Customer Reviews

The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth

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A great title. An eye-popping cover. A renowned writer. I picked up "The Slumber of Christianity" secure in the knowledge that Dekker can communicate spiritual ideas, but wondering if these ideas would be meaty enough to warrant 200 pages. The answer is yes--and no.

Since the beginning of his meteoric fiction career, Dekker has shown an amazing capacity for couching biblical truths in page-turning stories. He tells parables in a modern form, driving home truths that speak to the heart while entertaining his readers. Dekker's writing voice is suited for non-fiction, unpretentious and direct. I particularly enjoyed the sections where he shared glimpses of his past, snippets that provide a foundation for understanding his purpose as a writer.

The question he poses right up front is relevant, emergent, post-modern--and all those other catch phrases. It speaks to the struggle most Christians face daily: Why am I not satisfied, though I have Christ living in me? In a sentence, the answer Dekker offers is that we have lost sight of our hope in a heavenly future. He makes thought-provoking points about the enjoyment of pleasure on earth as a spiritual foretaste of heaven. He underlines the ways we have wandered from the hope of glory. In a few places, he distracted me with simplistic logical jumps, expecting me to follow without question. I could never disagree with his arrival point, though. He wants to say something, and he wants to get us there quickly.

On a conceptual level, I loved the book. I think Dekker does a superb job of communicating clearly, without turning the book into a theological exercise. He wants this to be practical, applicable. Which is where he lost me just a tad. I would've liked to see more real-life examples of how to apply this hope to the rent that comes due the same day the car blows a head gasket. We are spiritual and physical beings. Dekker makes a good point that our emotions and physical side are part of God's good creation, not results of the Fall. Yet we must negotiate this world, with its turmoils all around. In a sense, he says, it's all about an attitude.

Ultimately, "The Slumber of Christianity" shakes us. It speaks to our heads and hearts, demanding that we break away from hopelessness and fix our eyes ahead, that we move through life with vision and hope. These are valid and vital concerns. Applying these to everyday life requires an active relationship with the Author of that Hope. There are no easy answers, no quick fixes here, but in a world full of spiritual sleeping pills this is a strident call to rise from our slumber with focused purpose.

Ted Dekker has been reading my journal. And now he's written a book about it.

Well, maybe not . . . but The Slumber of Christianity spoke to my soul in a way that really makes me wonder. Here is a book that cuts straight to the heart of the biggest issues I've ever wrestled with and the questions that for so long I was afraid to ask myself.

Are you passionate about Jesus Christ? Dekker asks. Are you obsessed with heaven? Are you longing to die and be united forever with the Lover of your soul? If not, perhaps there is something wrong. Perhaps we've closed our eyes and fallen asleep to what really matters, choosing to content ourself with trinkets when a priceless treasure is available to us. Perhaps Christianity itself has fallen into a slumber.

The Slumber of Christianity is a wake-up call to the Church. Using the biblical authors and his own life as reference points, Dekker builds a case for hope not on this life that is passing away, but on the life to come.

This is a book that will open your eyes, rouse you from slumber, and - if you let it - make you thirst for God in a way that maybe you never dreamed was possible.

It's time to wake up.

I'll be honest. I waited for this one anxiously, and when I got it, I only meant to read it a little at a time due to the short length and the speed at which I read. I should've known better. I read half and then had to put it down because there was so much spinning through my mind, then completed it the next day. It's a bit difficult to read someone's journal when you aren't even in the same state, but, even so, I had to wonder.

If you've been around the Circle message board for any amount of time, you have a faint idea of how long Ted Dekker's fans have been waiting for The Slumber of Christianity to hit the stores. If not, well, as a fellow book-lover I'm sure you have the general idea of that adrenaline rush that hits every time one of your top ten writers comes out with a new book.

And, if you've been there, you've seen the discussions that ring so familiar in Slumber. Read Dekker's fiction and you've a good, solid feel for what to expect in his non-fiction. These familiar themes of love, truth, joy, sacrifice, obsession-these resonate throughout the book, and you won't be disappointed.

