chris and becka warner

Have you read The Shack?

What I find interesting about the book is the strong reactions that it elicits. People seem to either love it or hate it (and we’re talking about a lot of people here; the book has been on bestseller lists in multiple countries).

Christianity Today did a review that I thought was quite good; it nicely sums up some of the issues surrounding the book. (Side note: I usually stay as far away as I can from Christian fiction, but when I saw Baxter Kruger recommended The Shack, I thought I would give it a read.)

Both Becka and I finished it recently, and we loved it. Sure, I have my points of distaste (e.g. the book is quite cheesy at points), but overall I really enjoyed it- for its theology. Yes, it is a novel, not a book of systematic theology. Nonetheless, the book is packed with ideas about who God is, and therefore it is theological.

And, quite frankly, those who hate it hate it for its theology. Whatever other reasons may be given, and there are many, the bottom line is this: some people are not comfortable with the God described in the pages of this book.

The other side of that coin is that those who love it love it for its theology. The image of God presented in this book captivates them, intrigues them, heals them-you get the idea. Something in this book resonates very deeply with a whole lot of people.

Theologically speaking, I’ve always leaned more toward the ideas in The Shack then some of the other alternatives. So it wasn’t a stretch for me to appreciate it. But even if I found myself disagreeing, I think I would still be glad that this book was written. It has provoked conversation about who God is, and at least to me, that is a conversation well worth having.

I know a lot more could be said, but for now here are just two reasons why I liked this book:

-The Shack has taken Trinitarian theology mainstream, and by “mainstream”, I mean to a much broader audience than ever before. I believe (well, I’d like to believe anyway), along with this guy, that this is where theology is heading in the coming years. Actually, we’ve already been there, with guys like Kruger, the Torrance brothers, Barth, and Athanasius. But it’s possible to attend church your entire life and never hear the gospel explained from a Trinitarian/relational perspective. True, there is a lot more to it than what is communicated in this book, but it’s a great introduction to some of the themes. And I don’t care what theological persuasion you are coming from, surely we can all agree that the four spiritual laws just don’t cut it anymore. (Or maybe not…)

-I loved that this book went straight for the jugular. I don’t know of many pastors/authors who are willing/able to ask/answer questions like, “Where is God when my daughter is molested and murdered?” That alone would make The Shack a gutsy book, but the fact that so many people have been touched by it suggests that Young has done at least a semi-decent job of not only raising the hard questions, but answering them. We all have questions like this, because THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS LIKE! But honestly, how many people find satisfactory answers to these kinds of questions in their local church? How many sermons do you hear preached on the hardcore issues of life? My experience has been…not many. My own theological journey has largely been driven by questions that I have not been able to find answers to in the structures that be. That’s not an anti-church statement (which is one of the criticisms leveled at The Shack; that it’s anti-church); it’s merely my personal experience. But I think a lot of people probably share my frustration, and would welcome an honest dialogue, in church (or outside for that matter), on some of these issues. I appreciate that The Shack has opened the door for these kinds of conversations in a creative way.

If you’ve read the book, I’d love to know what you thought.

A few days ago we watched a sermon by Henri Nouwen with Sina and Arie. I’ve had an appreciation for Nouwen ever since a mentor gave me a copy of Return of the Prodigal Son, a reflection on Rembrandt’s famous painting. (It’s a great book if you ever come across it; still one of my favorites to this day.) I knew a bit about Nouwen, but what I didn’t know (or never took notice of before now): he’s Dutch!

I thought the sermon we watched was quite profound. It was incredibly simple, and yet I think it spoke directly to his audience (Americans, he was speaking at the Crystal Cathedral).

The gist of his message:

We should not take our identity from…

-what we do

-what we have

-what others say about us

…but rather our identity is found in Christ, as beloved children of the Father.

Secularization. Immigration. Multiculturalism. These are the kind of words that often come up in a discussion about Europe these days, and when religion is mentioned it’s usually quickly followed by Islam. Christianity and Europe are no longer compatible, at least according to some observers. Christianity, while it may be thriving in America, the Global South, and even China, is “dead” in Europe. Is this true?

In preparation for our move to the Netherlands, I’ve been trying to read as much as I can on Europe’s religious situation. The books I’ve read thus far range from the “doom and gloom” opinion of some observers who believe an Islamist Europe is inevitable, to a naive optimism that fails to account for how post-Christian Europe already is. Then there are those who only see this discussion in terms of Christianity versus Islam, or Christianity versus Secularism, and essentially frame the entire discussion as a battle between ideologies. This reductionist approach inevitably results in using current discussions on immigration and radicalism as “pawns” to argue for one ideology or the other, rather than developing a balanced understanding of the issues as a whole and accounting for the underlying social factors like economics and culture.

