Customer Reviews

Looking Around for God: The Oddly Reverent Observations of an Unconventional Christian

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a brilliant little book containing honest observations and stories that left me thinking, discussing, and referring chapters to everyone around me. Autry's journey to and through faith is unique yet easily recognizable....something identifiable to those of us who struggle with our own theologies. For those of my friends who tend to find solace in an orderly religious life, this is not the book I'd offer. It is
unconventional.

But, to my larger group of friends and family, those who tend to circle around, zig-zag, frequently fall back from institutional models of church community while yearning for the Lord's ongoing presence, this book promises and delivers. It's a gem, filled to the brim with evidences of God's grace.

I just finished this book and was amazed by the author's ability to bridge some chasms of ideology created largely by fundamentalists of all persuasions - Christian, New Age and all the rest. Anyone who was raised in the Christian tradition will benefit from this book. After all, the ineffable is by definition unexplainable and we humans love to have everything explained so it makes sense. Sitting in the questions and basking in the mystery takes the kind of deep faith this author obviously possesses. Love his poetry as well as his stories too.

When I went to rank this book five stars I noticed almost all the reviewers who went ahead of me did the same. Seems pretty unanimous!

When Bill Moyers writes something, I always read it. On the back of this book he says, "Yes, it's true: I did urge Jim Autry to write this book. For lesser sins the good Lord may yet forgive me; this one could be unpardonable." That was enough for me so I bought this book and read it. Moyers went on to say, "I am now a co-conspirator in the promotion of a heresy that could prove contagious if this book is widely read and Christians snagged in the cul-de-sac of fundamentalism discover that faith is a continuing and exhilerating course in adult education....But I accept the hazard of putting in peril my prospects for paradise. We have need of the Gospel of St. James, and someone had to insist that he put down on paper what privately he had been sharing for so long with a company of old friends and fellow sinners whose eccentric pieties and personal traits and travails have few equals since John Bunyan dined alone at some 17th century English crossroads beginning his pilgrim's progress....I have marveled at the faith of a man who had said he had little."

I "took up and read" the book on the word of Bill Moyers. What a read! Autry's essays are delightful and insightful. This is true because his essays indicate that religious leaders should always share, caringly and sparingly and honestly, their own sacred journeys. This book will challenge you and maybe even cause you to reconsider your own journey. Yes, the pathway to light and truth runs through the heresies that must be brought to light for what they are. He does no less with his gentle touch. Although it isn't a theological heresy, he writes an essay that should be read by all those who have questions about the invasion of Iraq and any other "pre-emptive war;" he calls it "Who Would Jesus Kill?" Here is a book that blends prose and poetry in such a fashion of generosity and humility that he even dares to conclude with "Just asking." Read it. It is a delightful book.

Autry effectively articulates my often inarticulate theological thinking. I wish I remembered who recommended this book to me. I owe them a big thank you.