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| Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality | 
 enlarge | Author: Donald Miller
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy New: $2.78
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (459 reviews)
Sales Rank: 976
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0785263705
Dewey Decimal Number: 277.3082092
UPC: 020049024874
EAN: 9780785263708
ASIN: 0785263705
Publication Date: July 17, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Paradigm Shift May 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been thinking a lot about Paradigm Shifts lately. Paradigm Shifts are basically changing the way you do something to be able to continue to progress or grow.... For me Miller has helped me make a very valuable Paradigm Shift in my life, mind and heart. I'm still processing... I see where we have become as Christians very hardened of heart...especially myself....In Miller's book I am able to take the stream of conscious journey with him to new Paradigm. One that will allow me to be more effective as a Christian in today's modern world. If we don't make a shift we will be be outdated and we will die....fossils. The world is changing and we must make the necessary changes that will allow us to make Christ known to a world that really only knows a bad religious Christianity, one that isn't getting to the hearts of the people today....one that doesn't represent Jesus. We are such great theologians but we make bad lovers of others. Thank you Mr. Miller for being real....honest...thanks for your help....
May not be for everyone but very good for those who have expierenced a crisis in their faith or who have questions May 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am a person who grew up in the church and until recently, have never seriously doubted my faith in Christ. And if I had read Blue Like Jazz a year ago I would have probably given it a negative review similar to some of the ones on here. I would have agreed with those who have said that the author is just "trying to be hip/cool" or "watering-down Christianity and trying to make it 'acceptable' in today's post-modern world". However, that would have been before I experienced a major crisis in my life and in my faith.
My 22 year old sister-in-law recently passed away unexpectedly and under very tragic circumstances, to say the least. Her death marked a major turning point in my life that anyone who has experienced a similar tragedy I am sure will understand. There were so many questions; so many doubts. And due to the tragic nature of her death, to see how some (not all) Christians responded (negatively and callously) really caused me to doubt everything I had previously believed about Christianity.
I was beginning to think that I was an agnostic because I was having serious doubts about Christianity and felt that there were so many unanswered questions. And that is one of the best themes about this book: that it is okay to not have all the answers. That you can still have doubts. Because if we had all the answers there would be no wonder left to God.
And to those Christians who do believe that they have all the answers, and who dismiss those with doubts as simply not having enough "faith", the book has the following to say: we are kidding ourselves if we think that any one church or denomination has all the correct answers. I mean, Christianity has been around for 2000 years in many different cultures, contexts, and perspectives. Are we really that egotistical to think that all of our beliefs about the details of Christianity are correct? For example, 150 years ago many Christians thought they were biblically correct in condoning slavery. What beliefs do we have today in 2008 that will be considered ridiculous in 150 years?
I still am struggling with my faith but this book has definitely helped. Blue Like Jazz is one of those books that you will want to read again and again throughout your life. Each time that you read it a different part will speak to you.
Mere Christianity (updated) May 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have heard many books compared to Lewis' Mere Christianity. The problem with most of these wanna-be classics is usually that they follow Lewis' formula much too closely. One recent example is Wright's Simply Christian. Although if you know me at all, you know I really like Wright's work, Wright is good at all the wrong stuff for Simply Christian to work. He is a master of presenting fresh, often radically new ideas in ways that don't freak out large portions of the Christian establishment. Why should he be any good at applying old ideas to a new context? That is the exact opposite of what he is good at.
Blue Like Jazz is the closest thing to a Mere Christianity for my generation that I have ever seen. In Lewis' day, everyone wanted to be a slightly rationalistic, hard nosed, philosophical realist. The beauty of Mere Christianity is that it showed us that if we do a good job at being a slightly rationalistic, hard nosed, philosophical realist, we will find ourselves embracing Christianity.
But what about my generation? What do we want? I don't think that there are many of us who want to start from scratch. We like old stuff--like our mysteriously distant but generous grandparents who, on rare but special occasions read stories to us. We like them, but we are definitely not like them. After all, they think they are the greatest generation, and we kind of agree. Our parents, who rebelled against our slightly rationalistic, hard nosed, philosophical realist grandparents, made us into nostalgic, hopelessly romantic lovers of stories who hate being alone. Our intellectual virtues are individual self-expression and the community-level social and environmental justice that allow well-formed self-expression to be meaningful.
Miller writes from our world. Although he is a bit West of the Mississippi to take our commitment to the institution of the local church as seriously as he ought, he takes the fundamentals of the historic Christian faith with him into the strange intellectual world my generation wants to hang out in. He shows us that if we really do a good job of being the well informed, soft-hearted, communitarian idealists we want to be, we will find ourselves embracing Christianity. Perhaps he is still following Lewis' old formula, but at least he is doing so with fresh ingredients selected for his very different consumers.
Great perspective on Christianity but more importantly a personal relationship with Jesus May 3, 2008
I just finished this book in 2 days and found it a bit refreshing to read a person who says what we at one time or another may think. I highly recommend this book, as anyone can relate to a persons struggle with religion.
A Valuable Piece of Literature May 2, 2008
This is a great read and an effective outreach tool for unbelievers/doubters. NON-Christian thoughts on Christianity. How cool is that?
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