Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz is hard to categorize. It’s a rambling, personal memoir written about one man’s spiritual journey. The subtitle is “Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality,” and I think that’s a candid summary of the book itself. Blue Like Jazz isn’t biblical exposition or systematic theology, it’s one man’s musings on some topics related to faith.
The structure of the book is its greatest strength. The honest, conversational tone engages readers and helps them to like and want to relate to the author. The stories that Miller tells are vulnerable, moving, and beautiful. The book gave me the impression that he’s the sort of guy I’d love to buy a cup of coffee and just sit and talk with.
In an effort to break free of the suffocating effects of legalism, Miller turns to an almost mystical, sometimes feelings-oriented faith. It’s hard to know to what degree, as Miller doesn’t often get into specifics about his beliefs, though nothing seemed unorthodox or even unevangelical. If I had to choose between legalism and a faith oriented towards emotion, I’d probably choose the feelings, though this is certainly the weakest element of the book. In spite of this sometimes weak theology, Miller has great insights into living in community, self-centerness, legalism, sin, the relevance of Christian faith to our culture and more.
I borrowed Blue Like Jazz from the library, read it, and immediately purchased a copy for my 19 year old sister’s birthday. She’d just finished her freshman year of college and was struggling a bit with authentic, faithful living. She started reading it and kept calling me, over and over, to tell me how much she liked it and what she was learning. It reminded her of the simple importance of following Jesus. It inspired her to pick up her Bible and read. She felt a renewed call to seek Christian fellowship when she returned to campus. She was in the middle of making an important decision, and the book challenged her to decide to do what was harder and more self-sacrificing: serving others instead of herself.
By no means is Blue Like Jazz perfect. It’s not a book that will last through the ages. But for those raised in the church and eating the stale crumbs of everyday Christendom, it might be a helpful breath of fresh air, especially for those who just aren’t going to read more dense and difficult works.
That’s a fair assessment of it, I think.
hey, kristen. i have been trying to purchase this book through half.com for months! it’s uncanny — everytime i purchase it, something falls through and the seller cancels on me! instead, i grabbed GIRL MEETS GOD by Lauren Winner and hope to get BLUE LIKE JAZZ next. i’ve been hearing about it everywhere for a couple years (even optimistically inserted it into my sidebar reading list the last time i “procured” it) and it is, i think, evading me.
hey — sometime, if you could take a look at the post on my blog today (6/29/05) on classical education and offer any linkage to similar or better resources for information (i know there’s a wide spectrum and i want to encourage research), i would really appreciate it (coming from folks like you especially).
Kristen, thanks for the review! I’d been wondering whether the book would be good to pick up. Now I know. I’ll have to grab a copy next time I’m able.
I bought this book awhile back, but I haven’t had the chance to read it yet… Perhaps I should!
Good review! I borrowed it from the library a few moths ago and am still thinking about it.
AND I just picked up (from the library) the Randall Balmer book you recommended, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory. I don’t know when I’ll get to it, as I’m busy with school planning, but I’m excited!
Good thoughts. I’m in the middle of the book right now and have pretty much the same reaction. I’ve made it required reading for my students in the Fall at St. Louis University, so I’ve been reading it more slowly to make notes on what I’ll need to talk about with them. I wanted them to have something to read on Christian spirituality that was written recently. Incidentally, one thing that keeps sticking out to me is his emphasis on Satan, oddly enough. I’m not sure why he makes such a point of it, but Satan seems to come up a lot in discussions of the problem of evil and so forth. It could just be that I have grown unaccustomed to thinking about Satan’s agency; I know that the apostles are not hesitant to bring him up!
Thanks everyone. When reading it, I did have a passing thought of “I wish Donald Miller was reformed or that one of my reformed friends like Mark Williams had written this book.” And then I realized that one some levels, that’s fine to wish, but at the same time, it’s important to appreciate him for what he brings to the table. He’s a brother in Christ with some great insights. That doesn’t mean I excuse everything I don’t agree with, it just means that I strive to appreciate the particular parts of the Christian life he has some real insight into.
Liza,
I’m really excited you picked up that Balmer book! All of the chapters are their own little stories, they do tie together but it’s an easy book to pick up and put down (a literary quality I really appreciate as a mother!)