Searching for God Knows What (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Some time ago I attended a seminar for Christian writers..." (more)
Key Phrases: Garden of Eden, Robert Tilton, John Sailhamer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, serves as campus ministry leader at Reed College. His writing voice is casual and somewhat eccentric, while his theories—largely derived from experience rather than extensive study—are at times brilliant, at times questionable and rarely supported by outside sources. The book covers a great deal of territory: Miller's walking away from God as a teenager and returning to his faith; the competitive nature of human relationships, painfully demonstrated through junior high memories; the meaning of morality and religion; the essence of true Christianity. But Miller's main theme is dissatisfaction with the way Christianity is taught and practiced. He says the religion ought not to be presented as a formula, its tenets broken down into bullet points to fit modern Western thought patterns. At its heart, Miller argues, Christianity is relationship. Interested people should be presented with biblical stories rather than steps to salvation. Miller also believes that many Christians behave correctly but their actions lack meaning: "The tough thing about Christian spirituality is, you have to mean things. You can't just go through the motions or act religious for the wrong reasons... this thing is a thing of the heart." However, Miller offers only faint suggestions to replace the formulaic or systematic approach to faith that he denounces.
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Product Description

In Searching for God Knows What, Donald Miller's provocative and funny new book, he shows readers that the greatest desire of every person is the desire for redemption. Every person is constantly seeking redemption (or at least the feeling of it) in his or her life, believing countless gospels that promise to fix the brokenness. Typically their pursuits include the desire for fulfilling relationships, successful careers, satisfying religious systems, status, and escape. Miller reveals how the inability to find redemption leads to chaotic relationships, self-hatred, the accumulation of meaningless material possessions, and a lack of inner peace. Readers will learn to identify in themselves and within others the universal desire for redemption. They will discover that the gospel of Jesus is the only way to find meaning in life and true redemption. Mature believers as well as seekers and new Christians will find themselves identifying with the narrative journey unfolded in the book, which is simply the pursuit of redemption.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785263713
• ISBN-13: 978-0785263715
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (126 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,043 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 146 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review, July 27, 2005

By	Gabriel Guzman "geek" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I picked this book up on a whim while visiting <a href="http://www.powells.com/">Powells Books</a> in Portland, OR. It was just sitting there on the shelf, and pretty much summed up what I was thinking to myself at the time: I know I'm looking for something, but God knows what that might be. I picked it up, put it back down, continued browsing, and then saw it again on my way out the door, and decided to buy it.

I don't know why it never dawned on me that it was a Christian book written by a Christian writer (It's not like the word GOD is in the title), which may have been a blessing, since in general I feel that most of that genre is stuffed with preachy type self help books trying to save you, or get you to come to Church. Once I started reading it and figured out that it WAS a Christian book, I had to pause and convince myself to keep reading, though I felt sure I would run into some of that convert or go to hell rhetoric, so popular among hard core Christians. To my amazement and delight there wasn't any of that in this book at all.

It is, quite simply, a young man ( I assume, there is no picture), well versed in scripture, and theology, talking about why the human race is where it is, and why we are never satisfied with what we have. Not only that, but he never makes you feel guilty about anything. He stresses the relational nature of the stories in the Bible, as opposed to the formulaic nature of the people who generally interpret the Bible for their own means.

The main point that Mr. Miller tries to pound into your head, is that people have become estranged from God (the fall in the garden) and that they no longer have the awesome glory of God within themselves. When we lost this link to God, we needed something outside of ourselves to show us that we have value, friends, loved ones, etc. We were no longer sure that we were worthy of love, and no longer sure of our own self worth since God was no longer there to tell us that we were loved. It is Mr Miller's belief that all the tragedies of human history, from cliques in high school to WWII all stem from this separation that now exists between humanity and God.

