Book reviews
Flirting with Monasticism - Finding God on Ancient Paths
Length: 163 pages
Published: IVP Books, November 2006 .
I am not surprised that there are connections between this book and the work of Brian McLaren (see below). He both features in the book, and on the back cover. Karen’s book is a light, humble, easy read bringing together an open evangelical Presbyterian formation with an encounter with Roman Catholic monastic and particularly Dominican expressions from which they have clearly been well, and I found surprisingly, sheltered.
The book has a blog-like feel as it interweaves Karen’s romantic feelings for a Dominican aspirant with discoveries about the lifestyle he is beginning to discern commitment to. Charming line drawings illustrate explanations about the habit, daily prayer, the eucharist, the rosary, community, and the vows. This is a gentle introduction that draws one on. Often there is an exploration of the way that the insights from Dominican life can enrich our lives outside of cloistered walls. Occasionally parallels are not delved into so deeply – such as the sense of vocation and vowing to God in celibacy that might enrich the sense of vocation and vowing to God in marriage.
Karen grew up in a mega-church, is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Presbyterian campus minister. We need far more of this type of experience and writing where the riches of one tradition are not shared at the expense of another, but where we can meet each other and share from the best of our traditions without over-romanticising a greener grass on the other side of the fence. This is one of the treasures of the emergent church movement which is not continuing an adolescent rebellion against Christianity’s ancient disciplines and traditions but meeting them freshly once again and re-applying them in our new post-modern context. Karen does all this with a youthful enthusiasm, a generosity about sharing her inner life, and a simplicity that is refreshing and encouraging.
Further reflection on monastic spirituality on this site.
Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Harper San Francisco (2006)
Barbara Brown Taylor tells her story of increasing compassion fatigue as a parish priest. After nine years of serving in a large urban church in Atlanta, she moved to be rector (vicar) in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500). Five years later she decides to move from parish ministry to teaching. This book eloquently tells the story of finding, losing, and finally keeping the strong core of faith.
There appear to me different possible viewpoints expressing our relationship with God and creation. One believes God to be present in ordinary life, in nature, relationships, the world, creation. Another thinks that we need to bring God to a situation, bring God into a relationship, and so on. In many ways I think these differing viewpoints lie behind the seemingly insurmountable disputes and divisions within Christianity. In the first viewpoint the vocation of Christians and of the church is to see where God is, to recognize where God is acting, and to point to God’s presence, to cooperate with God’s activity. Nature, relationships, and so on are holy – we acknowledge this, and give thanks. In the alternative perspective, nature, relationships, and so on are neutral, or even depraved. God becomes present when we invoke God, bless relationships, and so on.
Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor is clearly in the first camp. This is a missional-church, world-facing perspective. “Where church growth has eclipsed church depth, it is possible to hear very little about the world except as a rival for the human resources needed by the church for her own survival.” (p.221)
There are helpful insights and challenges on nearly every lucidly written page. Starters and encouragement for reflection abound.
Barbara’s challenge to our liturgical life (the primary focus of this site) is clearly that although we speak of liturgy as the work of all of us equally around God’s table, instead, in her experience, and I’m sure for others, there is still a lot of priest doing things for the community. At the cost of the community, and clearly as highlighted by this book, at the cost of the priest. Barbara does not belabour it, but clearly the issue of inclusiveness or not, currently dividing the Anglican Communion, was precipitous in her moving out of parish ministry. The church, as in the West it shrinks numerically, is focusing more and more on its own internal life, rather than on the worship of God and the service of the world – Barbara’s writings are a good antidote to this trend.
In my own experience of disappointment with the church, its leaders, even with my own contribution there has been a realisation that I am facing the wrong direction – towards the church. We need to break through that window, move through it, and reassemble the pieces so we can look from the other direction: to God and God’s world. Leaving Church will help in this and also aid some to move from their quixotic vision of church and ordained ministry to something healthier.
There is much I can personally identify with. After seven years of ordained parish ministry, first in a large urban parish, and then, like Barbara, serving five years in a rural one, I have for the last decade been serving in a secondary school context where every question and every faith-perspective and none gets regular, respectful airing. In this book Barbara does not necessarily provide answers – certainly not for the parish context – but she provides questions and insights that, in the Western-world reality we find ourselves, will not soon go away. I heartily recommend this not-easy-to-put-down book.by Barbara Brown Taylor
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Harper San Francisco (2006)
Barbara Brown Taylor tells her story of increasing compassion fatigue as a parish priest. After nine years of serving in a large urban church in Atlanta, she moved to be rector (vicar) in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500). Five years later she decides to move from parish ministry to teaching. This book eloquently tells the story of finding, losing, and finally keeping the strong core of faith.
