The reality of common grace means there is truth to be found and lessons to be learned in all sorts of places. I recently read Winning, a business book with candid advice from Jack Welch (longtime chief of General Electric).

Here are a few highlights worth sharing:

1. Focus on concrete behaviors, not vague values.

“A good mission statement and a good set of values are so real they smack you in the face with their concreteness. The mission announces exactly where you are going, and the values describe the behaviors that will get you there. Speaking of that, I prefer abandoning the term values altogether in favor of just behaviors.”

2. The more candid you are, the faster you will be.

“Candor generates speed. When ideas are in everyone’s face, they can be debated rapidly, expanded and enhanced, and acted upon. That approach—surface, debate, improve, decide—isn’t just an advantage, it’s a necessity in a global marketplace.”

3. Leadership success isn’t about you.

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

4. Don’t try to make everyone happy.

“You are not a leader to win a popularity contest—you are a leader to lead. Don’t run for office. You’re already elected.”

5. Clearly articulate the purpose of change.

“Attach every change initiative to a clear purpose or goal. Change for change’s sake is stupid and enervating.”

6. Don’t just ponder. Get moving!.

“If you want to win, when it comes to strategy, ponder less and do more.”

7. Give up the idea of a career plan and get ready for an adventure.

It is virtually impossible to know where any given job will take you. In fact, if you meet someone who has faithfully followed a career plan, try not to get seated beside him at a dinner party. What a bore!”

8. Try to find a job that challenges you.

“Any new job should feel like a stretch, not a layup.”

I’ve always got a book about Jesus in my reading stack. Here are three I’ve read recently:

Jesus: A Theography
Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola

Unlike biographies of Jesus that begin in Bethlehem, this book starts with the Trinity and explores the person and work of Christ through the Old Testament. Tracing the presence and power of the Son of God throughout the entire Bible, Sweet and Viola demonstrate the internal unity of the Bible and its focus on Christ as the cornerstone.

The Christ-exalting nature of the narrative gives this book the feel of a modern-day Patristic account of Christ’s life and significance. Imagine Chrysostom or Augustine writing a biography of Jesus. The appendix is a lengthy collection of quotes from post-apostolic witnesses to Christ as the center of the Scriptures. (I have a few Southern Baptist gems I wish had made the quote collection!)

I like how this book is relentlessly focused on the written Word’s testimony to the Living Word.

The Incomparable Christ 
John Stott

I love John Stott. He’s always clear, simple, winsome, and profound. A pastor friend recommended The Incomparable Christ, and I’m glad he did. This book didn’t disappoint.

• Stott begins with an overview of the Bible’s witness to Christ. He shows the portrait of Christ we find in every book of the New Testament.
• Then, he moves throughout church history, looking at the way different aspects of Christ’s life and work have inspired Christians through the years.
• Next, he traces the influence of Jesus on the world (including unbelievers).
• The book ends with a study of Revelation and how Christ is unveiled in John’s visions.

This is a book that will give you an overview of biblical theology and church history all at once. Brilliant!

Who Is This Man?
The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus 
John Ortberg

Who is This Man? is a book of “subtle apologetics.” By that I mean it is unassuming and winsome in how it makes one central point: Jesus has undeniably changed the world for the better. In contrast to those who see Christianity as regressive and backwards, Ortberg shows just how much better off we are because of Jesus’ life and teaching.

Reading the book reminded me just how “upside-down” so much of Jesus’ ministry was. Here are a few quotes:

Jesus said it wasn’t the child’s job to become like Herod. It was Herod’s job to become like the child. Greatness comes to people who die to appearing great. No one else in the ancient world—not even the rabbis—used children as an example of conversion.

A saint doesn’t try to grab worth through an endless race of achievement, but receives worth by grace.

For Jesus, the categories break down like this: It’s not us and them. It’s perfect and not perfect. It’s holy and sinful. Which puts all of humanity on the same side: the wrong side. But Jesus was determined to make that his side.

The influence of Jesus helped create a state where people could choose not to follow Jesus. In this way, and not only in this way, Jesus is present even in his absence.

The book’s ending was a bit of a letdown. Ortberg invites the reader to experiment with following Jesus to see how it works out. (I thought his call to repentance could have been much stronger.) But don’t let that keep you from the book. There is a wealth of great material here, and Ortberg is a terrific communicator.