How many of you, ladies, gentlemen, crave Heaven's gates to badly you think your nervous system might rip out of your skin? That craving, that constant dissatisfaction with life and the Christian's yearning for streets paved with gold and the Father's right hand, is exactly what Dekker means to stir inside his readers' hearts. It's on every page.

His point, without giving too much away, is that too many Christians let that dream go into hibernation and die. Dekker goes on to describe the hows and whys, but his primary concern is waking the sleeping giant. If you enjoyed C. S. Lewis, John Piper, and Oswald Chambers, which I did, then I don't mislead you when I say you'd like this one, too.

Unlike the send-off review which stated that Mark Buchanan's book or Roberts book was better, I really take exception to that. Ted Dekker has written a marvelous book, and the introduction by Randy Alcorn is terrific. Dekker's insight is from the heart and not musings or vignettes from other people. He has fleshed out this book through his fiction and his life, and he is totally believable, and his message is undeniably relevant. He states we need to keep our focus on the love of Christ and His vision in our souls about Heaven and what awaits us. All you need to do is read "The Martyr's Song" trilogy to feel his passion, and you can feel it.

I'd give this book a dozen stars if I could, it is that powerful. Thank you, Ted Dekker, for your vision and inspiration. May you continue to provoke us to good works!!!

I have long-since learned that when an actress launches a career in music it is best to avoid her album. Similarly, when a musician tries her hand at acting the results are usually painful. It seems the same is generally true when an author of novels tries his hand at non-fiction. So it was with some trepidation that I opened The Slumber of Christianity, a book written by Ted Dekker, an author known for his heart-pounding thrillers. This represents his first attempt at writing a non-fiction book. Thankfully, it turns out that he is a gifted writer who is able to express himself in either genre.

"It seems that the lives of Christians are pretty much the same as the unchurched. We face the same challenges, the same heartaches. And, just like the rest of the world, most of aren't happy" (from the back cover). Frustrated with the lack of joy he sees in those who profess Christ, Dekker came to see that many believers have fallen asleep to some basic truths that could forever change their lives; they have lost their hope for heaven. They have lost their obsession for life after death.

"We have here in this life many foretastes of the bliss that waits us, but unless we know what those foretastes are of, they will never satisfy us. Unless we become desperate for the bliss of the next life, we will never enjoy this life" (page 11). Many Christians have opted to live a life of worldly Christianity. "It's a form of godliness, stripped of the power of hope. In so many teachings and books designed to prod us into successful Christian living, there's a preoccupation with life on earth rather than the life to come" (page 75). Christians have opted to seek pleasure not in the promises of God for the world to come, but in the foretastes of glory God has provided to us now. No wonder, then, that so many Christians are dissatisfied! They continually wonder if this is all there is even when the Bible is filled with admonitions to look to the life to come. "The fact is, nothing in this life can satisfy unless it is fully bathed in an obsession for eternity. Nothing. Not a purpose-driven life, not a grand adventure, not the love of a dashing prince of the hand of a beautiful maiden...These all will fail our need for unencumbered happiness. We will always be torn and frustrated, no matter how much rejoicing we do this side of death, unless we awaken to a new passion for heaven on earth" (page 11-12).

Having adequately and eloquently described the condition of the church, Dekker turns to a prescription of the cure. Unfortunately, this is where the book loses steam. He suggest three ways of reawakening the heart to heaven: meditation, reading and corporate exercises. Sadly, the mediation he suggests is not the type that was often practiced by the Puritans, who focused their thoughts and hearts on a particular subject, but the type taught by Richard Foster and Henri Nouwen. The sections on reading and corporate exercises were moderately better, but still quite unsatisfying, often backed by sloppy use of Scripture.

So what are we to say about this book? It is an admirable attempt to bring sense to condition that is evident within the church. Why is it that so many Christians speak of a joy that they do not display in their lives? Why do we speak of faith, hope and love, yet show so little hope? Dekker provides much wisdom in explaining how this has happened and in explaining the danger of such a mindset. But when it comes to his solution, I was left unsatisfied, unconvicted by his use of Scripture. As half a book it is wonderful. As a whole book it is somewhat disappointing.

