The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster
Let me start out by saying, I really wanted to like this book but alas, it was not meant to be.
Before I get to the things that bothered me, let me say the concept is one that I find appealing. God often calls us into journey, the wilderness, or as I like to call it, exile. There is great benefits to being in this raw place that drives us to such passionate faith. The quote from the book that jumped out to me and made a great Facebook status was “Physical pilgrimage involves bodies, blisters, hunger, and diarrhea. And it’s a Kingdom activity. It is accordingly one of the best prophylactic against, and cures for, one of the deadliest and most prevalent diseases crippling the church: Gnosticism. It is also effective against bigotry, self-righteousness, and angst.”
Sadly the details and focus of the point left it cold at that point. I felt the author was saying we were made to be nomads and settlers were bad using all kinds of Biblical examples of wanderers in the grace of God and evil settlers who blew it. Let’s not forgot that there is also a place for structure and establishment. The Israelites didn’t just wander because God liked it. They did so as punishment and to draw them closer to Him. His goal was the promised land all along.
Then I find another book with Emergent overtones….
– isn’t it cool how other religions have the same things as us and you can’t tell the difference. He plays a game with his church people on this that I find a little disturbing.
– He advocates us dropping the words “God” and “Christian” because they are tainted and go with cool words like “El Shaddai” and “Jesus Freak”. I never get this…. Why don’t we partner with non-Christians that we too are frustrated with the misuse and reclaim their meanings? Do you really think a non-Christian is going to think the renaming is cool and captivating or will they just think it’s white paint on an old fence?
– There are a few personalized paraphrasing of the Bible including Acts and the story of Able that I find disturbing…
I’ll stop there. I love the concept but not the points. Another quote in the book says “There are many books about pilgrimage…” I think I will go check them out.
This book was provided to me free of charge by Thomas Nelson for an honest review.
Emerging Conservative 
Thanks for your comments on my book, but sorry you didn’t like it.
It’s interesting that you characterise the ‘Emergent’ movement (of which I am not a part) as a quest for ‘coolness’. I’m afraid that that is a dangerously repercussive misunderstanding. It’s a quest for authenticity; for the real core. And it entails the pain of leaving our comforting, self-created traditions behind. In that sense ‘Emergent’ has a good deal in common with real pilgrimage.
I was interested, too, to see the quote on the top of your webpage. The errors of the fundamentalist and the Emergent member don’t seem to me to be remotely comparable. To love scripture more than you love Jesus can lead you (for instance) to campaign along Levitical lines for the execution of adulterers and homosexuals. But everyone’s guilty of the Emergent’s sin – not loving scripture as much as Jesus did. And surely that sin, as long as you love Jesus passionately and seek to see the world through the lens he holds up, isn’t likely to produce anything really monstrous.
All best wishes.
Charles Foster
Thanks for the reply, Charles…..
Please be careful on where you take some of my comments in your understanding. I never made the assumption that you are Emergent. I now assume from your comments above that you would agree more with Emergent then fundamentalist though =)
I also never said that Emergent was a quest for coolness.
There is a difference to me between Emergent and emerging churches. I fall more into the latter instead than the other options mentioned. That may be why I feel more inclined towards the term Emerging Conservative.
When I speak of Emergent, I speak more of the beliefs of some of the main leaders than the group since there is no formal statment of beliefs. I speak more of folks like Doug Paggit, Tony Jones, Nenette Sawyer and the like. (You would have to be a normal reader of my blog to know this) I am not a casual observer but have spent time with each (with Tony in a class he was teaching, the others one on one). With this in mind, let me respond to ….
“… as long as you love Jesus passionately and seek to see the world through the lens he holds up, isn’t likely to produce anything really monstrous.”
I believe that those I mentioned probaly love Jesus and teach to love like Jesus but also believe there is no hell and that everyone comes to heaven at the end rather or not they accept Jesus by acknowledging with their mouth and believing in their hearts He is the son of God who came, died, and rose again. If this is being taught… then yes, I believe monstrous eternal effects do take place.
I agree with you on the law embracing concerns of some fundamentalist.
Also, keep in mind that I like the concept of the book, we just disagree on many of the line item points you made.
Again, thank for chiming in….