Almost every church subdivides into some sort of small groups. Whether it’s traditional on-campus Sunday School, small groups that meet in homes, or discipleship groups that meet at the church on other nights of the week, these meetings are probably part of the intentional discipleship structure of your church.

The Gospel Project

From my experience most Sunday School and weekly groups tend to utilize ongoing Bible study materials. But many of the home groups I’ve seen tend to jump from study to study – jumping into new books as they come out or seeking books that have topics of interest.

Part of our desire with The Gospel Project is to provide an on-going, solid, Christ-centered, biblical theology material for your church that forms people over time – regardless of what group strategy you use. The ongoing nature of the curriculum means we release a Leader and Personal Study Guides every season (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer). This is ideal for on-campus groups that meet every week.

But some groups don’t meet every week. Because the ongoing releases of The Gospel Project sell out quickly, we’ve decided to deliver the same Christ-centered Bible materials by category for small groups that meet in different ways. We call these materials “Studies By Topic.”

Currently, we have three of the small group studies out. They are available for Adults and Students and can be utilized in different ways. There are thirteen chapters in each book, but they can be reworked into 6-week or 8-week studies if needed. Take a look.

The Gospel Project Studies by Topic

The God Who Speaks – Adult or Student

This volume focuses in on God’s self revelation through His Word. Moving from the Old Testament to the New, our writers (Jared Wilson, Christian George, George Robinson, and Juan Sanchez) have focused in on the doctrine of revelation with an emphasis on Jesus as the faithful Son who obeys, explains, fulfills, and submits to God’s word. As a group you will see how believers we are called to trust, submit, understand, and listen together to God’s word.

God’s Story, Part 1 – The Old Testament – Adult or Student

In this study, we explore the entirety of the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus in thirteen weeks by focusing on major themes, events, and people. Writers like Halim Suh, Jonathan Leeman, and Christian George take us from creation to fall, from Abraham to the people of God, from the Psalms to the Prophets.

God’s Story, Part 2 – The New Testament – Adult or Student

This most recent volume walks participants through the narrative of the New Testament from a Christ-centered perspective. Writers like Afshin Ziafat, Keith Whitfield, and Joey Jernigan take us from the life and work of Jesus Christ, the birth and mission of the church, the central gospel doctrines, to the King’s return.

What to Expect with The Gospel Project

We view each participant as a gospel project. We believe that the gospel saves us, and when we encounter Jesus in the pages of Scripture, the gospel works on us, transforming us into His image.

For this reason The Gospel Project is not only Christ-centered but also mission driven. Moving through the story of Scripture naturally leads us to mission, and how the gospel leads us to mission is a crucial aspect of how we apply the Bible to our lives.

Each chapter of our small group studies have a main reading along with three follow-up devotions that help you pause and reflect on the main theme of each chapter. Finally, each chapter ends with ten discussion questions to help guide your group discussion.

These studies are written with your small group in mind. We want you to know and love Jesus. We want you to build community through studying God’s word. We want you to be on mission together as you seek to be a faithful presence in your neighborhoods and in the world.

Yesterday, we looked at Michael Emlet’s characterization of people needing counseling as saints, sufferers, or sinners. 

The danger of ignoring or minimizing these categories is that we will fail to offer the proper counsel at the proper time. Instead, we will offer counsel that would be helpful in one situation and yet woefully inadequate in another.

Ignoring these categories would lead us to a “one-size-fits-all” approach to counseling, where we frequently turn to our favorite Bible passages to apply surface-level advice rather than getting to the roots of the issue.

According to Emlet, we use a weed-eater that takes care of symptoms but leaves the roots alone. By compartmentalizing the solution, we fail to bring people back to the great story of redemption (79).

Forgetting the Saint 

Consider what happens when we ignore or minimize the “saint” aspect of a Christian’s life. We concentrate on what remains to be changed in the heart of the Christian. Our approach will tend toward a list of “do’s and don’ts.” We will tell people how to manage their suffering or how to confront their lingering sin.

If the person has a tender conscience and is struggling to accept God’s forgiveness of previous sins and failures, then pointing out ongoing sins that need to be confronted is not the best approach. We will be focused on the “not yet” aspect of redemption, without giving much attention to the “already” of Christ’s work for us. Imperatives from Scripture will displace the indicatives of salvation.

