CT Interviews Donald Miller

I've been looking for this online ever since the new Christianity Today came out and I read it.  Well, it's finally online.  Donald Miller is interviewed by Stan Guthrie: "Finding God in Odd Places: There's more to faith than grids and logic, says Donald Miller."  I think it's thought provoking.  Here's the last section, but please go and read it all.

You are big on the experiential. How about truth?

Ultimately everything is purely experiential. If we could divide the complexity of our reality into grids and categories, God would have communicated through the Bible in grids and categories. There are mysteries that cannot be explained logically.

That isn't to say there isn't truth. I certainly believe there's absolute truth. My criticism is, however many years ago, that the Bible or Christian spirituality was changed out of an experiential [approach] into grids and logical kinds of thinking.

I think it's hurt our faith. I think it's hurt me. For instance, I had always grown up believing the Lord's Prayer was a list of philosophical paradigms that we'd check off. But when we actually read the text, we understand that Jesus is teaching us a dynamic new way to experience faith, that we will relate to God as a father. It wasn't until I understood that the dynamic of our faith is relational rather than logical that I started maturing in my faith.

Can't you bring them together?

Well, certainly you can.

"Rather than" is pretty stark.

It is very stark. But it's the language of our culture.

So you're overstating your case.

I'm overstating my case, because I don't feel like anybody will listen if I don't.

Comments

[Darren]

I read that interview this morning. I liked what Miller had to say. I'm just about done with Through Painted Deserts which I have enjoyed. He weaves a theme throughout the book of the difference in asking "Why?" versus "How?" arguing we do too much of the latter and not enough of the former. I see that same sentiment in his answer to the question about truth in the interview.

[James Paul]

I like his comment regarding why he writes. He writes "for himself." I resonate with this idea as a songwriter. If it isn't coming from a real place inside then it usually doesn't make an impact. Creating for others can motivate us to lie as we try to think about what others want/need to hear rather than what we've really come to learn/know about God or ourselves.

[Rhett Smith]

thanks for your blog...I'm enjoying what I am reading, and being challenged...I'm glad to come across this article, esp. since I'm bringing Donald Miller out to our college ministry www.thequestbelair.org in October.

rhett