Mr. Miller also talks in detail about Jesus, and his role in the salvation of mankind. He again focuses on the relationship with Jesus as the important part of the message, and not any rules or guidelines setup by some organization somewhere. He even takes right wing conservatives, and holier than thou Christian ministers to task on the Gay marriage issue, reminding them that homosexuals would probably have been among Jesus' closest friends, along with the prostitutes, tax collectors and other characters that Jesus generally associated with, and that Jesus' message about loving one another extends to all people, sinners and saved, alike, and not just to those people who agree with your agenda.

All in all, this was an excellent book on Christian faith, which I enjoyed reading tremendously.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspired and annoyed....must be a good book, November 10, 2004

By	sidneymu "sidneymu" (AZ) - See all my reviews

I just recently read his last book, Blue Like Jazz, and loved it. This one seems to have a little more of a serious tone. He opened up quite a bit and had a little less of the light hearted story telling of Blue Like Jazz. At time he inspired me and at other times he annoyed me...sort of like someone would if you knew them really well. I have come to really appreciate that his opinions are well thought out and not condescending like many other authors that write these types of books. He sort of reminds me of Philip Yancey at times, another thoughtful Christian author that I really like. It was funny to see that he writes about being a fan of his too and quotes him in one chapter. The chapter on morality was fantastic and really changed the way I'm thinking about morality, politics, Chrisitanity, and the culture war everyone is talking about.

One of the main things I walked away from this book thinking was that while it was still important to be aware of political issues and vote, as a Christian I should be way more focused on relationships to Christ and others than political causes. As Miller points out, despite a highly charged political environment in his time Jesus didn't join a political party or run for office to change things, but deeply engaged those around him in a loving and forgiving way. Same with Paul and the disciples. I though this was a brilliant point, but then I go to Miller's web site, bluelikejazz.com, to find him pimping a bunch of activist organizations that in his words 'seems to be participating, at least to some degree, in the concerns of our God'. That's cool, but I think that's a pretty big stretch for some of the politically charged organizations he lists like moveon.org. Huh? I'd be just as confused if he asked everybody to listen to and support Rush Limbaugh because he was in part doing God's work. This seems to be exactly against the point he makes in his book. Despite this confusion, I would highly recommend this book and plan on following Miller's future projects. I just hope he doesn't start writing about how all good Christians should be Democrats (or Republicans for that matter).

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Read With Discernment, January 1, 2006

By	Peter Gurry (Cincinnati & Dallas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Read With Discernment

Miller has some important things to say in this book that I really appreciated and was convicted by. For instance, his description of the human condition--that we are all in desperate search for approval--is good (though I didn't agree with his lesser points in ch. 9). I also liked that he said, "The motive [of morality] is love, love of God, and of my fellow man" (p. 184) and "... A Jesus who ... wants you and me to be, above all, comfortable. Is this the real Jesus?" (p. 146).

However, despite some of the positives, this book should be read carefully which can be hard at times because his style of writing is informal and personal. Because he writes conversationally it would be easy to accept everything he says without thinking too much about it. For example, he says, "My gut tells me the key to life is relational, not propositional" (p. 121) This sounds good at first read. And this, I think, is the heart of what Miller is getting at. The problem with it is that you can't have a relationship without propositional truth. You can't have a relationship with Jesus if you don't know who He is. My fear is that in his pursuit of the relational Miller will disregard the propositional truths found in Scripture. I think it's a true statement that what we think drives how we act. Knowledge comes before action. Or to put it another way: Theory without practice is dead. Practice without theory is deadly.

Later in the book he says, "What we need here, truly, is faith in a being, not a list of ideas" (p. 161). The problem is that if your ideas of whom that Being is--or worse, if you have no ideas at all--your faith is misplaced. You can't have faith in Jesus if you don't know who He is. His use of scripture is, at best, bad (especially ch. 12).

So if you're friends are all saying, "You have to read this book!" Do. Read it, and let what's good convict and encourage you and let what's not fall by the wayside. Read it, but read it discerningly.