Emlet uses the example of a parent who is always focused on the character traits lacking in their children, rather than the character traits present. In other words, the focus is correcting children for doing wrong and rarely, if ever, praising children for doing right (80).

Affirming the evidences of grace in a person’s life is not a justification for ongoing sin or an excuse to persist in willful rebellion. Instead, it provides motivation and encouragement when we are tempted to despair.

When our eyes are set on our continuing struggle, we are less likely to bask in the glorious freedom we have in Christ. It may seem counterintuitive, but it is true: failure to affirm the “already” aspect of our salvation will slow down our progress in the “not yet” of sanctification.

Forgetting the Sufferer

Consider what happens when we ignore the “suffering” aspect of a Christian’s life. We will concentrate on the role the person has played in bringing about their suffering, not the external forces that are coming against them. Our approach will “minimize sin committed against them and maximize sin they commit” (80). The person requesting counseling is crying for help, but we will fail to hear the cry and instead respond with a posture of judgment.

It is true that the causes for suffering are complex and can rarely be reduced to purely external circumstances or purely internal sins. This makes the “suffering” category somewhat difficult to define.

Are there elements of the suffering that are caused by a person’s own failures? Usually, yes.

Are there elements of the suffering caused by external circumstances beyond a person’s control? Usually, yes.

Rarely is our suffering caused solely by our sin or solely by outside circumstances, particularly when the suffering is expressed in the breakdown of relationships.

Still, it is wise to begin with an attempt to connect with a person’s experience as a sufferer before confronting their remaining sin. Connect first; confront later. Why? Because the confrontation will be even more powerful and persuasive if the person is convinced that the counselor has connected with their pain and understands their sorrowful circumstances.

Emlet uses the example of an “angry, blame-shifting man” he once counseled. Perceiving that this man would not return for another counseling session, Emlet ”let him have it with both barrels” and “lobbed mortar after mortar of biblical truth to blow up his self-oriented ways of living” (80).

After this experience, Emlet’s teacher criticized his approach and recommended that he prioritize connecting with the man at the experiential level before dealing with the other issues. Ignoring the category of sufferer can cause the counselor to minimize the very issues that have led the person to seek help in the first place.

Forgetting the Sinner

Consider what happens when we ignore the “sinner” aspect of a Christian’s life. We may coddle a person when they need to be confronted. We may lead a person to think that all their pain and suffering is caused by outside forces or other people.

Ironically, in the attempt to empathize and make a person feel better about themselves or their situation, we denigrate them by implicitly denying their identity as responsible image-bearers who are accountable to God. Emlet writes:

“We do people no favors when we overlook their self-destructive (and others-destructive) patterns” (81).

In too many counseling sessions, pastors are reticent to point out remaining sin in a person’s life for fear of offending them and causing them to not return. Unfortunately, the failure to confront sin leads to superficial sessions that fail to address the root problems of one’s suffering.

It is common to see prominent pastors in magazines or television interviews who treat viewers as if they are merely “saints” or “sufferers,” but rarely “sinners.” Such advice may make for compelling television, but it fails to address the heart issues behind many of our struggles.

In Cross Talk: Where Life and Scripture Meet, Michael Emlet encourages pastors and church leaders to approach people as “saints, sufferers, and sinners.” This categorization helps the counselor know whether to turn to Scriptural passages that remind a person of their identity in Christ, console them in the dark day of suffering, or confront them for their unrepentant sins.

Emlet believes “each person we meet is wrestling in some way with two problems:

1. First, the problem of identity and purpose: who am I and what in the world should I be doing? (This corresponds to God’s address to us as saints.)
2. Second, the problem of evil: evil from ‘without’ (which corresponds to our experience as sufferers) and evil from ‘within’ (which corresponds to our experience as sinners)” (74).

These three categories correspond with the experience of the Christian. It could be that a seemingly unrelated symptom presents itself and leads the Christian to request counseling, but the underlying root cause will generally fall into one of these three categories.

A Word for Saints

As “saints,” we need to be reminded of our relationship with God. Our identities are not wrapped up in our jobs, our families, our wealth, or our hobbies. We are defined by our relationship to God.

The Word consistently reminds God’s people that they are set apart for His missional purposes in the world, to bring Him glory and to find their joy in Him. When doubt arises in our hearts, or temptation comes, or disillusionment takes hold, the Christian is commanded to remember the God whose image we bear and in whom we find forgiveness and restoration.

