Beautiful Jazz

This book is an enjoyable read, written primarily to a Christian audience: one raised in church, but beginning to become a little disillusioned by the whole thing. To this audience, Donald Miller addresses some of the formative assumptions that Christianity is based on, and what is and isn't flawed with the institutional approach of religion. The strength of the work is its conversational tone and propensity to word illustration. Some good points are raised in this manner: Why are we naturally inclined toward the bad? How do we (if ever) get outside of ourselves? What is lacking in the tidy and clean explanations of evangelicalism? What about those crazy penguins? In the end, the two points I found most significant and meaningful weren't Miller's per se', though his presentation is very clear and serves to drive the point home.

First, Christian saints really are simple thinkers. This Kierkegaardian approach looks at faith 'stripped down' to its simplest terms. Get rid of the commentaries and our carefully constructed rationalizations. Look again at the New Testament. What if we took it at its word? What would that faith look like? Second, he mentions a speaker, Greg Spencer, who discussed the power of metaphor. Specifically, he called attention to how we tend to describe relationships in transactional language, which effectively undermines much of the selflessness the gospel requires of us. Some excellent food for thought.

As far as the prose itself, it could have used some better editing. The sentiment "it was/is beautiful" is used in abundance, a repetition which began to dilute the meaning for me. It also tended to wander, certainly the result of being about 50 pages longer than absolutely necessary to communicate some of the main ideas. The subtitle "Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality" was appropriate, and probably recommended by the editor, of whom much could be desired regarding the tightening up of this spiritual memoir.

Overall, a recommended read that will benefit the Christian seeker, someone convinced of the truth, but not yet fully won over to the mystery and meaning of it all.

Flawed yet compelling saga of a faith journey...

Many of the prior reviewers hated this book, and many loved it. I am an inbetweener. It was not always fascinating or profound, but I wanted to finish it. This is a look at Don Miller's faith journey over the past few years. He is in his mid-30's, single, kind of liberal socially and politically but more conservative in his religious beliefs. He struggles to love people different from himself, and to love himself as well. He struggles to make a living without having a 9-5 office or classroom job. He struggles to find a Christian congregation which can look beyond political labels and conformity and do good in his community of Portland, Oregon. Miller hangs out at Reed College, neither student nor instructor, which he portrays as a fortress of secular humanism peopled by lovely folks. Because this is a personal memoir of what parts of organized Christianity work for him, and which parts fail, he will offend some readers, bore others, and enthrall the rest of us. I'm glad I read it, and I think Mr. Miller has a good mind and a nice talent for writing. I look forward to deeper and richer works in the future.

Best book ever!

I love this book! It was one of those that you just dont want to put down. I underlined half the stuff he wrote! I've told everyone I know about this book- I'm a huge fan. Puts words to things you just cant put words to. BUY IT NOW!