Blue Like Jazz, the popular book by Donald Miller has has been brought to my attention a few times lately and with the arrival of Jazz Notes a few months ago which the publisher calls “the literary equivalent of a remix CD — cool sound-bytes strategically crafted from Don Miller’s classic Blue Like Jazz”, I think it’s worth taking a moment to point to few reviews of the book Blue Like Jazz.
From Gary Gilley’s review of Blue Like Jazz:
If he could lead them to God, according to the path of Scripture, rather than on some journey to spiritual jazz-land, then Blue Like Jazz would be a valuable resource. But Miller lacks the map himself. His journey leads him to Gandhi (p. 106, 116), Mother Teresa (p. 106, 201) and Brennan Manning (p. 182). It leads to a world which lacks rules and expectations (p. 210, 214, 215), elevates tolerance (p.216), self-love (chapter 19) and grace — as long as a person is not a Fundamentalist (see p. 15, 33, 79).
And while Tim Challies notes that he enjoyed the book in some ways he also says this in his review of Blue Like Jazz:
This irrational, feelings-based approach to Christianity is consistent with postmodern thought, where experience rather than an objective standard is the arbiter of truth. Miller rarely returns to the Scripture, and instead opts to explain his beliefs through the lens of his own experience. He seems to trust in experience instead of having a rational faith in a rational God who is truly sovereign. In fact, I do not recall any specific references from the Scripture – an oddity considering that the book claims to be thoughts on Christian Spirituality