A Word for Sufferers

As “sufferers,” we need to be reminded of the fallen world we live in, and the evils from “outside ourselves” that confront us during our earthly existence. Suffering is not necessarily a sign that we have done something wrong. Instead, it is often the mark of God’s people. As Emlet writes:

“Scripture assumes that, since the fall, the people God has chosen are sufferers” (76).

He points to the slavery of God’s people in Egypt and other periods of foreign oppression described in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, we are confronted with vivid images of suffering in the lives of Paul and Peter. The final book of the Bible (Revelation) gives hope to the people of God who are suffering for the faith.

There is no way to make sense of the biblical storyline if the suffering of God’s people is not taken into consideration. This suffering has a redemptive purpose: to conform us into the image of our Savior, the One who suffered prior to receiving glory.

A Word for Sinners

As “sinners,” we need to understand that we will continue to struggle against sin until the day Christ completes His work in us. It is true that Jesus has defeated sin and inaugurated His kingdom, and yet because the old age of sin and brokenness continues on until His return, our lives are characterized by consistent confrontation with sin as we grow in our faith.

Emlet points out the flaws we see in the apostles and New Testament writers themselves as evidence that God’s people will continue to struggle against sin (79). The Scriptures warn us away from sin and urge us to put it to death in our lives and live in light of the salvation we have received by grace through faith.

Why These Categories Matter for Counseling

All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for believers in different ways during different seasons. But an experienced counselor will use wisdom in determining what passages of Scripture are most appropriate for a person in need of God’s Word.

• If the person is struggling with a problem that indicates a lack of understanding of their identity in Christ (perhaps lingering guilt or shame over past sins), the counselor will turn to passages of Scripture that confirm their identity as belonging to God’s forgiven people.
• If the person is struggling to come to terms with suffering (perhaps social ostracism or failing health), the counselor will turn to passages that console and comfort them, reminding them of God’s promise to be present in times of suffering or the redemptive end of all our trials.
• If the person is caught in sinful attitudes or actions, the counselor will turn to passages that confront the person and warn them about the consequences of ongoing, unrepentant sin.

One Caveat

Emlet’s threefold categorization of saint, sufferer, and sinner is a helpful way of looking at the people who come to us for counseling. Biblically speaking, however, there are only two kinds of people who seek help: those who are saints (believers in Christ) and those who are sinners (unbelievers in Christ).

Once we have established that the person seeking help is a believer (therefore a “saint,”) it is important to realize that we are all saints, sufferers, and sinners simultaneously. The counselor’s goal is to recognize which area to emphasize and what kind of medicine to give at the appropriate time. This categorization should not be misconstrued as a firm prescription for every situation, but as a helpful grid through which to view the people who seek care.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at what happens when these categories are ignored.

There are three ways to read the seven Chronicles of Narnia, but only one of them is best.

Date of Composition

Some fans of Lewis like to read the Narnia series in the order he wrote the books.

1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
2. Prince Caspian
3. The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader”
4. The Horse and His Boy
5. The Silver Chair
6. The Last Battle
7. The Magician’s Nephew

Chronological Order

Recently, Harper Collins has repackaged the Narnia series in the order that best fits with the internal chronology of events. The compilation book includes this statement:

“Although The Magician’s Nephew was written several years after C. S. Lewis first began The Chronicles of Narnia, he wanted it to be read as the first book in the series. HarperCollins is happy to present these books in the order in which Professor Lewis preferred.”

1. The Magician’s Nephew
2. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader”
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle

Publication Order

The third way to read Narnia is in the order the books were published.

1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian (1951)
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
6. The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
7. The Last Battle (1956)

Why You Should Read Narnia in the Publication Order

As one who has read The Chronicles of Narnia multiple times, I have strong opinions on how they should be read.

Date of Composition? Only if you’re a Lewis scholar interested in the development of his thought.

Chronological Order? Please disregard the Harper interpretation of Lewis’ views. That statement is up for debate.

In C. S. Lewis – A Life, Alister McGrath summarizes the reasons you should stick with the publication order. I agree, and this is the way we introduced the books to our kids.

