with me and stirred up visions, thoughts, and dreams within me that remained long after I closed the cover of the book. Here are two of my favorites:

I think that’s part of what’s going on in this time of change and transition. Old sectarian turf wars are giving way to a sharing of resources — heroes, practices, flavors, and styles of practice. And this, in a way, is itself a new practice, namely, the sharing of previously proprietary practices. We might say that Christianity is beginning to go ‘open source'” (58).

I also really appreciated McLaren’s discussion of the way that God’s Spirit moves within institutions and how the work of God’s Spirit cannot be contained or hampered by bureaucracy. He discusses the work of William Wilberforce and others in England who worked to end slavery, despite the vigorous defense of slavery by the Anglican Church. “Their fledgling movement grew in the spaces between the institutional structures of their day, not within the structures themselves” (134). This conversation leads to the profound insight that “When any sector of the church stops learning, God simply overflows the structures that are in the way and works outside them with those willing to learn… God can’t be contained by the structures that claim to serve him but often try to manage and control him” (136-137). McLaren follows this up with the powerful question: “Are we a club for the elite who pretend to have arrived or a school for disciples who are still on the way” (137)?

All in all, I found this book to be worth the read because it is another important invitation to enter into a conversation about what it means to be a Christians and what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ. May this book and McLaren’s ministry help disciples who are still “on the way” find their way to God through the ancient practices that McLaren and the other author’s in this series seek to resuscitate.

Red Letter Christians by Tony Campolo

06 Tuesday May 2008

Posted by in Book Review

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, ,

Tony Campolo has never seemed to be someone to shy away from controversial issues. It came as no surprise, then, that he dealt with “Hot-Button Issues” like gay rights, abortion, and immigration in his latest book Red Letter Christians: A Citizen’s Guide to Faith and Politics. Campolo’s book comes out along with several other recent publications (see my previous review of Jim Wallis’ The Great Awakening) that deal with faith and politics just in time for Christians to digest before they cast their votes in the 2008 Presidential election.

Campolo argues for a biblical approach to politics that goes deeper than mere party loyalties. He writes, “In reality, conservatives and liberals need each other: Conservatives maintain many lines that should never be crossed, while liberals destroy many lines that should never have existed… On some issues, Red Letter Christians are conservative and on others we are liberal. Neither end of the political spectrum has a corner on the will of God” (36-37). Campolo does not just hope to elevate the dialogue beyond seeing the world through red or blue glasses. He argues that “instead of using power to mold public policies, [Christians] should endeavor to speak with authority to those in power” (37).

Before Campolo argues for a specific understanding of politics, he argues for a particular understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Based on the title of the book, Campolo argues that “red letter Christians” are “committed to living out the things that Jesus taught” (22). In other words, the words spoken by Jesus in the Gospels, which are printed in red letters in many versions of the Bible, are lifted up as of particular importance for those who claim to be followers of Christ. This book, as a result, seeks to craft a particular approach to politics that is always faithful to the teachings of Jesus as revealed in the four Gospels.

This approach leads Campolo to articulate a fresh approach to politics that avoids many of the traps that Christians from the far right and far left have fallen into. In fact, Red Letter Christians articulates an approach to politics that will at times delight conservatives and liberals. Of course, this also means that conservatives and liberals will also be frustrated at times by the recommendations that Campolo makes. Ultimately, Campolo asks us to judge his politics not by how well it fits within a Republican or Democrat platform, but by how faithfully it puts the teachings of Jesus into practice in the realm of politics.

I found myself challenged by this book from the very beginning. Campolo argues that in order for Christians to be respected by non-Christians within the political sphere, they must “first serve the needs of others in sacrificial ways, especially the poor and oppressed” (40). Serving the other sacrificially is in itself a pretty radical concept for the way modern politics works. Whether I was reading the issues Campolo discusses under the “Global Issues,” “The Hot-Button Issues,” “The Economic Issues,” or “The Government Issues” I was challenged to reexamine many of my previously held political convictions in light of the teachings of Jesus. One of the things I really like about Tony Campolo is that he often confuses the stereotypes about evangelical Christians. In one moment he criticizes the current President, but in the next he reminds the reader that the situation is often much more complicated than it is presented in a sixty second television spot. Sometimes imperfect people have to do the best that they can in very difficult situations. This is helpful for me to remember before I judge any politician’s decision without giving adequate consideration to the complexities and real difficulties they faced in coming to the decision they made.

In some ways, I finished the book feeling more confused about the ultimate practical consideration that I brought to this book when I began reading it: Who should I vote for in the upcoming Presidential election? There is not a candidate that we could vote for that would even come close to advocating the “Red Letter Party Platform” in its entirety. Ultimately, I see this book as an important contribution because it sets aside many of the previous assumptions of the religious right that did not seem to be coming from Scripture, and it returns to the teachings of Jesus as found in Scripture. It is to Tony Campolo’s credit that he seeks to be faithful to these teachings above all else — even when it is inconvenient.

Everything Must Change – Brian D. McLaren

18 Tuesday Mar 2008

Posted by in Book Review

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , ,

I have seemed to enjoy each one of Brian McLaren’s new books more than his last. It was, therefore, with great anticipation that I began to read his latest book: Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.

