Customer Reviews

The Dream of God: A Call to Return

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I first read this book almost three years ago.
It has changed my life. I often quote from this book in my sermons. I have found that most lay people agree with her and most clergy disagree. That alone is very telling about how correct she is in her views of the institutional church.

In addition to her very valid criticisms of institutional religion, perhaps the most important thing Verna Dozier says in this book is that we are called not to worship Jesus, rather we are called to follow Jesus. If the hiarchy of most denominations were to read this book and actually take Verna Dozier seriously, we would have a second "Reformation". Read this book, give a copy to your pastor, priest, and/or bishop and be a part of God's Dream.

Verna Dozier's DREAM OF GOD feeds the soul. This thought-provoking work by a superbly informed author is not for the fundamentalist who views the Bible as the irrefutable Word of God. Rather, it is a call to do the bidding of the Gospel Christ and not abdicate that imperative to church heirarchy.

As one living in a most conservative state, in a mutant, conservative diocese of the Episcopal church that is mired in empty moralism and debates over "scriptural authority," Dozier's little book is truly a breath of spiritual life.

I am fed.

I do not agree with the previous review, written by a customer with a certain uneasiness with "liberality". Verna Dozier is a biblical scholar and a unique theologian. This does not mean her book is bad or wrong.

As someone raised Catholic who had, over the years, drifted further and further away from Church participation, I clearly understand Ms. Dozier's analysis of the situation wherein the Church has so obviously tried to usurp power from the people and keep it "in the family", so to speak. Jesus's ministry, as described in the Bible, focuses on the individual, not the organization. I have struggled over the years to maintain my love for the character of Jesus, while at the same time feeling myself being pushed further and further away from the Church and its authority.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels alienated from church establishment, but who seeks to maintain a relationship with Jesus -- be it as Lord, inspiration, or hero.

This book challenges our way of thinking about God, Christ and the Church. No chance of putting God in the comfortable boxes we so often do. Rethink the history of our spiritual fathers and how we should view the Bible.

The Dream of God: A Call to Return by Verna J. Dozier really is a good read for those people who are looking for a more in-depth look at the church as an institution. Dozier believes that the church "has failed...to hold up again the vision of what it is called to be the biblical story..." In other words, the church has failed to follow the "dream of God." The reason that Dozier feels this way is because she says that the church is not up to code, so to speak, because the people of God have their calling from God. And I must admit, in some ways I agree with her.

Dozier's uses many references to the Bible. Because of the fact that I am a Christian, I do believe her evidence to be true. I guess that my answer would be completely different if I did not believe in God. I think that Dozier presented a very clear and precise argument. She stated in her book "What is impossible with human beings is possible with God". I think this quote pretty much sums up what she is trying to get across. What Dozier is trying to say is that human beings cannot do everything but if they would just put their trust in God they would be better off. Also, with followers hearing their call from God it would improve their church as a whole. Not just worshipping Him but doing what His word says. Then the church would be on its way to becoming that dream that God wants.

She voiced her concerns well and with supportive evidence to back up her argument. In my opinion, Dozier's argument was a deductively valid one. I'm sure that a philosopher could find many fallacies that Dozier's committed in her argument. Again, I guess my opinion would be biased in this case because of my I strong religious beliefs.

I would truly recommend Verna J. Dozier's The Dream of God: A Call to Return. She makes some really good points in her book. It will definitely get you thinking about things. More importantly it will have you step back and take a look at your own church and yourself as well. Dozier's book will most certainly make you want to turn your life around. This is the effect that it had on me personally. Just remember: "We have all failed the dream of God. The terribly patient God still waits."

I used to carry this book around with me, just to read certain sections over and over. If you are looking for a radical new direction nestled deeply within the traditonal, this book has much to lend.

The essential message is, "Don't worship Jesus, follow Him [in His example of ministry to the poor and oppressed]."

This call to follow Jesus is a good, if unremarkable, message and suggested applications receive a cursory examination in the final chapter. But the notion that following Jesus means we don't have to worship Him already hints at the off-balance, inept thinking of Verna Dozier.

The pages flow with contradictory ideas, mushy fantasy of what God really wants to do, and off-handed liberal denials of Scripture or the historic faith of the Church. The Episcopal church thinks of itself as a home for "reason" and for Verna this seems to mean that her "I think" trumps the Church Fathers and orthodoxy. Perhaps some of the sloppiness flows from the book's origin as a lecture series with certain spontaneous expressions coming in, but why did editors and friends leave the howlers in the text? Is it because no one wanted to challenge a woman writer - an elderly black woman writer? Does anyone dare to hurt Verna's feelings when all she wants is for people to get along?

Dozier says the "dream of God" is "a good creation of a friendly world of friendly folk beneath a friendly sky." This simplistic "you kids play nice" vision cannot be distinguished from any sentimental garden variety feel-good philosophy. What makes this so-called "dream of God" different from the "dreams" of a Hindu, Confucian, Mason or Disney World executive? Why did Jesus have to suffer mockery, beatings and crucifixion if all He was saying was "get along"?

The gratuitous slaps at Scripture and orthodoxy are also worrisome.

"Most scholars agree that the actual events of Israel's early history are different from the facts suggested by the narrative [Joshua]" (p. 66). So the Bible lies, and lies about itself when it says "Thy word is true from the beginning" (Psalm 119:160)? And Jesus was mistaken when He prayed, "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17b)?

Matthew and Luke's Gospels "are not essential to the witness" (page 127). So much for Athanaseus, Jerome and the Third Council at Carthage which settled the New Testament canon.

As for "making sense out of the Bible" we "can never do it by reading any part of it out of the context of the whole story" (p. 11). Take that, Francis Schaeffer! Yet what is so difficult to understand about the following propositional statements?

"Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." Matthew 5:42

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." Proverbs 12:15

"And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also." I John 4:21

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1

"Christianity abandoned Jesus' radical sense of time... for a mythical past-present-future, a `salvation history' according to which God had become a man in the past, was now reigning in heaven, and would return to the earth in the future" (p. 109) I wonder if Verna just skips the two words, "I believe..." each Sunday when the Apostle's Creed is recited at St. Mark's of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.?

Verna seems to have only a vague grasp of the uniqueness of Christianity (and Judaism before it). She writes "As religions go, Judaism was as good as any..." (p. 97). So much for Moses on Mt. Sinai, and the book of Hebrews.

Since she sees nothing special in Judaism or Christianity, it is not surprising to find her saying, "the church has gone astray - equating Jesus with the fullness of God, making Jesus an object of worship..." (p. 95). So much for Paul's letter to the Philippians.

"9. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2:9-11)

Verna is concerned that the institutional church is ineffectual and failing its mission. But it is no wonder the institutional church is anemic if ill-cooked stew like this is what they're feeding on, all the while thinking they're hearing a prophet like Amos. What would they think if they encountered a Leonard Ravenhill?