I love Ted Dekker novels, don't get me wrong, they are excellent in quality and storyline. But non-fiction? Can this be done. One of my greatest fears is mixing of fiction with non-fiction. Ted rolls down the barriers, and create a book that will change your presecption of heaven. One of the greatest sentences he mentions, that really sums up the book, is before we start developing a purpose driven life or purpose in life, we have to have a longing for heaven. Now, this may sound wierd, since we need a purpose -driven life. But something made sense. Heaven! Heaven! Our drive in life should be towards the afterlife. It should be towards God. We should stop restricting people from getting excited about God, and start letting believers go wild for God. That is what Ted is saying. And that is purpose of this book. Yes, he does teach you like a father would teach a son, or a manuel would teach a person, but he does it so unqiunely and calmly. By the end of the novel, you don't feel like you had to go to serminary school to learn about theology and heaven. Very well done.

I wonder if you have ever visited a doctor who correctly diagnosed your ailment and then prescribed an ineffective cure. Perhaps he or she returned to your examination room after a fair absence and, looking over the rims of doctorly spectacles said, "I believe you have contracted condition X. Have you experienced any of the following symptoms?" And as that list is read, your hopes soar because you realize that the good doc has correctly recognized exactly what has kept you under the weather.
How frustrated would you be when, after paying for the visit and the prescription copay, the medicine was largely impotent to restore your health? I daresay you might even doubt whether the doctor correctly diagnosed the problem after all. Such is the danger of "The Slumber of Christianity."
I originally picked the title off of a shelf in a book liquidator's store at an outlet mall, primarily because I have heard of Ted Dekker but never read anything he has written. As I read chapter after chapter my hopes soared. Dekker correctly and winsomely diagnosed the malady with which I have been struggling for quite awhile now, and the more I read about him the more I appreciated this kindly figure who had spent so much time researching my ailment.
And then came chapter seven. If you are intent on buying the book regardless of what I have to say, then at least tear out the chapters after chapter six. The last half of the book suffers from a major flaw in chapter seven. Dekker has recommended that we rely on emotion, even stoke our emotional furnaces, that we might all the more ardently feel the hope we have in heaven. Even this is not such a bad prescription, except for his disparaging comments on reason, which must be a fundamental element in the solution to our despair and indifference toward heaven.
Reason is how we humans apprehend truth. It is the strength by which we grasp what is real. And hope is the sensation we feel at having finally got our mental hands around something solid. Admonishing a person to stoke hope while rejecting reason is equal to encouraging them to make the RPM needle on their tachometer dance after removing the auto's engine. Reason grasps truth. Truth inspires hope. Hope is what we need. Therefore, we must keep reason.
At first, I thought Dekker was going to settle for disparaging godless reason, "do-it-yourself spirituality" apart from God's grace. But he didn't stop there. "The hope we have," writes Dekker, "...is based on emotion, not reason." (118) This is the false dichotomy that wrecks the latter half of his work. The hope we have is rooted in both. Reason offers us something in which to find hope. Emotion is the stuff our hope is made of. Prescribing hope without reason is like handing someone an ice cream cone without the cone: messy and impossible to enjoy. A reasonable faith devoid of hope, which is what Dekker (and I) experienced, is equally undesirable; ice cream cones aren't all that great by themselves.
Perhaps what is most disturbing is his misuse of scripture to support his point. His misinterpretation/misquotation on page 120 of Colossians 1:5 leaves the reader with the impression that the verse only speaks of hope. But the same verse implies that this hope is the result of the Colossians' understanding and response to "the word of truth." Again, truth is only apprehended through reason. Feelings aren't true or false; statements and propositions are.
In the same vein, Dekker has egregiously misquoted Hebrews 11:1:

Dekker: "Faith is the substance of things HOPED for, not the substance of things proven." (Emphasis his.)
NIV: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
NLT: "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see."

Dekker's variation is spun. There are more ways to prove things than through the senses. I have REASONED that if God is real, personal, and perfect and if the Bible is His word, then what the Bible says He will do, He will do. The Bible says He will redeem us and bring us into an eternal dwelling in His presence. Therefore, He will bring us into an eternal dwelling in His presence. The reasoning is flawless, and not entirely based on what I can see. Nevertheless, if this syllogism holds and if its premises are true, then the conclusion is proven and Dekker's rendering of Hebrews 11:1 is misleading. Moreover, he's promoted his either/or mentality, when Hebrews favors a both/and approach. This never works out well. Sorry Ted.
Sadly, because of this crucial misstep, the prescription is lacking. I have an idea, though. Rather than encouraging you to avoid the book altogether, I'd say buy it and read it up through chapter six.

