Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller is a book I've put off reading for a while now, but after enough recommendations from people I admire and respect, I decided to read it. I could not be more pleased that I read it. It's a quick read and hard to put down once you get rolling.
Miller, first and foremost, is transparent. This book is a book about his journey of faith (and some of his friends' journeys also). He's not a typical Evangelical, and really doesn't care about that. The journey is filled with doubts, challenges, victories, defeats, and a path to being at a point to accept God's love. I love the way he seeks to be authentic and loving; maybe pissing off a few people along the way as he breaks down some of the silly barriers that American Evangelicals have built up.
I'm positive that Miller and I would disagree on many political issues, but where we'd agree is that the association between the name of Jesus and conservative (or liberal) politics needs to be removed. Miller's discoveries included that many people who are not part of the Evangelical movement believe Evangelicals probably hate them. That is not an image I'd like to believe, but I have found it to be true. Not that we hate, but we seem to have put out that perception. I'd much prefer that the perception be that we love, do good works and reflect the nature of the God we claim to worship and follow.
I dare all conservative Evangelicals to read this book. Recognize that you can read someone that you may not disagree with, but who is a true brother in Christ. Miller has so much to offer that a couple of swipes at George W. Bush and fundamentalists are well worth it. In fact, Miller admits he needs some work on loving religious conservatives. Again, he's authentic. I'm hoping that reading this book will inspire me to learn more about the love of God and to be more transparent as I write.
Article comments
1 - Johny M.
In a world a whorl of religious sicophants and and jesus billboards, is it really fair to ourselves to muster up the conviction to seek out the universal inteligence? This task is treated as a sociological must for those coming of spiritual age, and I must champion the idea that the nonsense stops.
Quit from sqeezing your brain for religious sanctity, for there is none. Our god died from the pity of the men who created him. He is an invisible explanation to intercourse the burden in our existential hearts for explaining the pitiful nature of hunger and desire.
Dance free of the god, utter not this curse of free will. Give him the funeral he earned on the stick! Read a book about latin american strife or look at the pictures of people not plump and arrogant enough to necessitate a god in them.
Cast off your guilt, run in the streets and live a life of compassion among the people. Don't bother with the books that split humanity down the center of believer and non believer. People are the rotten core of our universe, live with it or find a boogey man that can lift a finger in this matarial world. Quit living the emotional life a childrens tale!
Thank you for your time. I have until now enjoyed your thoughts on books and the written media, as im sure I will with your next post.
Best of wishes..
Johny M.
2 - Phillip Winn
I can't even begin to understand the preceding comment, but yours is not the first recommendation I've heard for Blue Like Jazz. I've added it to my wishlist now, thanks.
3 - Bennett
Hey Tim, Nice work on the review. Though not my cup of tea, I did enjoy reading your take on this book and it's semi controversial contents.
I totally agree that Christians, and fundamentalists in particular, need to start living their faith, leading by example rather than forcing their beliefs on everyone else.
I look forward to reading more of your posts. Thanks!
4 - DrPat
the association between the name of Jesus and conservative (or liberal) politics needs to be removed...
I'd agree with that, too, Tim! There's an awful lot of moneychangers in the temple these days...
5 - Apostle Paul
Read my epistles and you will find out what a relationship with God is really all about. "Blue Like Jazz" may be a good read, but it will not get you any closer to God. Read the Bible, it is good for the soul.
6 - Carly
I cant tell you how much this book spoke to my life. SO much of Millers thoughts relate to my own but i was never able to explain them with such honesty and boldness as Blue Like Jazz.
7 - Katie
Apostle Paul's recommendation to read the Bible is certainly a good one. But, I would urge him to remember that reading things other than the Bible can be beneficial. I wonder if he would have the same response to someone critiquing Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, or Dallas Willard. Perhaps he was not brought any closer to God through Don Miller's book, but it seems like plenty of lives have been touched by it.
8 - Adrienne
Loved this book. Read it. Then read DM's other books. Loved those books, too.
9 - WM Clifton
I don't doubt that if Donald Miller and I were to chat over lunch, we would come to the same conclusions on most things. However, I found BLUE LIKE JAZZ to be rather innocuous, a sort of Augustine's Confessions for the "Like, um, yeah!" generation. I enjoyed the stories - Ren Fayre, his friends, etc. - but I found his writing style insipid. His thoughts on God and spiritualiy struck me as muddy, imprecise platitudes. I'd probably say that his general ideas and stories are helpful to an extent, but this book lacks any quality of timelessness. Personally, I'll stick with Augustine.
10 - Bob Ly
Blue Like Jazz is an organic piece, for the most part. The growth and spirituality tends to be linear and if not predictable. Ideas and revealtions comes with baggages that never seems to get fully unpacked.
I say for the most part because I do not agree with Chapter 16. That chapter is titled Money. This seems to be the only thing that is nonorganic. One could make the case that any social group or institution would yield financial benefits in the form of advertisement and steady labor. And God, in the Bible, never really talked about money. Money seems to be man's inventions to something that is not yet understood about God.
I like the book. I like the ideas. The church called Imago-Dei epitomizes the belief and faith that humanity would call for. I do not know if the Jazz analogy was an afterthought as it was just briefly mentioned in the end. But it works as a glue that bind the pages and stories together.
11 - Adam
God doesn't talk about Money? Have you READ the Bible Bob? It's chock full of laws regarding money, possession, etc. in the Old Testament and then Jesus talks about money almost constantly in the Gospels. Paul and Peter get in a huge argument over money and the church. Money is the one of the biggest issues in the Bible. Go back and re-read to see.
12 - David
There are more references to money in the Bible than Heaven!!