Blue Like Jazz

After reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years I felt like I had to IMMEDIATELY read everything Don Miller had ever written, so this book was next on my list. I loved it.

Miller explains his view of Christianity in such simple, easy to understand (for me) verbiage, stories and examples I think I might have converted even if I were Jewish. His writing just makes sense to me. It felt like coming home.

One of the things I love about this book is that Miller never bashed other religions, or people who believe in Jesus or don't. He explains his views, and why he beleives what he does. He also discusses some times in his life when he had questions, he didn't go to church, he had trouble finding a church he was comfortable, and struggles some show more of his friends had with not believing in God and then reconciling that belief with wanting to and ultimately believing.

Miller's writing is so beautiful it's like one long, easy to understand poem. Sometimes I found myself re-reading passages just for the beautiful way he strings words together.

I think anyone would enjoy this book -- young to old, devout or curious, and even atheists might like it just for his writing style. This is another book I would give as gifts to everyone I knew. show less

This is a collection of essays about one man's experience with God. He has grown in spirituality and sanctification as he has struggled with difficult questions and life experiences. Rather than preach, he simply lays out his life and the lessons he's drawn from them. But he leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions.

This is a very thoughtful and intimate memoir. I appreciated the author's unvarnished relation of his spiritual conversion. It felt real and authentic instead of the phony/self-righteous memoirs of some Christian authors. I appreciated how honest he was about his own short comings and struggles. I found a lot to relate to.

It seems like I'm the only atheist that read this book so allow me to present an unchristian perspective on this book.

I am an ex-christian and I was loaned this by a family member who wanted to re-convert me. I read it out of respect for her. However the arguments in favor of the Christian God aren't really arguments, they're sentimental appeals. The author talks about how he feels as a Christian and what he thinks he gets out of his take on Christianity/God but he never actually addresses why, other than it feels good, I should believe what he believes. Considering this book seems aimed at people who are either faithless (like me) or having religious doubts I'd have to say it struck out.

I suppose if you're someone that's looking for a show more feel good reason to believe in God or want something to cozy you up to the God you already have this might be just the book you want. As someone that's interested in hard won facts, logic and refuses to scrutinize the idea of God and religion any less than any other facet of life I was unimpressed. show less

I usually despise Christian literature, but I adore this book. It's very real. When I finish it I have the urge to turn back to page one and start all over again. I own it primarily so I can loan it out to people. A must read even for the skeptic in us all.

I don’t think I’m the only person who, upon opening this and preparing to read a book, finds out instead that they are reading a letter from a friend. Miller reads like my alter ego, a man I keep locked inside somewhere. It seems no coincidence that we were born in the same year.

You can often tell how much I appreciate non-fiction in particular by the ratio of quotes to pages. Blue Like Jazz is up there. I so very much appreciated what Miller had to say. He isn’t afraid to ask hard questions and make honest confessions about what his faith is. This is so refreshing. I live in a culture where being weak and broken is somehow seen as being less than Christian. The people who are hailed as heroes are those who don’t fail but endure show more over decades of remarkable achievement. For those of us who struggle just to exist in their faith day by day, this is anathema. In fact, I probably scared some people off by saying day by day. I should have said moment by moment.

It’s books like these that bring me back to the fundamentals of my faith. And the fact that there is a world apart between fundamental faith in Christ and fundamentalism shows how far we have strayed. One of the things I rediscovered I loved about my faith was mysticism. I went from 8 years of intellectual Christianity to being a mystic after one phenomenal encounter with the living Christ in my bedroom at university. And Miller reminded me that up until that point

[Christianity] didn’t do anything for me at all. It felt like math, like a system of rights and wrongs and political beliefs, but it wasn’t mysterious, it wasn’t God reaching out of heaven to do wonderful things in my life.

But then I met Him and everything changed. At that point, it suddenly didn’t matter that I didn’t understand Him. So, I gave up trying. At this point, it seemed reasonable to me that it wouldn’t and I was content. As he says

I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me.

and elsewhere

[God] doesn’t [make sense]. He will make no more sense to me than I will make sense to an ant.

Recently, this line of thinking has been challenged by people whose blogs I follow and who have in fact, I now realise, literally abandoned their faith and replaced it with reason. So, Miller’s message was timely and reinvigorated my faith.

I’ve also been finding that, the less routine I have in my time with God, the more my life with Him seems natural. I don’t meet with my wife for 30 minutes each morning. In fact, I meet absolutely no one for 30 minutes each morning. I suppose if I did, they’d be some sort of PA or advisor. But God is not my PA and neither am I His. And although he advises me, he does so as a friend, over coffee so to speak or in those brief exchanges you might have over the photocopier. He doesn’t make an appointment. Thus phrases like

If [the Devil] can sink a man’s mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging with God.

really encouraged me to relax in my life with Him.

Pretty much every page I turned brought up some aspect of our life as little Christs that I ended up filling the back of the envelope I’d started to write quotes down on. This is a very good thing. My only fear as I come away from this book is that I will need to read it again in the future. If you understand what I mean, this book is for you. If you don’t, you’re not ready for it yet. show less

I bought this book on a whim. I liked the title. I liked the cover. I liked the description of the author (in one of the blurbs) as "Anne Lamott with testosterone." And I loved the author's note:
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that I liked jazz music. 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."

This book is a bit uneven in quality. Some of these autobiographical show more essays were less than impressive to me. But others stopped me in my tracks. This is a book with which many Conservative Christians might be uncomfortable. Miller has his complaints about the church, and about the way many Christians view faith and interact with those around them -- especially those who are different from them. He has no use for empty ritual (though its clear that not all ritual is empty to him), or being judgmental of others, or of the kind of morality that is almost obsessed with sexual behavior.

He does acknowledge the reality of what traditional theology calls "original sin" -- the fact that all people, and the world, are broken and need fixing (the need for salvation). He zeroes in on the sins of self-righteousness and self-centeredness, and the primacy of the commandment to LOVE. In this, I believe he is a faithful follower of Jesus.

He has problems with religion, with Christianity (as an institution), with "religious people," but loves and has faith in Jesus and invites the reader to love Him, too. He does all this with an honesty about his own failings and shortcomings that is refreshing. He gave me some things to think about, so I consider the time spent in reading this book worthwhile. show less

I really enjoyed this read. The story basically follows Don Miller's exploits as a Christian throughout his college years at Reed College in Oregon. My favorite part of the story was the confession booth setup by Miller and his friends on the campus of Reed College during the Ren Fayre festival. It wasn't a confession booth for non-believers to come and confess their sins, it was a booth for non-believers to come and listen to the confessions of these humbled Christians asking forgiveness for their wrongs of the past and the present misgivings associated with today's Christianity.

Miller writes like a masterful storyteller, with a lot of wit and charm. I appreciate Miller's transparency as he shares with us his struggles with shyness, show more women, love, money, and integrating into community. He shares with us how today's evangelical Christian has hopped on to the conservative Republican bandwagon and essentially scared away anyone who does not share these same socio-political ideologies. How true this is. It took me many years to see this myself as a one-time staunch Republican.

I highly recommend this book to both Christian and non-Christian alike. Specifically for those who are seeking and in their college-aged years. show less