All that’s to say that there are a lot of factors that need to be considered in any discussion on Europe’s religious situation. Granted, I’m only just beginning to study this, but so far one book stands head and shoulders above the others: God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis by Philip Jenkins. It’s a great book, filled with the same flood of details and nuanced perspective that made The Next Christendom a respected authority on global Christianity. Here are some stats and quotes from God’s Continent.

Chapters one and two take a general look at Europe’s current religious state, and briefly mention the rise of Islam and the decline of Christianity, as well as some of the factors behind the statistics, such as plummeting birth rates, secularization, and immigration. These chapters cover a lot of ground and lay the foundation for a closer look in coming chapters. Some stats about religion in Europe:

-A British poll found that 40% of respondents could not say what event was commemorated by Easter. (p. 37)

-21 % of Europeans reported that religion “plays a very important role in their lives” compared to 60% in the United States. (p. 27)

-less than 20% of Europeans attend a religious service weekly. This statistic is inclusive of all faiths. (p.28)

-Between 1970 and 2005, the Church of England closed 1700 churches; over 10 % of the total. Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey sees the church “as an elderly lady, who mutters away to herself in a corner, ignored most of the time.” (p.28)

-4.6% of the European Union’s total population is Muslim. Of the older member EU states, France (8.3%) and the Netherlands (6.3%) have the highest percentage of Muslims. (p. 16)

-There are more Buddhists in Europe than Jews. (p.37)

Chapter three, appropriately titled Faith among the Ruins, makes the case that while Christianity may be in decline, it’s far from dead. The popularity of programs like Alpha, the subtle influence of religion in all spheres of society, and the growth of evangelical, charismatic, and Pentecostal expressions of Christianity are some of the examples cited.

To use a cliche, many Europeans evidently are searching for something, and they are doing so in larger numbers than their American counterparts. (63)

Chapter four points out that immigration in Europe is not only bringing a flood of Muslim immigrants, but a flood of Christian immigrants as well, most of them from the Global South. These Christian immigrants are shaping the Christianity of Europe’s future. Many of the largest churches in Europe were started by Africans, and there are thriving Christian communities that are a result of both intentional missionary endeavors and migration from Latin America, East Asia, and Africa. The “establishment” in Europe, however, doesn’t always know what to make of these communities.

“the trouble is we are seen as a Black thing, and not a God thing. (89, Mathew Ashimolowo, founder of the largest church in Britain, summarizing one image of Christianity in Britain.)

Chapter five is a more detailed look at Islam in Europe, including some important historical considerations and the current status of Islam in Europe today. The author argues that the picture of Islam in Europe is usually painted to be bleaker than it really is:

In the long term, the underlying pressures making for accommodation and tolerance will prove hard to resist. (120)

Chapter six about the diversity of Islam within Europe; a closer look at the different expressions of Islam, their roots, and the tension between liberal, conservative, and radical Muslims over the future of Islam in Europe.

While radicals and militants flourish, their opponents are numerous and significant, and so are the historical forces working against extremism. (147)

Chapter seven takes a look at the younger generation of ethnic immigrants and some of challenges facing them as they integrate into European society. This chapter points out that violence among ethnic communities in Europe is not necessarily a religious issue, but rather the tension lies in issues of race, class, unemployment, and the marginalization of various ethnic communities.

Historically, rioting by the underclass has been so common a fact of European urban life that instead of trying to decode uprisings like that of 2005, we should rather seek to understand the exceptional tranquility of the late twentieth century. (178)

Chapter eight is about the inevitable clash of culture that takes place in large migrations, in the context of Islam in Europe. Head scarves, homosexuality, honor killings, and some other hot topics are discussed in light of the challenge of integrating very different cultures.

Rather than despairing or seeing culture clashes as irreconcilable, we might rather be impressed at just how much convergence of values and beliefs has occurred. (204)

Chapter nine is an in-depth look at Islamist extremism.

It is impossible to describe Islamist extremism in contemporary Europe except in terms of imams and mosques. (220)

In reality, Middle Eastern-related terrorism in Europe has far more complex origins, which cannot be readily associated with any ideology, or necessarily, with Islam itself. (207)

Chapters ten and eleven are about the fundamental changes that need to take place in the European establishment’s understanding of religious issues, and the importance of Christians and Muslims working together to reshape Europe’s religious identity.

What is striking about the expansion debates is that European political leaders should show themselves so tone-deaf to popular concerns, so unwilling to recognize the validity or even existence of religious issues. (258)

Chapter twelve briefly discusses Europe’s religious future and the role of Christianity in years to come.

If you are the type of person who buys stocks and bonds, I’d buy Christianity. The price now is very low; it has to go up. (283, quote by Odon Vallet)

Death and resurrection are not just fundamental doctrines of Christianity; they represent a historical model of the religion’s structure and development. (289)

This morning I read this story, about how the tiger population in India has declined significantly.

When I was 19, I went backpacking through northern India. Seeing one of these elusive animals was high on my list of things I was hoping to experience.