There appear to me different possible viewpoints expressing our relationship with God and creation. One believes God to be present in ordinary life, in nature, relationships, the world, creation. Another thinks that we need to bring God to a situation, bring God into a relationship, and so on. In many ways I think these differing viewpoints lie behind the seemingly insurmountable disputes and divisions within Christianity. In the first viewpoint the vocation of Christians and of the church is to see where God is, to recognize where God is acting, and to point to God’s presence, to cooperate with God’s activity. Nature, relationships, and so on are holy – we acknowledge this, and give thanks. In the alternative perspective, nature, relationships, and so on are neutral, or even depraved. God becomes present when we invoke God, bless relationships, and so on.
Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor is clearly in the first camp. This is a missional-church, world-facing perspective. “Where church growth has eclipsed church depth, it is possible to hear very little about the world except as a rival for the human resources needed by the church for her own survival.” (p.221)
There are helpful insights and challenges on nearly every lucidly written page. Starters and encouragement for reflection abound.
Barbara’s challenge to our liturgical life (the primary focus of this site) is clearly that although we speak of liturgy as the work of all of us equally around God’s table, instead, in her experience, and I’m sure for others, there is still a lot of priest doing things for the community. At the cost of the community, and clearly as highlighted by this book, at the cost of the priest. Barbara does not belabour it, but clearly the issue of inclusiveness or not, currently dividing the Anglican Communion, was precipitous in her moving out of parish ministry. The church, as in the West it shrinks numerically, is focusing more and more on its own internal life, rather than on the worship of God and the service of the world – Barbara’s writings are a good antidote to this trend.
In my own experience of disappointment with the church, its leaders, even with my own contribution there has been a realisation that I am facing the wrong direction – towards the church. We need to break through that window, move through it, and reassemble the pieces so we can look from the other direction: to God and God’s world. Leaving Church will help in this and also aid some to move from their quixotic vision of church and ordained ministry to something healthier.
There is much I can personally identify with. After seven years of ordained parish ministry, first in a large urban parish, and then, like Barbara, serving five years in a rural one, I have for the last decade been serving in a secondary school context where every question and every faith-perspective and none gets regular, respectful airing. In this book Barbara does not necessarily provide answers – certainly not for the parish context – but she provides questions and insights that, in the Western-world reality we find ourselves, will not soon go away. I heartily recommend this not-easy-to-put-down book.
A Generous Orthodoxy:
Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN
Hardcover: 304 pages
by Brian D. McLaren
Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties (2004)
I went to Opawa Baptist Church to hear Brian McLaren preach and was delighted to meet with him afterwards. In an increasingly polarised church (and world), Brian McLaren is an eirenic voice, highlighting the positives and negatives of different theological positions, and finding a third way through. In some ways reminiscent of Richard Foster and his Renovare movement, Brian sees the combination of sometimes apparently opposite positions as a generously orthodox way forward into a healthy Christian future. He writes with wit and whimsy, drawing humbly from his own journey. The issues he explores so often undergird the style of worship that we choose - individually and communally. Too often we appear to have congregations trying to emulate current music and technology but presenting an intellectual approach significantly distanced from this century, on the other hand are congregations whose world-view appears merely to echo that of the surrounding culture(s), often embodied in rituals significantly distanced from this century. Brian's approach just might bring a vibrant spiritual health and intelligent authenticity to our different communities. This book would not just be a useful discussion starter and teaching resource, it might be the sort of bridge that may help open, generous, orthodox "liberals" and "conservatives" to meet on. Very highly recommended.
Beyond the Worship Wars:
Building Vital and Faithful Worship
(Paperback, 119 pages)
by Thomas G. Long; Alban Institute 2001
If you have read the older book by Marva Dawn's "Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down" and found it a useful analysis of our worship issues, then Thomas Long in this book attempts to find a new way forward in the more current situation of Generation X (Marva Dawn talks more about the Boomer Generation). The development of "Seeker Services" and their relationship to the liturgical renaissance and the clash between these two models are dealt with perceptively by Long. The former might be characterised as "vital", the latter as "faithful". What Long presents acknowledges the best in both these approaches, providing characteristics of churches that have discovered how to move forward in a third way, creating vital and faithful congregations. These characteristics Long lists as:
1. Make room, somewhere in worship, for the experience of mystery
2. Make planned and concerted efforts to show hospitality to the
stranger
3. Have recovered and made visible the sense of drama inherent in
Christian worship
4. Emphasize congregational music that is both excellent and eclectic
in style and genre
5. Creatively adapt the space and environment of worship
6. Forge a strong connection between worship and local mission—a
connection expressed in every aspect of the worship service
7. Maintain a relatively stable order of service and a significant repertoire of worship elements and responses that the congregation knows
by heart
8. Move to a joyous festival experience toward the end of the worship
service
9. Have strong, charismatic pastors as worship leaders
Those who have read Celebrating Eucharist will recognise much that is held in common in this approach and advocated on this web site. Each of the above nine characteristics is discussed insightfully in the book. A challenging and eirenic resource for communities working seriously on their liturgical life.