Latest Read: Good News for Anxious Christians

The book: In Good News for Anxious Christians: 10 Practical Things You Don't Have to Do, Phillip Cary addresses a number of practices commonly advocated in Christian circles. They include things like hearing God's voice in your heart, "letting God take control" of your life, "finding God's will for your life," getting transformed, and experiencing joy. For all of us who are quite familiar with these practices, and think they're right up there at the top of the things we're supposed to do to have a healthy personal relationship with God, Cary's thesis in this book comes as a surprise, if not a shock: as they're commonly understood, these practices are without a Biblical basis, and tend to make Christians anxious rather than help them grow into a mature faith. So we don't need to do any of them. 

You might be thinking, "you're kidding me, right?"

Isn't this the essence of practical Christianity that he's attacking? A lot of my college students have this reaction, and these are issues that, though they come up in every Christian's life, tend to be concentrated for college students. There are so many important decisions to make about majors, careers, dating, jobs, where to live, and so on, and these very sincere young Christians desperately want to get things right.

Cary isn't telling us to ignore God's voice or will in our lives, or to think we have all the answers and simply do whatever we please in making those life-changing decisions. What he is arguing, however, is that a number of the practices we're encouraged to rely on actually have things all backwards. At best, they're making us anxious over the wrong things; at worst, they're keeping us from growing into the mature, wise Christians God wants us to be.

Why I liked it:

1. Great historical perspective and generational wisdom. Cary explains that his students are used to talking about giving God control, hearing God's voice in their hearts, and so on, practices which took him by surprise. Now, he completed his Bachelor's in 1980, while I completed mine in 2003, so we're talking about a generation's difference between the two of us, and perhaps half a generation between me and the current crop of soon-to-be-graduating seniors. In the whole history of Christian theology (and he's something of an expert on it), these kinds of techniques have only become widespread in the last thirty years or so. But for some of us that's our whole lifetimes. What Cary's giving us is a look into a world of Christian faith and practice that existed before we did.

2. A challenge to think critically and return to scripture. Some of us aren't going to swallow Cary's message easily, and he encourages our skepticism. Think critically, he tells us. Search scripture and see what you can find. Yes, it's uncomfortable to have the rug pulled out from under you this way, but you might be better off for it.

3. Rich, deep explanations that make the important scriptural connections, and make use of a considerable knowledge of the protestant reformation, as well as helpful philosophical and psychological principles.

4. A conversational style aimed at the educated layperson. This isn't cookies-on-the-bottom-of-the-shelf writing; it will take some work for some readers. But it feels like you're sitting down with a mentor over coffee, hearing real-life stories, and you begin to see how this could really change your outlook too.

Unanswered Questions:

Mostly, I'm challenged with the big question, is he right? Are the various practices he addresses in fact not based in scripture, but rather things that work in practice because they keep Christians anxious, coming back to church for more reassurance and transforming experiences? Also- are Christian leaders aware that what they're promoting works because we live in a consumerist society, but that the numbers of Christians drawn into churches may be stunted in their growth?

More to come in the next few posts as I reflect on specific "techniques" and practices.

More like this:

Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc.