I dare non-Christians to give this book a try. There is a chapter about confession that is truly beautiful and inspiring, and is worth the price of admission itself. You will learn a bit more about Christianity (or Christian spirituality) than just what the conservative pundit or the televangalist has told you.
This is a life-changing book, and worth reading more than once. I'm going to start his followup tonight, Searching for God Knows What. If it's half as good as Blue Like Jazz, then it will be worth the effort.
This is cross-posted on my blog, Broken Masterpieces.
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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!!