Book: Blue Like Jazz. (Audio Book)Author: Donald Miller
Info: Copyright 2007.
Where Acquired: Library check out.
Category: Everyone else is reading it. Its popularity piqued my interest, but not enough to read it until eleven years after its publication.
What it's about: Miller recounts his early life, his coming to Christ, and those he’s met who either helped or hindered his life’s progress.
Favorite Quotes:
I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil, but rather, have us wasting time.
I don’t think any church has been relative to culture—to the human struggle—unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His Gospel.
…to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously, and a person who thinks himself unloveable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can’t accept who God is: a being that is love.
What I liked:
I appreciated the author’s transparency about his faults and struggles.
What I didn’t like:
Yes, I know part of the book's title is “Non Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality,” however, I didn’t see much in Miller’s conclusions that were based on Scripture. It’s very easy to give non religious thoughts when it seems that you have no spiritual foundation from which to glean knowledge.
I found it rather narrow-minded for the author to put all republicans, conservatives, fundamentalists, television preachers, and pretty much anyone else he’s decided to hate in one box. While saying that we shouldn’t assume everyone not like us is alike, he’s assumed everyone not like him is alike.
I spent a lot of my time in this book thinking but you just said… He criticizes others for things he’s gleefully doing. For example, he encourages people to follow his suit and pick a church based on personal preference so they can “go to church without getting angry,” yet talks smack about people “not having to deal with real people who might hurt us or offend us.” Well, which is it, Hoss?
The gentleman who narrated Miller’s book read in a very condescending tone…perfect to match the author’s pithy comments.
Takeaway:
I honestly don’t know what to make of this book. For me, this book is like jazz music to my ears; I don’t hate it, but I don’t like it either. Blue Like Jazz is a strange dichotomy of open confession mixed with arrogance and sniveling. While I found some of Miller’s observations refreshingly honest, a majority of the book annoyed me. I’m not sorry I read it, but I am sorry that like jazz, I don’t really get the point. Miller’s bitter attitude comes across as very angry and hateful. It seems as though the author isn’t interested in the family of Christ growing together in love, but rather, to keep it fractured, ineffective, and scripturally illiterate. If that’s his idea of the “progressive” church, I’ll stick with what I have, thank you.
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