Book Review: Coffee House Theology by Ed Cyzewski
Coffee House Theology is a wonderful book that engages a conversation with the postmodern Christian mind in asking questions about theology. I felt it was more of an introduction to contextual theology than an in-depth study. It left me wanting more depth from this writer. The book gave a clear description of what contextual theology is about… I love this statement “Our local settings and cultural values-in other words, our context-influence how we read God’s Word.” Pg. 19 The Global viewpoint of our view on God and scripture was insightful. On pg. 62 Ed raises an important point about culture, “Every culture has opportunities and challenges.”
The author Ed Cyzewski (MDiv Biblical Theological Seminary, BA Taylor University) is a freelance writer and speaker who has contributed to numerous magazines and book projects. He blogs at the Christian Post, as well as his personal blogs on writing (www.edcyz.com) and theology (www.inamirrordimly.com).
My favorite chapter was Chapter 3 titled “Mission why the church needs theology” by far is worth the price of the book. I love this excerpt taken from pg 34--“Instead of asking how we can get people to church, mission asks how we can get church to the people.” It would be great for the author to write a book using only Chapter 3!
To compare The Andy Griffith Show to the Real World on MTV was a great analogy of how modern and postmodern viewpoints exist and clash. I was challenged to reinvent the way I dialogue with nonbelievers in this new postmodern world. I appreciated his clarity in that sometimes the Word of God will be prophetic and go against the grain of culture. The goal as stated on pg. 101 was to be relevant and prophetic. I had to repent from this truthful statement “We can’t hope to keep the church precisely like its early predecessors anymore than we can keep bell-bottoms or togas in style.”
Being a conservative orthodox Christian I had concerns over several liberal ecumenical undertones. Chapter 11 dealing with catholic and charismatic experiences was for me extrabiblical. I would not discount the book for this as I believe the church needs to begin dialogue in a postmodern world today more than ever! This book begins that needed discussion. The end of every chapter had a web link to the author’s blog to further study that chapter out…that is just too cool!
Jason Rigby
No comments:
Post a Comment