1. Repackaging the books by internal chronology is not really possible.

“The chronological approach raises considerable difficulties for readers. For example, the events of The Horse and His Boy actually occur during, not after, those of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This makes the reading of the work quite problematic if strict internal chronology is used as the criterion for determining the correct order of reading.”

2. The introduction of Aslan is best in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

“The most significant difficulty concerns The Magician’s Nephew, the last in the series to be written, which describes the early history of Narnia. To read this work first completely destroys the literary integrity of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which emphasises the mysteriousness of Aslan. It introduces him slowly and carefully, building up a sense of expectation that is clearly based on the assumption that the readers know nothing of the name, identity, or significance of this magnificent creature.”

“In his role as narrator within The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis declares, “None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do.”But anyone who has read The Magician’s Nephew already knows a lot about Aslan. The gradual disclosure of the mysteries of Narnia—one of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe‘s most impressive literary features—is spoiled and subverted by a prior reading of The Magician’s Nephew.”

“Equally important, the complex symbolic structure of the Chronicles of Narnia is best appreciated through a later reading of The Magician’s Nephew. This is most helpful when it is placed (following the order of publication) as the sixth of the seven volumes, with The Last Battle as the conclusion.”

3. Lewis’ subtitles reveal his intentions.

“Subtitles are generally omitted in recent printings of the works. One of these is Prince Caspian, the full title of which is Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia. Its illuminating subtitle clearly suggests that this work ought to be read immediately after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Lewis uses the subtitle A Story for Children for two, and only two, works of the Chronicles of Narnia—namely, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Last Battle. This phrase, “a story for children,” is Lewis’s inclusio. The remaining five novels are thus bracketed or enfolded within these two bookends, which define the start and end of the series. The decision not to reproduce these subtitles in recent editions of the Chronicles of Narnia has obscured Lewis’s use of this literary device, and thus somewhat concealed his purpose.

Russell Moore also advocates for reading Narnia in publication order:

The Magician’s Nephew is what would be called in today’s film lingo a “prequel,” rather than a beginning. The narrative takes place chronologically before the other stories. But it makes sense only when read after them. That’s because it ties together loose ends and throws further light on the origins behind some of the characters and plotlines readers have already grown to know.

The Magician’s Nephew, then, is not like Genesis in the biblical canon. That’s the place of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,providing the foundational story.

Narnia scholar, Devin Brown, concurs:

One need not be a Lewis scholar or an English professor to see that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe must be read first if we want to walk with and not ahead of the four Pevensie children as they hide inside the Professor’s strange wardrobe and enter an enchanted land called Narnia. Reading this story first is the only way we can share their wonder.

Take my word for it. If you’ve not read Narnia for yourself yet, or if you are getting ready to introduce your kids to this series, please read the books according to the publication dates, not the publisher’s statements.

In case you aren’t able to join us in Orlando this week for The Gospel Coalition National Conference, you can watch for free online.  Check the schedule here. It will also be worthwhile to check the tweetable nuggets from this week by following the hash tag #TGC13.

Speaking of Gospel Coalition, here is a list of eBooks with reduced prices this week. These titles are just too good to pass up.

Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City - Tim Keller. $5.99.

Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church - Matt Chandler, Eric Geiger, Josh Patterson. $3.49

Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary - J. D. Greear. $3.99.

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry - John Piper. $4.39.

Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way by J. I. Packer and Gary Parrett. $1.99.

Leadership as an Identity: The Four Traits of Those Who Wield Lasting Influence - Crawford Loritts. $4.99.

The Hardest Sermons You’ll Ever Have to Preach: Help from Trusted Preachers for Tragic Times by Bryan Chapell. $3.99.

Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved by J. D. Greear. $4.39.

Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will or How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random … Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. - Kevin DeYoung. $4.99.

Preaching and Preachers by Martin Lloyd Jones. $3.99.

Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion - Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. $4.99.

Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. $1.99.

Instructing a Child’s Heart by Tedd & Margy Tripp. $1.99.

Worship by the Book by D. A. Carson. $3.99.

How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens: A Guide to Christ-Focused Reading of Scripture by Michael Williams. $3.99.

The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies. $3.99.

For more titles, including Counterfeit Gospels, click here.

Alister E. McGrath is a historian, biochemist, and Christian theologian born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A longtime professor at Oxford University, he now holds the chair in theology, ministry, and education at the University of London.

Dr. McGrath has written a new biography of C. S. Lewis that is well worth your time. I asked him to respond to a few questions about his book - C. S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet.

