Blue Like Jazz

So I’m only a little late on this train. To tell the truth, the book troubled me. I’ve heard what Eric Ludy says about Donald Miller, and I’ve read what Kevin DeYoung says about Donald Miller, but I finally felt ready to read what Donald Miller wanted to say about Donald Miller. I am glad that I read it now, when I have a stronger theological basis and identity. I wasn’t quite sure about a lot of things, and while I’m still learning a lot, I am generally going in one particular direction. That being said, I wanted to be open to whatever it might say in this book.

Donald Miller sometimes says some things I like and agree with, but for the most part his approach, and in the end, theology, worries me. One of the biggest things that bothers me is that he says a lot of things about Christianity without quoting or really referencing Scripture. God helped men write a whole book so that we’d know about Him. He provided what we need to know. So when talking about God, it might make sense to let God talk about Himself a bit.

I like what he says about forgiveness. I like what he says about grace and genuine love of Jesus propelling us to act like Him. I even like what he says about a relationship with Christ – about being able to talk about God as though we talk with Him on the phone. But if I was starting to fall for his spiel, he lost me at page 115.

On page 115, he shares a story from a radio interview where he refused to defend the term Christianity. He says he would rather just talk about Jesus.

Which is fine, on a surface level. What’s wrong about talking about Jesus? Nothing. I do it a lot. I quite enjoy it. The problem, though, is that Christianity is Christ. If all you do is talk about Jesus without any historical background or context or doctrinal foundation, you lose the gospel. Jesus coming to teach us, to save us, to redeem us, only means something if you understand how much we need Him to do that. Lose the fact that we are separated from God because of our sin, and you lose so much of Christ.

After I read this, I had to start the book over.  I re-examined things, with less of an open mind, and a mind that was paying attention to the theological implications of this story as it unfolded. I noted things that bothered me. I compared it to the Bible, and found that things were just a little off.

In the end, I found it to be unsatisfying. I still don’t really know what Donald Miller believes, which is scary for a book that’s become this popular. Because if people believe in God without knowing why, they’re at risk to fall out again. There were theological implications without engaging a theological argument. There were opportunities to point people directly to God’s word, and he didn’t go there.

I wish I could sit down and have coffee with Donald Miller, and ask him why he wrote this book the way he did, and what effect he thinks it’s had on people, on Christ’s kingdom. Because this is not the book I’d recommend to someone thinking about Christianity. I’d probably recommend the book of John. And Mark. And if someone was really too afraid to read the Bible, Mark Cahill’s One Heart Beat Away. Or C.S. Lewis’s Surprised By Joy. Or Joshua Harris’s Dug Down Deep. Maybe Jim Eliot’s diary. Or Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. In fact, there are at least a hundred books I’d recommend before this one. It was a neat story, and I did enjoy the process, but it took a lot of critical, active reading in order for me not to get lost, and that’s where I think it gets a bit dangerous.