Skip to main content

When Donkeys Talk



When Donkeys Talk: A Quest to Rediscover the Mystery and Wonder of Christianity by Tyler Blanski

When Donkeys Talk is a humorous yet serious take on casting a more complete vision of what it means to be a Christian in the modern world.  Part apologetic, part cultural analysis, but more importantly, this book casts aspersion on the individualism and scientism of our world and looks to a more embodied Christianity.  Tyler tries to put us back in the mindset of a Medieval person wading through the waters of science, faith, and everyday living.  Seeking to integrate the body and spirit, Tyler seeks to identify Christian practices, including the sacraments in a way that does not segregate the spiritual from the bodily but rather incorporates them together.

What I most enjoyed about this book was exactly the point above, namely that the earthly or bodily is not to be discarded in God’s world but is extremely important. Tyler writes, “For the ancient Jews, God was literally taking up his abode on earth, especially in the Temple.  Like the tabernacle in the wilderness, the Temple was the place from which God ruled Israel.  The Temple was where God established his domain, where heaven and earth overlapped and interlocked” (95).  As Jesus came into the world, heaven met earth in clash of cymbals resounding in the pages of the gospels through suffering, compassion and ultimately death and resurrection.  Blanski points out later that space is holy in Hebrew theology, marking the place that God dwells and makes himself known.  What is helpful in this regard is the opposition to Gnostic thinking even present in our churches that places our entire hope in flying away to heaven on clouds, rather than the Lord of Glory coming to dwell with men in the new heavens and the new earth. 

This might be a minor point but I thought the idea of the Holy Pilgrimage was a unique way of talking about Christianity.  But even better, I think the book promotes a way of dealing with God, the Bible, and life altering issues that is both serious and amusing.  In Tyler’s conversations with a church deacon, friends Olive and Britta, you get a personal glimpse into someone wearing their faith on their sleeve, struggling with issues but allowing others to join in the conversation.  For this reason, I think the book is helpful in today’s culture of finding those along life’s way who can engage major issues, even pressing back on you for clarity. 

The only real drawback in the book was it was at times disjointed.  Tyler could have spent more time on the sacraments and in building connections between the earthiness of the Biblical story and the future.  I enjoyed the book and was interested enough to read it in a few days.

Thanks to Zondervan and the BookSneeze program for the review copy of the book in exchange for review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saving Casper

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Casper-Christian-Conversion-Conversation/dp/1414364881 Many readers will quickly know the authors of this book from their previous release Jim and Casper Go to Church.  Jim and Matt’s new book entitled Saving Casper focuses on the way we talk about conversion in the church and the devastating ways we have pushed away atheists and other non-believers by our posture.  Both Jim and Matt traversed the national landscape, meeting in churches and asking hard questions about faith, conversion, and life. The basic premise of the book and travel is laid out here in their words, “Part of what Casper and I are trying to achieve when we speak to a group of Christians is to help people move a little bit on their “judgment meter.”  This capacity, while intellectually and often theologically uncomfortable,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Essential Christian Doctrine

  Essential Christian Doctrine , General Editor John MacArthur Pastor John MacArthur has for years been teaching the Word of God in both pulpit ministry, books, and conferences with an aim to displaying God’s revelation to his listeners in a winsome and foundational manner.  This new book, Essential Christian Doctrine takes an entire life of teaching and preaching and encapsulates the main contours of the Christian faith for its readers.  John in a systematic way highlights the most necessary teachings from Scripture including God’s Word, the Trinity, while also including sections on Man and the Future. One of the most helpful ways the authors bring to light biblical truth and theology is the way in which they group together particular themes.  In the section on the Holy Spirit, instead of a complex discussion of personhood, word pictures of the Holy Spirit are introduced in a discernible and profitable manner.  The metaphors for the Holy Spirit include fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

God's Grace for All of Life

The Romance of Grace by Jim McNeely III To be honest, when I received this book in the mail I had visions of what it might be like with a title like, ‘The Romance of Grace.’  The emotional rollercoaster and one-sided perspective on how our emotions fuel our faith was my presumption about the book, but this was the furthest thing from the truth as I started reading.  The Romance of Grace by Pastor Jim McNeely III is a careful look at the movements of grace in the way God pursues us with his love and his desire to get us to love him back.  McNeely writes, “We are entering a cosmic romance with a passionate lover, and He is interested in our heart’s truest desire.  His deepest objective isn’t to make us more moral; it is to get us to love Him back.  Virtue is the fruit, not the root” (18).  Why is this helpful?  For one thing, beginning with God’s initiating grace frees us from starting out on the wrong foot in the way we tell the story and...
2 comments
Read more