Recommended to me by: a client.
Learning about marketing has taught me a great phrase to avoid frustration with a business’s advertising, selection, or service: “not the target market.” I simply assume that I am not an intended customer of that business, and continue on my way.
Similarly, my Jewish background and mix of Buddhist and Pagan beliefs mean I am clearly not the target market of this book written for evangelical Christians. I had to constantly read around the assumptions that the reader is a Christian, that Christians are marginalized in modern society, and that it is a duty to convert others.
I deeply agree with the core message that, no matter what our beliefs about the hereafter, we need to create meaning in our lives and protect our environment in the here and now. I also agree that the best “witnessing” for any faith comes from daily actions, not words.
I enjoyed the colorful vignettes from the author’s travels as an exploratory geologist. I engaged with the discussion of how to live in the modern world in a principled and ethical way.
I had heard and struggled with the idea that 10% of one’s income should be tithed to charity. I like the Biblically-supported modification presented here, that the tithe includes community celebration, money spent to eat, drink, and be merry in the company of everyone who has lived to enjoy the day. My heart opens to the idea of giving back by celebrating in community.
In the end, the book felt like a handful of fragments rather than a coherent whole. I suspect the connections lie in the parts that did not apply to me.
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