Blue Like Jazz: Movie Edition
Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The runaway New York Times bestseller that became a cornerstone of Christian nonfiction, Blue Like Jazz is a fresh and original perspective on life, love, and redemption.
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve…Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."
Donald Miller was raised in a strict Texas denomination where he was only vaguely familiar with a distant God. When he grew older, he ran all the way to the least-religious university in the US: Rice College in Portland, Oregon. Still, God pursued him. When he came to know Jesus, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. However, within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God.
In this intimate, non-judgmental, and soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey with and back to the infinitely loving God, helping you…
discover how the Christian faith is still relevant in a postmodern culture;learn how to have a genuine encounter with a God who is real; andenjoy a renewed sense of passion for your life.
Blue Like Jazz is a gentle, honest resource for those curious about the Christian faith, or new to it, and offers a fresh and original perspective on life, love, and redemption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Miller (Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance) is a young writer, speaker and campus ministry leader. An earnest evangelical who nearly lost his faith, he went on a spiritual journey, found some progressive politics and most importantly, discovered Jesus' relevance for everyday life. This book, in its own elliptical way, tells the tale of that journey. But the narrative is episodic rather than linear, Miller's style evocative rather than rational and his analysis personally revealing rather than profoundly insightful. As such, it offers a postmodern riff on the classic evangelical presentation of the Gospel, complete with a concluding call to commitment. Written as a series of short essays on vaguely theological topics (faith, grace, belief, confession, church), and disguised theological topics (magic, romance, shifts, money), it is at times plodding or simplistic (how to go to church and not get angry? "pray... and go to the church God shows you"), and sometimes falls into merely self-indulgent musing. But more often Miller is enjoyably clever, and his story is telling and beautiful, even poignant. (The story of the reverse confession booth is worth the price of the book.) The title is meant to be evocative, and the subtitle "Non-Religious" thoughts about "Christian Spirituality" indicates Miller's distrust of the institutional church and his desire to appeal to those experimenting with other flavors of spirituality.