McLaren seeks to address two preoccupying questions in Everything Must Change; What are the biggest problems in the world? And, What doe Jesus have to say about these global problems? These questions led to further questions like “Why hasn’t the Christian religion made a difference commensurate with its message, size, and resources? What would need to happen for followers of Jesus to become a greater force for good in relation to the world’s top problems? How could we make a positive difference (12)?”

Everything Must Change is carefully organized in order to address these questions. The book is organized into eight parts that each consist of around four very short chapters. The first four parts discuss McLaren’s “preoccupying questions,” the problem as he sees it and how Jesus relates to the questions and problems. The next three parts of the book discuss the three primary parts of what McLaren refers to as the “Societal Machine.” These parts are the Security System, the Prosperity System, and the Equity System. McLaren argues that the Societal Machine has gone suicidal. McLaren writes: “Eventually, you’d have to agree, the societal machine could grow to a size where it demanded more resources than the environment could provide and produce more wastes than the environment could absorb. At that point, the machine would go suicidal” (63). McLaren’s argument is that the Security System, Prosperity System, and Equity System are all dysfunctional and unless we find a way to reframe the story, the machine will go suicidal.

One of the major strengths of Everything Must Change is McLaren’s boldness in drawing attention to some of the ways that American culture is dysfunctional and ultimately self-defeating (or suicidal). Everything Must Change offers a needed critique of the culture of comfort and security that has proliferated without a critique from the American Church for far too long. While McLaren is certainly not the first person to offer such a critique, his growing popularity as the bearded grandfather of Emergent places him in a situation where he is able to speak to a larger and larger audience.

The ideas in this book are already put into practice in subtle ways. For example, the book itself is “green” as the dust jacket testifies that it is printed on “acid-free, environmentally friendly paper using approved green printing standards.” The copyright page further mentions that the paper is from “well-managed forests, controlled sources and recycled wood or fiber.”

McLaren mentions in a footnote that his prior book, The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything, should be seen as a companion volume to Everything Must Change. I would actually say that it is essential to read The Secret Message of Jesus before reading Everything Must Change because I often felt that McLaren’s discussion assumed familiarity with the arguments and information presented in The Secret Message of Jesus. In other words, the explicitly Christ-centered material is not as obviously present in Everything Must Change.

My other thought, which I touched on in my review of Tony Jones’ The New Christians, is that Brian McLaren is famous! I have been amazed at the amount of publicity surrounding this book; book displays at Barnes and Noble that John Grisham would envy, a book tour, and I even got a random email asking me to pass out fliers before a book tour stop (that was actually nowhere near where I live). It seems to me that many people who have responded to McLaren’s message are fairly cynical of celebrities and people who seem to be larger than life. Brian McLaren is coming very close to becoming a celebrity, if he is not already one. I am interested to see how folks in Emergent respond to his increasing popularity, and what would seem to be a corresponding inaccessibility. Emergent seems to really be gaining a lot of momentum, and I will be watching to see what it does with it. Is this just the beginning, or is Emergent already peaking?

Ultimately, Brian McLaren raises some very important questions in Everything Must Change. I hope this book inspires the people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ to examine more closely their allegiance to the kingdom of comfort and security in relationship to their allegiance to the kingdom of God. In as much as McLaren encourages followers of Jesus to bring hope into a world that is on the verge of going suicidal, this book is well worth the read and promises to stimulate much needed conversations about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century.

Preaching as Testimony – Anna Carter Florence

04 Tuesday Mar 2008

Posted by in Book Review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, ,

This continues the Good Readin’ series that I began a few weeks ago. I did not anticipate that it would take me this long to get to posting about this book, but sometimes life happens!

Preaching as Testimony is written by Anna Carter Florence, who is Associate Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary. I found this book to be beautifully written and it contained some pleasant surprises in a book on preaching. The primary surprise was my favorite part about the book, Carter Florence divides the book up into three sections: stories of testimony, theories of testimony, and practicing testimony.

The first section, for me, was the highlight of the book. She relates the stories of three women who preached before the practice of women preaching was widely accepted. I tremendously enjoyed the way that Anna Carter Florence was able to relate the stories of Anne Marbury Hutchinson, Sarah Osborn, and Jarena Lee to the tradition of preaching and giving testimony.

The second section was also very interesting and helpful. In the second part of the book, “Waking Up the Secrets: Theories of Testimony,” she discusses “True Speech in the Mother Tongue: Paul Ricoeur and Walter Brueggemann” in one chapter, and “Making Trouble and Making Good News: Mary McClintock Fulkerson and Rebecca Chopp” in the other chapter. These chapters helped me to think about what is happening when we give testimony and it stretched my approach to preaching in helpful ways.

The third section, “Waking Up the Preacher: Practicing Testimony,” was probably the one that I connected with the least, though it was still definitely worth reading. Readers who are looking for practical advice on how to be a “better preacher” may be tempted to skip to this section, because this is the place where Carter Florence is the most obviously offering concrete suggestions. However, to skip to this part would be, in my view, to actually miss the most helpful insights of the book, which center around the importance of reclaiming testimony as a central part of the act of preaching. Readers who are looking for “the five keys to preaching a better sermon” will be frustrated by this book, because the very nature of testimony prevents a universal catch all approach to preaching.

This book will help preachers who are trying to find their own voices in their preaching, and are trying to figure out how to claim the ways that God has moved in their lives as they preach the Word of God.