Reviews
Despite being 15 years old, this book is still relevant to the person who grew up in a western, post-modern world. Although some of the pop-culture references are fading and I wasn't a fan of some theological statements he made here and there, he writes incredibly well and has some fantastic insights about the Christian faith. Miller makes you think and feel all at the same time and it is wonderful.
2.5 ⭐️ Okay this review seems harsh, but I didn’t hate this book. It’s not the book, it’s me.... I think that some of the stories were good, but I just couldn’t get into it. Easy to read sure, but i was left feeling like I didn’t get enough out of the story, or wanting more details, or wanting the sentences to be structured differently..... ultimately the message was good but the writing style just wasn’t for me!
What a strange read! I enjoyed it for what it was. Even though I disagree slightly here and there I felt how very genuine these chapters were. I’m glad someone recommended this to me.
I enjoyed this book. It was something that sparked an interest for me because the title is intriguing. I think that this is a book that is meant to aid in developing thoughts of your own. This is not a book that is meant to give a person clear cut theological ideals. This book is comprised of personal testimonies and therefore if you're coming to it for theological fact, you're better of reading C.S. Lewis or Dallas Willard. This book allows the person to see how a nother person has experienced faith and then take those thoughts, experiences and ideals and allow them to delve into themselves and explore themselves and develop their own thought processes.
I was enjoying this book. I was nodding along with the parts that I agreed with, thinking to myself, I'm so glad someone else agrees with me on that, or yes, that's so true. I was into it. I was liking it. Then I got to the part where Don says he doesn't like corporations. That's weird. Didn't I literally just hear him on a podcast less than two weeks ago saying that he considers himself a Republican and that one of the things liberals do to frustrate him is to look at corporations as bad when really they are just companies that hire people and get things done. Now, I'm not a Republican, but I can agree with someone on things other than politics while respecting the fact that they have a right to an opinion that's different from mine. What I can't respect is someone who directly contradicts himself. Especially in the way that Don Miller has. I feel that this book was written for a millennial generation of Christians who are disappointed in the way other Christians treat other people. During this time, he's in Portland, he's among the liberals, the free-thinkers, so he doesn't like institutions. Fast forward a few years, he's in Nashville, in the Deep South, home of conservative evangelicals, with a large business that has flourished, and now, while a guest on a Christian podcast, he is not okay with people having an opinion that he had fifteen years ago, an opinion he wrote about fifteen years ago. Now I understand that people grow older, they change, but I don't understand hypocrisy and people who believe what they think people want them to believe so they will be accepted, which is, ironically, what Don's latest book is about. Sorry Don, you've lost me as a reader.
It is exactly what it says it is - “nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality” and I think those thoughts are made even more beautiful by their honesty, frankness, and accessibility. Both for the religious and nonreligious, the Jesus follower and the skeptic alike.
A review from my old blog... I added this book to my list over a year ago after hearing good reviews of the book from girls I worked with at camp. Every girl that read the book raved about it. I have to say that I will not rave about the book. The book is not bad. Don't get me wrong. Miller creates amazing word pictures as he describes his memories of the past in relation to his relationship to God. I guess what threw me off the most was his seeming lack of passion about his relationship to God. In my own relationship with God I cannot imagine a lack of passion. I believe that any Christian should be passionate about that. Blue Like Jazz is a good book on artistic/literary measures but I would not recommend it based on devotional merit.
I'm not really sure how I felt about this book. There ideas which I identified with, and/or found interesting and wanting to pursue further, but someitmes Miller's writting just didn't cut it for me. I often found myself frustrated with the blurb like style that makes up a large portions of the book. The parts of Miller's work which I found the most interesting were the parts in which Miller actually spent more than a page or two (if that) on the story he was telling, when he actually let himself dive into what he was writing.
