In my class Christ and Culture, one of the required texts is Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making. And apparently, we are not the only ones engaging with this book. So I thought I would post some reviews of the book. The first is from Ben Witherington III. It is quite long, very in-depth, but very insightful. The second was written by Scot McKnight. It is much shorter, but good nevertheless. And when I finish reading the book, maybe I will add a few thoughts of my own.
Book Review: My Beautiful Idol
Pete Gall captures the messiness of being a Christian in his book My Beautiful Idol. Written in a style comparable to Donald Miller or Anne Lamott (Christian memoir marked with humor and utmost honesty). I would not put it on the level of either Miller or Lamott, but Gall is well on his way. If anybody thinks the Christian life is about happiness and good things falling into place for you, this would be a good book to read. Striving to follow Jesus, the author’s life falls apart. Literally, falls apart. This guy gave up a plush office job with every luxury at his fingertips to meandering in Colorado through seminary (until he dropped out), serving at an alcoholic rehabilitation camp, working in the inner city of Denver, working among mentally handicapped people, and then for a major ministry in the Denver area. Let me tell you, Pete is a straight shooter. He is not afraid to take jabs at people. But he we see a Christian struggling everyday to live and discover the will of God in his life, learning to live in the love and grace of God, and somebody combating all the outside pressures of returning to his old way of life. The book doesn’t even have an overly happy ending. The messiness of being a Christian is enveloped in this book and will probably be the next Blue Like Jazz if the reviews are any indication. The book has dazzling reviews by Shane Claiborne and Philip Yancey already.
In my opinion, the best part of the book, and where the title stems from, is how he describes all the idols we build for ourselves, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously. He does not limit idols to the things we can create. He talks about making girlfriends idols, or the seeking of compliments. In a very open and humble manner, Pete tells of all the things he has made idols in his life and how these have distracted him from following Christ. How he portrays idolatry is brilliant. We are always covering ourselves under different idols, shells that we think can protect us. But we have to keep moving from one to the next because we are always growing out of these shells, moving on to newer and trendier idols. I wish I could explain it in full. Maybe you should just read the book. He captures idolatry much better than I can trying to summarize him.
Book Review: Reaching Out
My first thought on completion of this book was “Henri Nouwen has done it again.” In typical Nouwen fashion, Reaching Out speaks not only to the head or to the heart, but engages the entire person within this exploration of living spiritually in a secular world. Nouwen is able to put into words some of the deepest, unexplored human emotions that everybody wishes they could express. Not only does he provide theology for spirituality, but also offers a framework in which practical applications can be built. Thus, Reaching Out is not only a good book because of the information Nouwen conveys to the reader, but also because of the space that Nouwen creates in the life of the reader to be transformed. Both theoretically and practically, this book sets a standard of what it means be a spiritual being in today’s world. This book will continue to have a lasting impact on my life just like it has on so many other people’s lives.
There are three sections or movements in the book. The first is the shift from loneliness to solitude. The second is hostility giving way to hospitality. And the last is illusion yielding to prayer. Nouwen weaves the three together so that they are not individual stages one goes through. Rather they work contiguously with one another with each flowing smoothly into the next so that they are all intertwined.
I loved the book – I thought it was fantastic. A friend warned me though that the book can easily create space for a self-help, be-happy Christianity if we aren’t careful. I think it is a warning we must pay heed to, but I do not think it diminishes the message of the book.
