Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
So far this book is great, Miller relates searching for affirmation to our nakedness in the garden, as we no longer dwell with God we seek affirmation from everything but God. Fashion being his main example (as God made the first clothes for us) he explores what life could be like if there was no competition in the world, no sense of subjective human value, racism, hierarchy, no us and them... just us and God.
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5 comments:
I read it about a year ago and remember this.
I think Donald is one of, if not THE brightest of "our" writers. Blue Like Jazz deserves a place on the highest shelf of that genre... I'm thinking of Madeleine L'engle and Anne Lamott here... and maybe a bit of PJ O'Rourke. Honestly, Blue Like Jazz changed a few parts of my life, and that ain't hyperbole.
However, I was equally disappointed with Searching For God Knows What. You know how musicians who are Christians are saying things like "Hey, I'm not an authority on stuff. I just write and sing about living my life as a Christian. Don't hold me up to be higher that you."? I feel like Don turned that around in SFGKW. He's a great writer, but in that book he tried to be a theologian and the effect was just the opposite of BLJ. He came off as an arrogant, way-left-of-liberal Theologian instead of the regular guy reflecting on life experiences he was in BLJ.
I can tolerate a lot of theology that doesn't match my own in a work of art like BLJ, or Lamott's "Traveling Mercies", or any number of L'Engle's books. What I find hard to stomach is a writer like Don trying to be definitive on theological matters.
"Write what you know", right? Either that or explore what you don't know humbly and with an open mind. It annoyed me to no end when Don used analogies about marriage, raising kids, and to a lesser extent sports to make his theological points. In those first two categories, as far I know, he has no experience on which to draw.
So I found myself writing in the columns of the book a number times - writing things like "Hey Don, try this line of reasoning again after you're married and see if it still rings true to you" and "Hey Don, get back to me once you have some kids and have thought through this in real time."
I guess the annoyance was exacerbated by the fact that I loved BLJ so much.
Sorry for riffing on Don so much. Its been a blog post sort of waiting to happen so I guess this was my rough draft.
Plus he called YOUR boss "The Cussing Pastor", so you should be boycotting his books anyway.
;-)
Thanks for your thoughts Michael! I'm feeling a little feisty so Ill share my thoughts.
Im loving it, and Ive actually been really challenged by a lot of stuff he's talking about. Don't argue with his examples... pastors use examples of things they've never experienced all the time. If you have an issue with his theology thats one thing, but its pretty 'post modern' to say that because Don wrote one book in a certain style, he cant write another that is trying to be more 'definitive' on theological matters. Truth is truth whether we have experienced it or not. Biblical truth on marriage is truth whether we are married or not. Our situations, circumstances and emotions don't define truth. I think Don may have a certain strength at writing one style over another, but to me that doesn't disqualify his lesser strength. What do you think?
(I'm being the antagonist here to start a good discussion, I'm not trying to be pretentious... :)
I don't have my copy here at work but I'll look through it when I get a chance.
It's not a biblical truth issue, if we differed in our theological thinking on issues like that, again, I can tolerate. It was more a matter of "That's something I would have said before I was married/before I had kids."
Also not a style issue per se, more of an approach issue. When I read Madeleine L'engle I disagree with quite a bit, but there is so much humility in her approach.
Again, I'll have to review the specifics, and who knows, maybe my opinion will have changed over the course of a year.
I've been meaning to put a post up about it but I wanted to get my BLJ series and other complimentary items up before I say anything negative because everything else I've read or heard from him has been wonderful.
aahhh, gotcha. Thats really interesting. Ill be looking for that as I finish it. Thanks for your input, I look forward to your blog on this book.
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