But before I left, I read one of the best books ever written about tigers, Man-eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett. Corbett was the son of missionaries who were stationed in north India back in the colonial years. He grew up tramping and hunting through the tiger-infested jungles, killing his first leopard when he was just nine years old. He developed a reputation for killing tigers that for a variety of reasons stopped hunting their natural prey and became man-eaters. This wasn’t trophy hunting-some of these tigers killed hundreds of people, terrorized villages, wiped out entire families, and often killed every hunter that tried to stop them until Corbett arrived. In the book Corbett tells the stories behind some of these hunts, and it makes for a fascinating look into the lives of rural villagers, deranged tigers, and the man who stalked these man-eaters through the jungles of India.

Those were the good old days; when evil had a face and you could hunt it down and shoot it.

I didn’t have enough money to spend a lot of time in the wildlife parks, but it was cheap enough that I could go for a day here and there. I actually visited Corbett National Park, where many of these famous hunts took place, but I was a little disappointed to find that the head ranger had never read the book. He also made it pretty clear that my chances of seeing a tiger were next to nothing. I had come at the wrong time of the year to see an animal that was notoriously elusive.

As it turned out, I didn’t see any tigers there but I had some luck at a different park. I was part of a group of thirty or so others who were hoping to see the same thing I was. We piled onto a large truck with rows of seats in the back. It was a mad scramble, as everyone tried to get the best seats. I was a little slow and didn’t really realize what was going on, but our guide was kind enough to let me sit with him in the extra seat up front, thereby saving me from a seat with a limited view. So I ended up with the best seat on the truck; I had a panoramic view of the park as we drove along. My odds of seeing a tiger were never better. The hours passed as we drove through the dense jungle; we saw all kinds of birds and even an elephant, but no tigers. After a while, we stopped in a clearing and everyone got off the truck to stretch and use the restroom. I wandered off, and when I got back, a man had taken my seat! I walked over and stared at him, but he wouldn’t even look at me. By this time the back of the truck had filled up. There was one seat left. The worst possible seat. I sat down. I was facing backwards (everyone else was facing forward), and I could only see directly ahead; both sides had limited visibility.

So we chugged along, and I thought of the great view that my seat-thief friend was having. All I could see was the road directly behind me. I hung my head and looked at the muddy pavement. Not five minutes had passed, when we went around a bend in the road. Just as the road was straightening out, I lifted up my head. A tiger emerged from thick brush on the right side, just twenty or so feet from the truck. He slowly walked out into the road. He stopped in the middle, lifted up his head, and looked me right in the eyes. I was so stunned and disturbed that I couldn’t even move my camera up or yell for the truck to stop. Our eyes met for a few seconds, then he slowly crossed the road and disappeared into the brush.

By the time the truck stopped, he had wandered deep into the vegetation. I was the only one who got a decent look at him, and no doubt he got a decent look at me. To this day, I can remember the look in his eyes perfectly.

So I finally read The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne. I’ve been hearing and reading about this book for a while, and I have to say it’s worth the hype. It’s a great book filled with beautiful (and yet very challenging) stories of people trying to follow Jesus. I think Claiborne does a really amazing job of articulating what he understands Christianity is all about; the book has that magic combination of being easy to read and full of stories that make the content tangible. The fact that he is more or less telling his own story gives the book the authenticity it needs. And his story is amazing. But it’s not really his story, it’s the story of what God is doing in this world, and what it looks like, and how we can be a part of it. It’s a book that puts skin on what it means to follow Jesus in the 21^st century.

There is a lot of material in this book that will convict, challenge, and offend. There’s no doubt about it; Claiborne is casting a radical vision of following Jesus that directly challenges the status quo of Christianity in America. But he does it with great taste and humor, and very little in the book has a negative tone. He pokes a bit at places where the church has gone and Jesus hasn’t, and where Jesus has gone and the church hasn’t, but mostly he just describes the Kingdom as he sees it and lives it. It’s a beautiful picture, and in my opinion, one that we desperately need to be exposed to. I’m sure some would disagree-if not with Shane Claiborne’s message, then with his methods. But the truth is I don’t think you could read this book and put it down without asking yourself, “What does it really mean to follow Jesus?” And that, at least by my standards, makes it a book well worth reading.

You can read a sample chapter here.

Just as a side note, I can’t believe the similarities between the New Monasticism movement and YWAM! Have any of you YWAMers noticed this? I mean there are some very obvious differences, and I’m not hugely educated on NM, and I would hardly call YWAM monastic, but still, I can’t help but notice there is a lot in common. (YWAM is a huge, diverse organization that encompasses just about every expression of Christianity. But it’s always functioned more like a movement: decentralized communities; each community is unique but there are common values and even a common culture that make up the “DNA” of the organization. It’s with these values and culture that I’m observing similarities with New Monasticism.)