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Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
by Donald Miller
by Donald Miller
Book Review: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
"In America, the first generation out of slavery invented jazz music," Miller tells us at the beginning of his book. He later notes jazz as an analogy for Christians, who have been freed from the slavery of sin and the bondage of death.
Blue Like Jazz has been out for a few years and was on the New York Times best seller list for 45 weeks. At times Miller points a finger at the Christian church, or at least some Christian churches, but before dismissing what he says, we need to ask ourselves: Are we sometimes too quick to condemn people who don't think like us? Are others able to see the love of God in us and not just hear us talk about God? Do we realize that God is neither a Democrat nor a Republican and that sincere Christians come in all political persuasions? Miller asks some uncomfortable questions that we each need to ask ourselves individually.
His writing style is open. He shares his faith as well as his faults, doubts, and struggles and those of his friends. He writes in a very personal manner. You feel like you're sitting across the table from a friend telling you his life story.
He details how some of his friends came to know Jesus and how his personal circumstances led him to a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Years ago, people at the church he was attending warned him the local Reed College was immoral and atheistic. He decided to start attending classes there because he wanted the intellectual stimulation. He found the school challenged his mind but that there really was a strong anti-God bias.
The school apparently has a tradition that one weekend each year many students openly run wild with drinking and drug parties, total hedonism. It sounds worse than any media coverage I've ever seen of Spring Break partying.
In the midst of all of this, Miller and the few other Christians on campus set up a booth in which they invited people one at a time to hear them confess the failings or Christianity and Christians down through history, including their own personal failures at accurately representing God. They did this sincerely and had a profound impact on the people they met. It seemed to have gotten them thinking and realizing that maybe some of these Christians weren't so crazy after all. I shook my head in amazement after reading that chapter.
Miller has a web site, bluelikejazz.com that discusses the several books he's written and includes a link to a site for his pastor, Rick McKinley. He was the founding pastor and Miller was a founding member of Imago Dei (Latin for “Image of God”) church in Portland, OR.
Our son, Michael also recommends an earlier work of Miller's, Through Painted Deserts. In it, the author describes hiking with a friend from the rim of the Grand Canyon, to its floor and back, an experience that brought him closer to God.
-- Frank Lewandowski
"In America, the first generation out of slavery invented jazz music," Miller tells us at the beginning of his book. He later notes jazz as an analogy for Christians, who have been freed from the slavery of sin and the bondage of death.
Blue Like Jazz has been out for a few years and was on the New York Times best seller list for 45 weeks. At times Miller points a finger at the Christian church, or at least some Christian churches, but before dismissing what he says, we need to ask ourselves: Are we sometimes too quick to condemn people who don't think like us? Are others able to see the love of God in us and not just hear us talk about God? Do we realize that God is neither a Democrat nor a Republican and that sincere Christians come in all political persuasions? Miller asks some uncomfortable questions that we each need to ask ourselves individually.
His writing style is open. He shares his faith as well as his faults, doubts, and struggles and those of his friends. He writes in a very personal manner. You feel like you're sitting across the table from a friend telling you his life story.
He details how some of his friends came to know Jesus and how his personal circumstances led him to a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Years ago, people at the church he was attending warned him the local Reed College was immoral and atheistic. He decided to start attending classes there because he wanted the intellectual stimulation. He found the school challenged his mind but that there really was a strong anti-God bias.
The school apparently has a tradition that one weekend each year many students openly run wild with drinking and drug parties, total hedonism. It sounds worse than any media coverage I've ever seen of Spring Break partying.
In the midst of all of this, Miller and the few other Christians on campus set up a booth in which they invited people one at a time to hear them confess the failings or Christianity and Christians down through history, including their own personal failures at accurately representing God. They did this sincerely and had a profound impact on the people they met. It seemed to have gotten them thinking and realizing that maybe some of these Christians weren't so crazy after all. I shook my head in amazement after reading that chapter.
Miller has a web site, bluelikejazz.com that discusses the several books he's written and includes a link to a site for his pastor, Rick McKinley. He was the founding pastor and Miller was a founding member of Imago Dei (Latin for “Image of God”) church in Portland, OR.
Our son, Michael also recommends an earlier work of Miller's, Through Painted Deserts. In it, the author describes hiking with a friend from the rim of the Grand Canyon, to its floor and back, an experience that brought him closer to God.
-- Frank Lewandowski
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