A DEEPER WAY OF SEEING [W, 3-21-18]

REFLECTIONS ON FAITH AND LIFE FOR THE YEARS OF WINTER…

INTRODUCTION TO CHRITIAN FAITH: A DEEPER WAY OF SEEING, by Neal F. Fisher

Neal is a friend, and I went at this book with some trepidation. I have high standards—for others—in both theology and writing. What if it were not very good? How could I tell the truth without hurting a friend’s feelings?

What if he’s out of date? There’s a good chance, because he’s as old as I am, give or take a decade. What if he just rehashes dispensationalism, or The Bloody Tenet, or lapsarianism? Even worse, supralapsarianism? After all, he’s a professional theologian, so he knows about that stuff.

My fears were unfounded. This book is, in a word, excellent.

There are other words that apply. I’m tempted to say “simple,” because it is so clear, but simple so often means simplistic, and that it is not. It is deceptive, because it reads so easily. It was not, however, a fast read, because every paragraph made me stop and think.

I was surprised by all that thinking. I intended to read it just because Neal is a friend and I wanted to review it here. That would not take long, right? Wrong!

When I retired, I pretty much gave up reading theology. Having done that for forty years, I figured I had theology as much under control as I ever would, even patripassionism. So over the last 20 years, I have concentrated on the subjects I neglected during my career, especially science. {Sean Carroll, Sheldon Cooper [Bazinga!]. Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Steven Johnson, Michio Kaku, Oliver Sacks, Daniel Schachter, Neal Degrasse Tyson, et al.}

But Neal’s book worked perfectly with that. It is totally current. He examines all the ways contemporary science disputes, dialogues with, and supports faith in God. After all, science and religion are looking at and experiencing the same world.

“The premise of this book is that faith can be understood, in part, as seeing the world more deeply.” [p. 262] He fulfills the promise of the premise.

Occasionally I wanted Neal to apply his deeper way to some special interest of mine, such as current politics, but he knows that the surest way to be irrelevant tomorrow is to be too relevant today. [1] Because of that, this book will be relevant for a long time.

He writes with all the fullness and breadth of a professional theologian but through the lens of a fellow-seeker.

A perfect book for group study. The ten chapters and epilogue end with perceptive questions for discussion. I’m sorry I did not get it read in time to suggest it as a Lenten study book, but the need for “a deeper way of seeing” is always with us.

JRMcF

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

1] I know this is true because we’ve had the “particular vs general” discussion before. When Neal was still President of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and I was still a fulltime pastor, I advocated more specific education for ministry for Garrett-Evangelical students. He resisted and said the seminary needed to provide students with general education which they could then apply to specifics. We were both right.