Trevin Wax: There are many well-known biographies of Lewis currently available, including several from those who knew him personally. What prompted you to take on this task? What did you feel was missing from the other treatments of Lewis’ life?

Alister McGrath: There were several issues that made me come to this conclusion.

First, that some biographies to date didn’t really understand Lewis’s Irish background, or the Oxford academic culture in which he worked for so long. I know these both intimately, and was able to cast light on some things that weren’t really understood properly in earlier biographies.

Plus there has been a massive increase in scholarly work on Lewis in the last few decades.

Plus I carried out a lot of archive work, which turned up material that had never been used before – including a new Lewis letter.

Trevin Wax: What was your method in writing? How did you start and sustain such a mammoth project?

Alister McGrath: I began in September 2008. It involved reading everything that Lewis wrote in chronological order, to get a feel for the development of his ideas and writing style. This also allowed me to harvest some great quotes or phrases, which add interest to the text.

After sorting out a publisher, I then began to bring all the material together, with two aims in mind as I wrote:

1. What does someone who has come across Lewis through the Narnia books or movies want to know about him?
2. How best can I explain why Lewis is such a complex and fascinating person?

When I submitted the text, it weighed in at 135,000 words. I wondered if this was too long, but my publisher liked it, and suggested a few areas in which I could expand the book instead.

Trevin Wax: You paint Lewis as a “reluctant prophet” and also an “eccentric genius.” Some fans of Lewis may never have thought of him in these terms. Why is Lewis’ reluctance and eccentricity important for those seeking to understand his life and legacy?

Alister McGrath: These two descriptions capture aspects of Lewis’s character that help us understand his wrestling with fame, especially in the 1940s.

It is obvious that Lewis did not expect or want to become famous, and struggled with his popular acclaim. He also operated from outside the centre – for example, he did not really fit into Oxford’s academic culture. I personally think that one of the reasons that Lewis decided to use a spiritual director was his fear that he would be destroyed by his fame, unless he leaned how to handle it well.

Trevin Wax: You make the case that Lewis was wrong regarding the timing of his own conversion, first to theism and then to Christianity. How did you arrive at this conclusion and why do you think the timing is important?

Alister McGrath: I came to this conclusion when working through his writings in chronological order. When I finished everything relating to 1929, I found myself wondering why there was no sign of any change in outlook or tone! But the writings of 1930 show a mood change, with two very clear points of transition.

I didn’t expect to challenge the date of Lewis’s conversion when I began the project; I thought that I would simply cast more light on various aspects of his religious development.

But when I began to read Lewis in the light of a possible conversion in June 1930 (that seems most likely, but I can’t prove it), everything made a lot more sense.

Is it important? Not for Lewis fans. The important thing for them is that Lewis was an atheist who became a Christian. The exact timing isn’t an issue.

But for Lewis scholars, it is a major issue, as it affects our understanding of the trajectory from atheism to belief in God, and then from belief in God to an acceptance of Christianity.

Trevin Wax: You graciously point out the weakness in Lewis’s writings as well as the shortcomings of his personal life. Why is it important for us to keep these things in mind as we study his work?

Alister McGrath: Like the rest of us, Lewis was human. He made mistakes. He got things wrong. I admire Lewis, but I’m not prepared to idealize him.

I felt that the greatest service I could do Lewis was to paint an accurate picture of his life and character, and allow readers to understand that God can take and use even flawed people, and do great things through them.

Last fall, I recommended Jonathan Rogers’ excellent trilogy of Wilderking books. Jonathan is one of the guys associated with the Rabbit Room (with Andrew Peterson). He has also written a spiritual biography of Flannery O’Connor.

Last summer, my eight-year-old son and I started reading a chapter from the Wilderking trilogy every night at bedtime. As we worked through all three books, there were evenings where he cried (literally) for me to keep reading. There were evenings when I was so engrossed in the story that I wanted to keep reading too. We often stayed up past his bedtime for another chapter.

The Charlatan’s Boy is a follow-up (of sorts) to the Wilderking trilogy. Rogers takes the most colorful, engaging aspect of the Wilderking books (the culture of the feechiefolk) and builds on it as he tells the tale of Grady, a young boy who travels around with Professor Floyd. The professor is a schemer and trickster who travels from town to town trying to make a buck by putting on a show.

