Outstanding books from 2007
Last year I noted four books that I really appreciated reading during 2006. Well, here’s a similar attempt from the vintage year of 2007…
The Jesus Way, Eugene Peterson (Eerdmans, 2007)
This is the third book in Eugene Peterson’s spiritual theology series (the first two being Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places and Eat This Book). Everyone who knows me well understands my attraction to Peterson’s writing. It began when I took a course with him at Regent in the summer of 1990 on the Psalms and Spirituality. I can’t say I understood all (much?) of what he was on about but it certainly intrigued and drew me in! And he struck me as being someone of deep character, not easily taken in by the seductions of the wider culture (either general or Christian), nor by the plaudits of those who would seek to proclaim him as some kind of spiritual master. Humility is a quality he aspires to and with it comes a keen distrust of his own propensity to self-delusion. Since that first course I have devoured much of his writings and the occasional lecture series to boot.
Peterson is a poet, a pastor, and a master wordsmith. He is also very much a prophet – speaking things to the evangelical church that run counter to most of what is voiced and believed in. He seems somewhat out-of-synch with our cultural context – ill at ease with the glib world of marketing, seeker-friendly services and hi-tech aids. One thing you won’t get Peterson writing is a “Ten keys to spiritual fulfillment”. He doesn’t view followership of Jesus as something that can ever be mastered nor is he prepared to reduce faith to easy, manageable steps.
Peterson’s writings, like his lectures, are well measured and economical with words. Reading him is not an exercise for a relaxing summer afternoon. You have to be prepared to tussle and interact with what he is voicing. “Chewing on it” is the metaphor that most comes to mind. You don’t read a Peterson book in an afternoon. You need to let it into you one bit at a time.
And he can be frustrating. Often I want to implore him to be more specific, to clarify things. He’s a master of metaphor and of story, so such precision is elusive (and I would suspect, from his perspective, unhelpful).
At the ripe old (??) age of 75 Eugene Peterson is still going strong, and this series is I think, regarded by him, as his piece de resistance – his chance to write what he’s always wanted to write. The first in the series was a book I failed to get into, but the second, Eat This Book was an awesome and well rounded reflection on the role of scripture. (A brief review of this can be found in my last year’s effort.)
And so to The Jesus Way. His subtitle says much about both the substance and style of the book – “a conversation on the ways that Jesus is the way”.
He begins by writing:
The ways Jesus goes about loving and saving the world are personal: nothing disembodied, nothing abstract, nothing impersonal. Incarnate, flesh and blood, relational, particular, local.
The ways employed in our North American culture are conspicuously impersonal: programs, organizations, techniques, general guidelines, information detached from place. In matters of ways and means, the vocabulary of numbers is preferred over names, ideologies crowd out ideas, the gray fog of abstraction absorbs the sharp particularities of the recognizable face and the familiar street.
As is his style, Peterson uses the stories of scripture as the context for conversing on the Jesus way. Many of these are located in the Old Testament narratives – as he plots a course from Abraham and Issac, through to Moses, David, Elijah and Isaiah.
I found the last section of the book particularly helpful. Here he explores “Other Ways” – in particular “The Way of Herod”, “The Way of Caiaphas” and “The Way of Josephus”.
The way he uses the stories of these contemporaries to contrast with the Jesus way is profoundly insightful and challenging.
Finally, I have a small confession to make – there are chunks of the book I’ve not yet read! But what I have read gives me great confidence in recommending it. And I know, from past experience with Peterson volumes that I’ll keep returning to this for more tasty morsels to chew on.
The Myth of a Christian Nation, Greg Boyd (Zondervan, 2005)
Greg Boyd is an American pastor who is deeply troubled about the way the evangelical church (of which he is a part) sees political power as a primary way to bring transformation. I should add that Boyd is not just a pastor. He has authored several books (fifteen in fact) – a couple of which I’ve read and benefited from greatly. Before pastoring he was a professor of theology for a decade and a half. Some of his writings I find quite difficult to read and philosophical, but this book is an excellent and relatively manageable read.
Subtitled “How the quest for political power is destroying the Church” this is a really well argued and passionate articulation of the difference between the kingdoms – that is, the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God. Boyd describes one as a “power over” kingdom – ruled and enforced by the ‘sword’, while the other is a “power under” one, built on self-sacrificial love. He argues that whenever the Church has allowed itself to be co-opted by politics – or by a specific political party, we are seen as self-righteous judgers rather than God’s loving servants. (Boyd’s chapter 7 entitled “When chief sinners become moral guardians” spells out some of the dire consequences.)
In many ways his concerns align closely with other prophetic writings on a similar theme – particularly that of Jim Wallis (God’s Politics – HarperCollins, 2005 and The Great Awakening – HarperCollins, 2008) and more recently Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw (Jesus for President – Zondervan, 2008).
All these books share a deep concern for the way evangelical Christianity has been hijacked by the political and religious right. They all write regarding their own North American context, but many of the issues, though not as acute, are still deeply relevant to our own situation in Kiwi-land.
Boyd has paid a significant cost for stating it as he sees it. The book comes out of a series of sermons he preached in his church leading up to the presidential election of 2004. Boyd was so incensed with the Republican attempt to coerce churches to vote en masse for Bush – on the flimsly basis that this really was the only way true ‘Christians’ could vote, that he sought to clarify for his church members the issues involved. Evidently a significant number of Boyd’s congregation were equally incensed with what he was voicing that they left, en masse – around a thousand people! Even so, four thousand remained – so his message wasn’t entirely rejected.
