D. Miller
Posted on March 17th, 2006 by catalyst into the About Us categorySteve Duin, a columnist for the Oregonian, recently started up his own blog. Yesterday, he discussed a recent speeking engagement by Donald Miller at Lake Oswego High School.
Mr. Duin concludes his post with this quote from D. Miller:
It's possible to grow up in a Christian home, concentrate on Christian friends, attend a Christian college, marry a Christian spouse, spawn a squadron of Christian kids, then start the cycle all over again, all the while refusing to step outside the bubble and engage with anyone who believes anything different. "When that happens," Miller said, "a culture becomes goofy."
Yes. It's called Bible Temple culture.
Actually, the church is not nearly as bad since Mr. Damazio took over for Dick Iverson. I give Frank a hard time about of lot of things, but one thing he did right was to make the church less exclusive. When Dick Iverson was running things, the BT definitely had a certain commune feel.
Steve Duin also links to a recent Theology Professor who attacked Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz. Our boy Jordan Green, over at the Burnside Collective, scores the fight between Miller and the Professor.
And in honor of The Perfect Storm (Tournament + St. Patty's Day + Friday = Trouble for Justin's Liver), here's a great section:
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March 17th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
I know a lot of you are rather fond of Miller, but I can’t help but agree that the book is poorly written, and I know I’ll get crap about this AGAIN. His book doesn’t seem to have a point, and wanders aimlessly, although it is somewhat entertaining on a certain level as we get a glimpse into his self-discovery about his own beliefs about God and Christianity. It’s great for the fact that it helps those who might be in a similar place in life feel like they’re not alone, that they too can question extremist fundamentalism and are also on that journey of self-discovery about the truth found in the Bible. However, I think people hold this up in too high a regard as a self-help book for recovering Legalists, as Miller doesn’t really provide any real answers, just a lot more questions about what we should believe in.
March 17th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Questions are good. There would be no certainty of anything in the universe if the question wasn’t first posed. I liked the book. I learned from the book. Anytime I get someone elses’ perspective on their beliefs, I enjoy myself.
P.S. The book saves souls… right?
March 17th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
Justin,
I love that I’m referred to as “your boy”. Thanks for the shout out!
in defense of “Blue Like Jazz”, Don was recently recording the audiobook version and was seriously embarrassed at his past writing style.
That being said, it’s not awful. I think that the backlash for the book’s success is based purely on it’s popularity rather than on it’s merit. A friend of mine, who goes to Imago Dei with me here in Portland, was recently downplaying the book as well, and I gently reminded him of the impact that the book had on us when it came out.
“Blue Like Jazz” was, like Dave Eggers’ “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”, Zadie Smith’s “White Teeth” and Johnathon Safran Foer’s “Everything Is Illuminated”, a style of writing from a young writer that had a huge innovative influence on the market of the day. As that market tries very hard to be cool, the impact of “Blue Like Jazz” gets relegated to mediocrity. In reality, there are a ton of Christian writers attempting to emulate that style right now, which should be comment on the absurdity of Christian writers, but shouldn’t be a comment on Donald Miller’s ability to hit a nerve with Christians and non-Christians alike.
Granted, I’m biased…
Jordan
March 17th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
P.S. Sorry to use the phrase, “Shout out”. Seriously.
March 18th, 2006 at 1:05 am
In my opinion, more questions are precisely the antidote to extremist fundamentalism. It’s like a variation on that proverb about the fish:
Give a person an idea, and they’ll have one idea. Teach a person to think for themselves, and they’ll come to their own conclusions.
If God thought it was a good idea to give us all free will, that means God was willing to risk choice B, everyone coming to their own conclusions. The God I see in scripture and (even more evidently) in life wasn’t a God that’s about people getting the answers. I haven’t read the Don Miller book, but if FICM’s criticism of “no answers” is accurate, mark me down for the same comment as not a criticism, but an endorsement. Y’all know by now I’m not such a big fan of answers…..I don’t think it’s what we really need to look for, because I don’t think that’s what living is about. Anything that looks like a simple answer to something as big as “What should I believe?” is worthy of tremendous suspicion and ongoing investigation. Anything less is irresponsible.
March 18th, 2006 at 7:18 am
That’ll never catch on like the ‘fish’ one …
And isn’t an idea an idea only for the originator? Like, if you give your idea to someone else, what you really have is a copyright violation that paves the way for theft of intellectual property.
March 18th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
can’t resist commenting when ya start talking about Miller. I love his writing style and insights. He is so successful because he says so well what many people are thinking and feeling. And he’s funny.
Miller sure does attract the beer headlines. I think it was Relevant magazine that titled their interview with him, Miller Time…what other beers could be used for article titles? ok, here’s a few ideas:
Searching for Bud Knows What
Through Coors Littered Deserts
When Don Met Henry
thanks for the heads up about this article, guys.