ALong

Ted Dekker, known for highly creative plot twists and turns in books such as WHITE, OBSESSED and THR3E, takes an unsurprising writer's turn toward nonfiction in his latest title, THE SLUMBER OF CHRISTIANITY. This missionary kid-turned-successful-businessman-turned-bestselling-author believes that many believers have been seduced into a kind of spiritual boredom, merely surviving rather than thriving in their faith journey.

He writes, "In reading the New Testament, we see the writers repeatedly expressing their insatiable longing for their own inheritance, the hope of glory. For the bliss that awaited them. But the groaning for the afterlife so often expressed by these early writers has become a moan of boredom in the church today. We are more interested in the pleasures of this life than the bliss of the next."

Dekker suggests that nothing will truly satisfy us in this life unless it is "fully bathed in an obsession for eternity." Because many Christians focused their efforts on finding pleasure and happiness in this life, they are missing out on the true joy that comes from keeping one eye on eternity.

Unfortunately, the book gets off to a lackluster start. Dekker begins by recounting his own painful childhood as the son of missionaries, describing in detail specific moments of heartache, loneliness, and feeling like a misfit. While his stories are vulnerable and honest, they read as if he's still bleeding as they're retold, and as a result a small amount of anger, much like a low-grade fever, quietly sweeps through some of the prose.

Yet Dekker is able to focus his anger, disappointment and frustration into a transformational message of hope concerning the life to come, and that's where SLUMBER comes alive.

While many books tend to lose their luster halfway through, Dekker manages to kick his book into fifth gear --- a sign of the writer's natural talent and ability that undoubtedly will continue to develop in his next few nonfiction titles. The latter half of the book has an unmistakable passion as it seeks to wake Christians out of their sleepy state and into the God-reality that awaits them. The writing is quick, insightful and fast-paced as the author explores the meaning of hope, obsession, eternity and pleasure.

Dekker examines a bit of his own passion when he explores the theology of imagination. He argues that imagination is a "critical gift" for Christians. He goes on to use pieces of his own fiction to drive home simple but profound truths. Fans of Dekker's work will be excited to see him blend his talents for fiction and nonfiction to teach lessons, much like Jesus did in the Gospels. The book concludes with a practical question-and-answer chapter where Dekker addresses specific questions about his writing, theology and the message of the book.

Ted Dekker sets out to ignite a fresh passion for heaven on earth, and by the end of the book he clearly achieves his goal. If you're looking for an alarm clock for your personal faith journey, this book definitely is ticking.

--- Reviewed by Margaret Feinberg (www.margaretfeinberg.com).

I fell in love with Dekker in the Circle trilogy and have also read Three and Obsession and found each one outstanding. I believe this may be his best work simply because it demonstrates his ability to use his talent to "awaken" where many Christian teachings are falling short today. He is entertaining and challenging at the same time and uses aspects of his own life as illustrations which are extremely applicable. A definite recommendation for any Christian who is suffering from stale life and needs to be refreshed.

While I have thoroughly enjoyed Ted Dekker's soul stirring fiction, I was curious about this, his first non-fiction book. Here, Ted emphasizes the necessity of hope which thematically intertwines his stories. Using his own truly extraordinary testimony, he explains how hope is the key to a vibrant Christian life. I won't give into the temptation to tell you more, you should read it yourself, it is worth it.

I only disagree at the one point where Ted seems to argue that we should use our heart and intuition more to the exclusion of our intellect. Of course he does use the `intellect' to argue his case which is an inconsistency. Throughout the book however, it is obvious that he stands against the post modern flimsy view of truth, being unattainable and unknowable. It is regretfully disappointing that he seems a bit cloudy on the role of the intellect in the Christian life.

The book had only one or two slow spots. The reading was well done on the audio format.

-A Dekker Fan