Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Soul Survivor
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I began reading Philip Yancey's Soul Survivor with a bit of reluctance. I feared its pages would flow with grievances over church abuses, which to be sure are many and need to be discussed. However, I have found in the albeit imperfect church, a home that I dearly love. With the other struggles and grief's I have to bear right now, I had no patience for enduring 300 pages of wrestling with all the bad things the church has done. My mother gave this book to me and I nearly left it in Oregon, not thinking I would want to read it. A quote on the back cover seemed to confirm my suspicion, praising "This book [as] a godsend for people who are religious but not churchmen, and for those who like spiritual companionship along the way of their journey." If this book promotes the idea that we can be Christians disconnected from the body, then I really wasn't in the mood to devote my precious little reading time to it. However, the gentlemen at the BHT encouraged me to persevere, and I have been glad I did.
Yancey did spend the introduction describing the destructive and abusive church of his youth, but only as background to a book that basically presents 13 short biographies of Christians who deeply influenced Yancey. Yancey writes, "If I had to define my own theme, it would be that of a person who absorbed some of the worst the church has to offer, yet still landed in the loving arms of God." Indeed, his childhood church was terrible, and once my guards lowered a bit, I knew that I too had assuredly seen much terrible behavior from "the church". I still maintain a healthy, strong skepticism toward the church as an institution, though I am passionate about it as the body of Christ and the home of believers. Who isn't aware of, often irritated by and even outraged at their own family's 'dysfunction' and sin, yet most of us, hopefully, still love our families, stay with them, serve them and defend them.
The thirteen biographies provide an introduction and/or reminder of "strong Christian witnesses"; An eclectic gathering of authors, leaders and servants whose lives and works point us toward the Christ, including Martin Luther King, Chesterton, Henri Nouwen, Annie Dillard Gandhi, Dr. C Everett Koop and John Donne. It is worth reading and passing along to others, both for its own potency, as well as to inspire further exploration of the redeemed individuals he writes about. My favorite aspect of Yancey's writing is that he is both accessible to a wide audience, yet without becoming shallow or trite. He draws in the average American reader, and then as all good teachers do, expands your world and pushes you to think, feel and live more deeply.
Yancey did spend the introduction describing the destructive and abusive church of his youth, but only as background to a book that basically presents 13 short biographies of Christians who deeply influenced Yancey. Yancey writes, "If I had to define my own theme, it would be that of a person who absorbed some of the worst the church has to offer, yet still landed in the loving arms of God." Indeed, his childhood church was terrible, and once my guards lowered a bit, I knew that I too had assuredly seen much terrible behavior from "the church". I still maintain a healthy, strong skepticism toward the church as an institution, though I am passionate about it as the body of Christ and the home of believers. Who isn't aware of, often irritated by and even outraged at their own family's 'dysfunction' and sin, yet most of us, hopefully, still love our families, stay with them, serve them and defend them.
The thirteen biographies provide an introduction and/or reminder of "strong Christian witnesses"; An eclectic gathering of authors, leaders and servants whose lives and works point us toward the Christ, including Martin Luther King, Chesterton, Henri Nouwen, Annie Dillard Gandhi, Dr. C Everett Koop and John Donne. It is worth reading and passing along to others, both for its own potency, as well as to inspire further exploration of the redeemed individuals he writes about. My favorite aspect of Yancey's writing is that he is both accessible to a wide audience, yet without becoming shallow or trite. He draws in the average American reader, and then as all good teachers do, expands your world and pushes you to think, feel and live more deeply.
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