So seeing how it has been six months since last posting, I doubt anyone is still out there in cyberspace that is checking in on my "cob-web" blog as a certain Prof. Mondo has been known to call it.
Anyway, I am in the middle of re-reading Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, and I cannot get over some of the reviews some critics are leveling at it. Mark Coppenger in a lecture blasts it with eleven points that cheapen the spiritual journey of Miller. Because in truth that is what the book Blue Like Jazz is: a spiritual journey.
But for a moment let us say that it is more than that. Let us say it is a critique on the spiritual nature of Christianity and therefore a critique on the “main stream” (whatever that is) Christians by its deconstructing of the lifestyles and choices of "right wing" fundamentalists. Miller does a fine job of showcasing classic theological ideas, such as depravity, original sin, redemption and then applies those ideas to modern social structures, and actually the beliefs presented in Blue Like Jazz have their basis in the same doctrines held by the “right wingers" he is criticizing. Because the problem here, I believe he is saying, is not what we believe, but how we have applied those beliefs to social structure. There are two points that Miller addresses with his book.
Now this is where the critique comes in. First, for those who have concerns about the book, the focus of their criticism has been the idea of Christian Mysticism as replacement for Christian Spirituality, and it is here that I think that they miss the point. Truthfully, I think that what the world calls Christian mysticism, Christianity calls Spirituality. When a Christian says that there is a transcendent force within them guiding them to righteousness and holiness, the world calls it mysticism; however, we as believers know that as the Holy Spirit. So I think that by the world labeling Christianity as a mystic religion, it is just glancing at the grander picture the Bible is painting with the Holy Spirit.
Second, the larger point that Miller makes in his book is that the social rules that we have created about what a Christian should believe should not be the guiding rule of what we should believe. Actually it should be opposite. What we believe as Christians should dictate how we act socially.
In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul confronts this very issue by dealing with meat that has been sacrificed to idols. Some Christians, knowing that the meat had been sacrificed to idols could not eat it because they felt it violated their conscious. Other Christians could eat the meat free of conviction. So what is the line that has to be drawn? It all comes down to grace for Paul. What measure of grace has God given you in which to interact the world with?
Let me give you an example. In Blue Like Jazz Miller several times mentions that he would go out with his friends and drink a beer. Now, here in the South where I live, that is taboo. If you are a Christian, according to our social rules, you do not drink beer. Now Biblically, there is not any scripture that prohibits drinking, only drunkenness.; however, for many here, drinking is a hindrance. In the same way that the early Christians would not eat meat that had been offered to idols but some could because of the grace given to them, there are some that can drink and it not be a hindrance because of the grace given to them that they interact the world with. Mr. Miller appears to be one of the latter.
At the center of this idea of how we should interact with society knowing what we do about Scripture is 1 Corinthians 8:9 which states, “But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” That is the line that is to be drawn. We cannot use our liberty to cause others to stumble, because that would be sin. We seek edification of the Church and our brothers in Christ(1 Corinthians 14:12). This being know, it is not society that should define how we act as Christians but God’s Word. Miller’s Blue Like Jazz makes the reader confront their beliefs on spirituality and discern for themselves if how they interact with the world is based on what society tells them or what the Bible says.