The Charlatan’s Boy is more episodic than the Wilderking books. It follows Grady on a journey of self-discovery and a search for belonging. Along the way, he and Floyd meet all kinds of interesting characters. They scheme together on how to reignite interest in feechies, and they cause a “feechie scare” they think will make them a fortune.

Of all of Rogers’ fiction work, I liked The Charlatan’s Boy the best. This was a fun book to read out loud, primarily because Jonathan has the accent of the Deep South down pat. Even the words he invents make sense and add to the charm.

This book is certainly more “grown-up” than the Wilderking, and the theme of identity and belonging is stronger. Other themes such as honesty, unconditional love, innocence, and deception are portrayed. You’ll have some good conversations with your kids as you read it to them.

Because the adventurous quality is not as strong, The Charlatan’s Boy not a nailbiter like the Wilderking trilogy. Timothy didn’t beg me to read another chapter every night, but he was the one who took the initiative to keep reading. We enjoyed it just as much as the others, just differently.

Check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

Rob Bell’s new book comes out today: What We Talk About When We Talk About God. In line with his previous offerings, it’s a conversational, thought-provoking monologue designed to raise questions and stimulate discussion.

It’s been two years since the release of Love Wins, a book that challenged traditional evangelical conceptions of hell and eternity. Bell has since left the pastorate and embraced a new role as a post-evangelical, spiritual advisor of sorts. He is positioning himself more an artist than theologian, more poet than preacher.

That said, his poetry preaches. So what’s the sermon?

The gist of Bell’s new book is that the world is humming with spirituality. Far from being distant and removed, God is present in our lives. We need to be reawakened to Him; we need the eyes to see Him at work. Dogmas and doctrines just get in the way of truly experiencing God. What once helped us now harms us and holds us back. But God is ahead of us, beckoning us forward to the new world that is coming.

Takeaways

Before challenging Bell on a few points, I think it’s good to mention some things that church leaders (especially traditional evangelicals) can take away from his book.

Ability to Create Memorable Pictures

The first has to do with communication skills. Bell is compelling because of the vivid way he describes things.

For example, take a look at this scene where Bell recounts a conversation with a friend going through a divorce:

He told me about their history together and how it got them to this point and what it’s doing to her and what it’s doing to him and what it’s like for him to go grocery shopping and then go back to his new apartment, all alone.

Somewhere in our conversation the full force of what he was saying hit me – divorce, the effect on their kids, the image of both of them at some point taking off their wedding rings.

Note the poetic way Bell puts together the first run-on sentence, letting us feel the misery of an unraveling marriage without pause or breath. Then look at the imagery of the divorce, the picture of two people taking their rings off.

This is just one example of how Bell utilizes language to create mental pictures. I could fill the rest of this review with similar illustrations. And while Bell’s artistic sensibilities aren’t everyone’s cup of tea (I grow weary from watching him weigh down verbs with multiple adverbs), there’s no question he can make a point in a memorable way.

Tapping Into Spiritual Yearnings

A second takeaway is Bell’s ability to capture the sense that spirituality is breaking through the scientific, closed world that undergirds secularism.

There’s a memorable picture from N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian that imagines secularism as a dictatorship that puts down concrete as pavement over “dangerous” springs of water. All goes well, for a time, but the hidden springs eventually bubble up and erupt through the pavement.

In a similar way, Bell is tapping into the spiritual yearning of many people in our post-Christian culture. According to Bell, everyone is a “person of faith,” even the most ardent skeptic. The question is not if we have beliefs but what those beliefs are.

The best part of the book is Bell’s gentle, but firm challenge to those who refuse to believe anything science can’t prove. For centuries, skeptics who challenged the dominant religious dogma related to miracles were seen as open-minded, willing to step into a further stage of enlightenment and challenge the prevailing religious consensus. Today, now that secularism is the consensus, Bell turns the tables and casts the scientific skeptic as the closed-minded logician who fails to leave room for the mysterious, the mystical, and the soul. Science fails to deliver explanations that resonate with our experience, and Bell wisely exploits this failure of the materialist worldview.

Wonder and Awe at Existence

This challenge to secularism leads to the biggest surprise of the book – a lengthy chapter in which Bell delves into the physical cosmology of the universe. His goal is to wow readers with the wonder of existence. And, in large part, he succeeds. Even with the evolutionary anthropology he assumes, Bell shows the weirdness of the world and why we ought to be amazed at life.

