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Live the Questions: How Searching Shapes Our Convictions and Commitments
"Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." --Rainer Maria Rilke
Life is full of questions: questions about our identity, our relationships, our faith. Sometimes it seems like there are no easy answers. But our questioning can lead us on a journey into greater understanding and purpose.
Jeffrey Keuss says that asking good questions helps us to lead good lives. He takes us on a tour of Scripture to find insights from people who asked questions of God and others. From God asking Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" to the Samaritan woman asking Jesus for water, Live the Questions explores critical questions in Scripture and what they can teach us about doubt, faith, and uncertainty in our everyday lives.
Grappling with hard questions is necessary for us to form deeper faith commitments and discern who we are called to become. So don't be afraid of the questions—live them.
Life is full of questions: questions about our identity, our relationships, our faith. Sometimes it seems like there are no easy answers. But our questioning can lead us on a journey into greater understanding and purpose.
Jeffrey Keuss says that asking good questions helps us to lead good lives. He takes us on a tour of Scripture to find insights from people who asked questions of God and others. From God asking Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" to the Samaritan woman asking Jesus for water, Live the Questions explores critical questions in Scripture and what they can teach us about doubt, faith, and uncertainty in our everyday lives.
Grappling with hard questions is necessary for us to form deeper faith commitments and discern who we are called to become. So don't be afraid of the questions—live them.
- GenresChristian
192 pages, Paperback
Published May 21, 2019
7 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey F. Keuss
16 booksJeffrey F. Keuss (PhD, University of Glasgow) is professor of Christian ministry, theology, and culture at Seattle Pacific University. He is also the executive director of Pivot Northwest. He is a regular contributor to the The Kindlings Muse podcast on theology and culture and is on the editorial board of Literature and Theology. His books include Freedom of the Self, Blur, and Your Neighbor's Hymnal.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 12, 2019
Summary: Proposes that a deep and satisfying life is closely related to the questions we ask, how we pursue them, and to whom they lead us.
It is sometimes thought that Christians are those who have found answers, perhaps the answer and that strong faith is characterized by a sense of certainty. To have questions, or even worse, doubts, is thought to reflect a lack of faith, or to be on the road to leaving one's faith behind. We often err in one of two ways: we either anesthetize ourselves to the questions, or we take shortcuts, accepting textbook answers without facing what the questions expose about us, and about the ultimate we seek beyond the questions.
Jeffrey F. Keuss believes that the questions we ask may be more important than the answers we think we have found. He writes, "I hope you find that to be human is to ask more and more questions, and that deep meaning is found in the journey and pursuit of where and to whom those questions will bring us." He proposes that we live the questions rather than just ask for the answers.
Keuss takes us a step further. He proposes not only that we live our questions but to consider the questions that fill the pages of scripture and that shape and form the lives of those who people its pages. He explores eight such questions:
1. Where are you? (with Adam and Eve)
2. Am I my brother's keeper? (Cain)
3. How will I know ? (Abraham)
4. Who am I? (with Moses at the burning bush)
5. Why this burden? (Moses, under the burdens of leadership)
6. How can I just vanish in darkness? (Job)
7. How can I be born after growing old? (Nicodemus)
8. Where can I get that living water? (the Samaritan woman)
We are faced with how we will respond to the God who pursues those who are estranged from Him. We encounter the irony of a God whose mark on Cain makes God the keeper of a brother who murdered. We discover a God whose answer to Abraham is to take him out of his tent to the stars in the heavens, a God who delights in Abraham's probing honesty, and whose answer is far more than Abraham could dream asleep in his tent.
In each chapter, Keuss probes the question asked, whether by God or people and how these questions brought these people into deeper contact both with their own humanity and the living God. Along the ways he references everything from Kierkegaard to Steve Martin.
Perhaps one of the most moving stories he relates is from his time as a young minister in Glasgow, visiting a comatose, unresponsive patient with whom he read scripture, prayed and spent thirty minutes just being there, doing all he was supposed to do, and feeling utterly futile. Later he receives a small bequest from the family that he is ashamed to use, until a colleague counsels, "This check isn't about you, Jeff....This is about paying it forward beyond you. For some reason what you did was more than you or your intentions, so you need to honor that somehow in his name." And he did by buying a pair of black Dr. Martens boots that he wore wherever he ministered "reminding [him] to have faith, to show up, and be ready for the unexpected."
Keuss invites us in this book to listen to our questions, and the questions of the scriptures. He urges us that a healthy process takes us into relationships, and not isolation, and that questions and a life of faith and worship in community need not be at odds. He invites us not merely to discuss questions but to live in them, to walk in them, and rather than simply looking for answers, to allow the questions to take us deeper into the mystery and wonder of God.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
It is sometimes thought that Christians are those who have found answers, perhaps the answer and that strong faith is characterized by a sense of certainty. To have questions, or even worse, doubts, is thought to reflect a lack of faith, or to be on the road to leaving one's faith behind. We often err in one of two ways: we either anesthetize ourselves to the questions, or we take shortcuts, accepting textbook answers without facing what the questions expose about us, and about the ultimate we seek beyond the questions.
Jeffrey F. Keuss believes that the questions we ask may be more important than the answers we think we have found. He writes, "I hope you find that to be human is to ask more and more questions, and that deep meaning is found in the journey and pursuit of where and to whom those questions will bring us." He proposes that we live the questions rather than just ask for the answers.