As you read Boyd’s book it becomes clear what might have caused such an uproar. Essentially he accuses much of American evangelicalism of nationalistic and political idolatry. To him the whole “taking America back for God” approach to politics is misguided – not just because it’s built on a myth that America was at one time a Christian nation, but more specifically because it tends heavily toward fusing the kingdom of God with the ‘kingdom’ of America. What results is the peculiar form of “civil religion” that sees pledging allegiance to the American flag and to Jesus as pretty much one and the same. It’s the questioning of this that leads Boyd’s detractors to label him unpatriotic – one of the worst possible sins in such an environment. Ironically, I think this accusation just proves his point!
Greg Boyd finishes his book examining the issue of violence. He does so by responding to some of the tough questions that are landed on Christian pacifists, such as “What about self-defence?”, “What about Christians in the military?”, “Haven’t some wars resulted in good things?”, “Don’t your ideas lead to passivity?” and “Don’t we best serve the oppressed by overthrowing their oppressors?” His responses are deeply thought-provoking and would liven up most home group discussions!
In spite of his overriding pessimism regarding the use of political means to thesis, I don’t perceive Boyd arguing against Christians being involved in politics per se. He affirms Yoder’s perspective that Jesus’ message is deeply politically relevant. However, there’s daylight between this and using political processes and power as the main vehicle to bring about God’s purposes. Still, I found myself wishing I was able to sit in on a conversation between Boyd, William Wilberforce and Abraham Kuyper. It would be fascinating.
Anyway, this book is a really good read and will stimulate much thoughtful engagement around the issues of the nature of the kingdom, transformation, politics, nationalism, power and violence.
Organic Community: creating a place where people naturally connect, Joseph Myers (Baker Books, 2007)
Joseph Myers is part of the Emergent ‘community’ and helps lead two enterprises (FrontPorch and settingPace) assisting businesses, organizations and churches in communication and the development of healthy community.
His previous book The Search to Belong: rethinking intimacy, community and small groups (Zondervan, 2003) challenges the prevailing wisdom that small groups are for everyone (or at least that a “one size fits all” approach is) and that to build belonging and intimacy in church life everyone needs to be part of a small group. I have to acknowledge that I was not entirely convinced by all of Myers’ argument in his first book, though there was enough that challenged my thinking to cause me to read his second book.
It was worthwhile persisting. Myers is an innovative thinker and consistently challenges conventional logic and paradigms. Many of his observations and perspectives in Organic Community instantly resonate with me – some because of my own experiences and others because of my intuitive senses.
Essentially, the book contrasts a way of building community through a “master plan” approach with one seeking “organic order”. According to Myers, the master plan paradigm is prescriptive (“there is a ‘best’ way for people to belong, and this plan will tell them what it is”) while the organic way is more descriptive, allowing people to belong in a variety of ways.
Leading such a community is more attuned to that of an “environmentalist” (helping grow and develop a healthy environment which will in turn grow healthy lives and community) rather than a “programmer” (attempting to programme and structure healthy community).
One chapter I found particularly helpful was his one on power. In it, Myers articulates a way of viewing organic team leadership not as an absence of power or authority (as often caricatured by those who can’t get their head around an organization that doesn’t have one ultimate person ‘in charge’) but rather as a different paradigm of power. Myers calls such a way of operating as one of “revolving power” rather than “positional power”.
Positions have no place of permanent importance with organic order. Rather, organic order sees individuals as people who take on roles. These roles move the project forward and carry a revolving understanding of power. Organic order asks, “Who is now the steward of power?” and “Who is now leading?” In a framework of revolving power, there is no dominant member. Like the dynamic game, Rock, Paper, Scissors, no one element stands as a permanent leader.
Other chapters are titled “Participation: responsible anarchy”, “Measurement: recalculating matters by moving from bottom line to story” and “Co-ordination: harmonized energy – moving from cooperation to collaboration”. Of course the chapter titles only give a little away and may even cause you to misinterpret what he’s on about. However, I hope there’s enough intrigue there for you to want to read the book yourself. I highly recommend it.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass, 2002)
I had this book recommended by a friend who in turn had been introduced to it by a friend. Thank God for friendships! Otherwise I might have missed a real gem like this.
Actually, when I discovered it had been published by Jossey-Bass, I knew it would be good – and expensive (they only seem to put stuff out in hardback). J-B are fairly selective in what they choose to publish and their books on leadership are consistently good. Lencioni’s book is another great example.
The author identifies five key dysfunctions that can threaten to undermine the effectiveness of any team. While the elements are not exactly rocket science, Lencioni superbly explores how each one affects the others and suggests ways to counteract the dysfunctions.
In summary, the five dysfunctions are:
- An absence of trust among team members, stemming from their unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group – regarding their mistakes and weaknesses.
- A fear of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.
- Lack of commitment. Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open debate, team members rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions, though they may feign agreement during meetings.
- Avoidance of accountability. Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviours that seem counterproductive to the good of the team.
- Inattention to results. This occurs when team members put their individual needs (such as ego, career development, recognition, or the needs of their own department) above the collective goals of the team.
Lencioni makes the point strongly that these dysfunctions are deeply interconnected with each other – like a chain – so that even with just one broken link, teamwork will deteriorate if a dysfunction is allowed to flourish.
One of the great things about this book is the size and the ease of reading. Not only is it written almost entirely in a narrative (‘leadership fable’) but the concepts are grab-able and it only takes an afternoon to read the whole story. The final section (the last 40 pages or so) unpacks the model and offers a diagnostic questionnaire for teams seeking to discover how functional/dysfunctional they are. Very useful as a tool for discussing where you need to give attention.
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