No Place for Dogma

Unfortunately, the strengths of the book are outweighed by the vagueness of Bell’s talk of talking about God. Nowhere is this more evident than his treatment of traditional Christian teaching.

For example, Bell chides religious people for their certainty. He believes certainty about God has limits. We have to leave the door open for mystery. Knowing always takes place in the middle of unknowing. People who talk with too much certainty about God are attractive because people want to be right, but we should resist the allure of the religious know-it-all.

It’s true that the Christian should have the humility to recognize that no one has exhaustive knowledge of God or truth. To point out our finiteness is not only humble; it’s really the way things are! There is no way to know everything we could know when we talk about God.

But Bell seems to make the jump from humility due to our inability to have exhaustive knowledge to the newly defined “humility” that says we can’t have certainty about anything.

Certainty is suspect. Except, of course, when it comes to the certainty of the harm traditional theology can cause. On this, Bell leaves no room for ambiguity. Our view of God may be foggy, but our view of fundamentalists is clear.

He writes:

You can believe something with so much conviction that you’d die for that belief,

and yet in the same moment

you can also say, “I could be wrong…”

This is because conviction and humility, like faith and doubt, are not opposites; they’re dance partners. It’s possible to hold your faith with open hands, living with great conviction and yet at the same time humbly admitting that your knowledge and perspective will always be limited.” (93)

First, it’s hard to imagine martyrs giving their lives when they think they might be wrong. Nothing would cause me to rethink and renege on my certainty than facing a lion in a coliseum.

Secondly, notice how Bell says we should have conviction and humility, as if these two things are opposites, like faith and doubt. He appears to see “humility” not as the gracious stance of someone who has tasted and seen the Lord is good, but as the willingness to hold doctrines loosely, as if certainty and humility can’t coincide.

Ironically, his description of fundamentalism centers on the elimination of paradox:

When a leader comes along who eliminates the tension and dodges the paradox and neatly and precisely explains who the enemies are and gives black-and-white answers to questions, leaving little room for the very real mystery of the divine, it should not surprise us when that person gains a large audience. Especially if that person is really, really confident. (93)

What’s interesting is that, in reading the rest of the book, Bell eliminates more paradoxes than traditional Christian teaching does.

It’s traditional Christianity that portrays God as holy and wrathful against sin while being gracious and loving towards the sinner. For all Bell’s talk about embracing “both/and,” it’s his vision of Christianity that emphasizes God being for us, to the exclusion of any idea that God would stand over us in judgment.

Traditional Christianity doesn’t just include “both” but “triple” truths – God against us in our sin, God instead of us as sinners, and God for us as the Justifier. Far from diluting the beauty of God in His transcendence, traditional Christian dogma leaves us with unresolvable tensions and paradoxes galore: free will and sovereignty, God in us and yet distinct from us, the Trinity, the inclusive call to salvation from an exclusive Savior. The list goes on.

The paradoxes of traditional Christianity multiply in ways that stimulate the imagination. Bell’s teaching lacks that kind of substance.

Bell’s book goes down easy, kind of like whipped cream without the cake. God is ahead of us, beckoning society forward, and (how convenient!) it just so happens to be in the direction that society is already headed. Who would have thought?

Oddly enough, after reading this book, I came to the conclusion Rob Bell is a fundamentalist of a different sort. In fact, I could apply his warning to himself, adding to his own words:

When a leader comes along who eliminates the tension (between wrath and love, or immanence and transcendence) and dodges the paradox (between judgment and grace) and neatly and precisely explains who the enemies are (traditional Christians) and gives black-and-white answers to questions (such as, you can’t be humble and certain) leaving little room for the very real mystery of the divine (or the revelation of this mystery, as explained by the apostle Paul), it should not surprise us when that person gains a large audience. Especially if that person is really, really confident (or really, really cool).

I believe this book will resonate with many because the idea of “spiritual experience” is popular today. The question is, does Bell’s vision of spirituality have the doctrinal bone structure to sustain faith for two thousand years? I’m afraid not. His artistic abilities aside, the book’s vision is boring because the drama is missing.

Dorothy Sayers was right:

It is the dogma that is the drama—not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving-kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death—but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world, lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death.