Keuss takes us a step further. He proposes not only that we live our questions but to consider the questions that fill the pages of scripture and that shape and form the lives of those who people its pages. He explores eight such questions:
1. Where are you? (with Adam and Eve)
2. Am I my brother's keeper? (Cain)
3. How will I know ? (Abraham)
4. Who am I? (with Moses at the burning bush)
5. Why this burden? (Moses, under the burdens of leadership)
6. How can I just vanish in darkness? (Job)
7. How can I be born after growing old? (Nicodemus)
8. Where can I get that living water? (the Samaritan woman)
We are faced with how we will respond to the God who pursues those who are estranged from Him. We encounter the irony of a God whose mark on Cain makes God the keeper of a brother who murdered. We discover a God whose answer to Abraham is to take him out of his tent to the stars in the heavens, a God who delights in Abraham's probing honesty, and whose answer is far more than Abraham could dream asleep in his tent.
In each chapter, Keuss probes the question asked, whether by God or people and how these questions brought these people into deeper contact both with their own humanity and the living God. Along the ways he references everything from Kierkegaard to Steve Martin.
Perhaps one of the most moving stories he relates is from his time as a young minister in Glasgow, visiting a comatose, unresponsive patient with whom he read scripture, prayed and spent thirty minutes just being there, doing all he was supposed to do, and feeling utterly futile. Later he receives a small bequest from the family that he is ashamed to use, until a colleague counsels, "This check isn't about you, Jeff....This is about paying it forward beyond you. For some reason what you did was more than you or your intentions, so you need to honor that somehow in his name." And he did by buying a pair of black Dr. Martens boots that he wore wherever he ministered "reminding [him] to have faith, to show up, and be ready for the unexpected."
Keuss invites us in this book to listen to our questions, and the questions of the scriptures. He urges us that a healthy process takes us into relationships, and not isolation, and that questions and a life of faith and worship in community need not be at odds. He invites us not merely to discuss questions but to live in them, to walk in them, and rather than simply looking for answers, to allow the questions to take us deeper into the mystery and wonder of God.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
September 3, 2019
“By asking better questions and learning to have faith amid doubts, we can learn to trust in our relationships with God, with others, and with creation over our need for certainty at all costs.”
I really love this quote. Though a man of faith, I am also quite skeptical. I always lead with questions. I am always filled with doubt. But I actually consider my faith to be strong because of my doubts. My doubts reinforce the things I believe. It seems counterintuitive, but when I am constantly scratching off the excess I am always left with a solid core.
Despite this great quote and overall theme, I really didn’t enjoy this book. I think the main turnoff for me is the author’s reliance on defining Hebrew words to drive home a point. I understand that a lot of nuance gets lost in translation from Hebrew to English, but it just feels like a crutch. In one paragraph the author repeats a Hebrew word six times though I believe the English word is entirely sufficient.
Unfortunately, this is a device used by many authors and pastors. To me, it feels like someone is creating a barrier between me and the Scriptures. Like I am too dumb to full understand what God meant originally. When God said creation was good, He really meant….and so on and so on.
Perhaps, I just a little burnout on this subject or overly critical, but this wasn’t a book that moved me in any direction good or bad. Overall I value the theme of the book and its content.
I really love this quote. Though a man of faith, I am also quite skeptical. I always lead with questions. I am always filled with doubt. But I actually consider my faith to be strong because of my doubts. My doubts reinforce the things I believe. It seems counterintuitive, but when I am constantly scratching off the excess I am always left with a solid core.
Despite this great quote and overall theme, I really didn’t enjoy this book. I think the main turnoff for me is the author’s reliance on defining Hebrew words to drive home a point. I understand that a lot of nuance gets lost in translation from Hebrew to English, but it just feels like a crutch. In one paragraph the author repeats a Hebrew word six times though I believe the English word is entirely sufficient.
Unfortunately, this is a device used by many authors and pastors. To me, it feels like someone is creating a barrier between me and the Scriptures. Like I am too dumb to full understand what God meant originally. When God said creation was good, He really meant….and so on and so on.
Perhaps, I just a little burnout on this subject or overly critical, but this wasn’t a book that moved me in any direction good or bad. Overall I value the theme of the book and its content.
October 21, 2019
I had high hopes for this book...
I wasn't let down persay, but it didn't live up to what I was expecting.
This book could have been a better 'blog series' in my opinion.
Worth while, but more bloggy for my tastes.
I wasn't let down persay, but it didn't live up to what I was expecting.
This book could have been a better 'blog series' in my opinion.
Worth while, but more bloggy for my tastes.
Read
September 18, 2025Good book, but it was challenging for me to read. Some of the content you have to reread or look up to fully understand the idea. It was a book someone else had left aside, and the title grabbed my attention.
Read
January 29, 2022A good and challenging book on approaching faith’s big questions.
May 31, 2022
Fairly simplistic but overall easy to digest and pick up at anytime.
April 2, 2020
Keuss provides a compelling vision of what asking the right questions looks like in the life of growth and obedience to God's Kingdom. "Live the Questions" doesn't just provide readers with a few questions to journal about - rather, these questions are posed by real people captured in the pages of Scripture. These people risked asking BIG questions of God, which resulted in God's engagement within their lives in ways that will be very real to any reader.
I read this book for a second time during COVID-19 social distancing. These questions came alive when read through the worldwide pandemic that has caused many to give in to anxiety, depression, and fear. Keuss's stories, assertions, and an invitation to a dynamic faith built on real questions will be helpful to readers who have struggled through the abrupt halt of the normal.
I read this book for a second time during COVID-19 social distancing. These questions came alive when read through the worldwide pandemic that has caused many to give in to anxiety, depression, and fear. Keuss's stories, assertions, and an invitation to a dynamic faith built on real questions will be helpful to readers who have struggled through the abrupt halt of the normal.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews