REVIEW: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about God (But Were Afraid to Ask): The Jesus Edition

I’m a frequent user of the Libby App available through my local library. It allows me to check out various books, audiobooks, and more with just a few taps on my phone or iPad. That’s how I came across this book by Eric Metaxas. I’ve heard him speak a few times over the years and decided to give it a whirl.

I guess you could say I had pretty uneven feelings about this book.

Metaxas presents this book in a sort of question and answer format with one character, “Q”, as the one with all the questions and the second character as the well-studied theologian. The intent, as I understood it, was to make the reader feel as though they were observing or listening in on a conversation rather than reading a book about apologetics and theology. The concept caught me as interesting I found it engaging for the first few chapters.

However, after a while, the approach felt awkward and distracting. I found myself quite annoyed by the approach even before I was halfway through.

Speaking of the first few chapters, my enjoyment of the approach was not the only item of note. As I listened to Metaxas present quality apologetic evidence to common arguments contrary to the Christian faith, I really felt as though I had stumbled upon a text that would be a valuable resource to hand to others.

Then, we again got past the first few chapters.

I’m not going to say the last two-thirds or even the last half of the book was bad per se. However, I had a variety of issues with the dialogue and content.

First, it was not long before felt “Q” was more a representation of questions the author wanted to answer, rather than questions a non-Christian would genuinely ask. There were several times I rolled my eyes at the dialogue because it felt forced rather than conversational.

Second, even though this book was published in 2010 there were a number of illustrations and references that I felt were quite dated. At one point the author referenced someone who was a “famous talk show host.” Honestly, I had to look up the name as I had never heard of the person. Turns out this reference, along with several others, were before my time. These details definitely made the book feel as though I were reading something out of date.

Again, it was published in 2010. I would not expect that from something printed in the dozen years.

Finally, sometimes I felt like the author was trying to be funny or cute, but not succeeding. For example, one chapter begins with a question about the “lost years” of Jesus. I was surprised to hear this and was intrigued by how the author might build a whole chapter around that. The content of the chapter, however, quickly turned subject of sarcasm found in Jesus’s teachings.

Is there sarcasm in Jesus’s teachings? Sure. I can point to various examples.

But what does that have to do with the so-called “lost years?”

Conversations meander, I get that. If this was meant to feel like an authentic conversation that weaved in and out of topics, I can respect the attempt.

However, I don’t feel like he pulled it off well.

In short, there is some good apologetic and theological information here, but enough problems with the writing itself that I’m likely to recommend another work like Cold Case Christianity instead.