Reviews

A thought-provoking meditation on what it means to be finite. As a parent, I especially enjoyed his chapter on seasonality: parenting little ones can take a toll on one's emotional and psychological well-being, but recognizing that the Spirit has called me to this specific vocation "for the time being" allows me to attune myself to learn lessons I won't learn otherwise, lessons that won't be available to me in any other period of my life.

I'm also intrigued by Smith's situating of "universal truth" as something that is time-bound. The resurrection of Jesus engenders new truths, situations, and possibilities that did not exist before. As the Spirit continues to breathe life into the church as Jesus' body, we are invited to collaborate with God in exploring where He is calling the church in the present moment, and how new truths can also emerge as we extend resurrection life to the public square. Granted, I need to re-read these chapters more carefully to get the full scope of his argument (and read his more academic text, The Nicene Option), but I've been thinking about it a lot since I first encountered it.

tmarsh's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

rjmaupin's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

2.0

If any Christians are looking at this review for guidance, don’t read mine. I picked up this book in my local bookstore without doing a thorough read of the back and assumed it was a philosophical, not theological, musing on time. I was raised Christian, but am now an agnostic, so I had to explain that bias.

With all this in mind, I still decided to read it because I felt I could pull out some pieces of insight and/or just learn more about the contemporary Christian movement. I have to start by saying that I really admire the author and the way he is writing about religion. I haven’t heard ANY Christians acknowledge the rampant racism in religious (white) communities, so I was shocked to see Smith discussing it. I do wish he spoke more about it, especially the part at the beginning where he explains that the harmful histories inflicted upon people of color still exist in the present. There is so much more to say and I wish he pushed it further.

I wouldn’t say I disagreed with any of his general principles. Living with the seasons, embracing ephemerality, and having discernment are all key things to live by. I didn’t read the Meditations sections since I was treating this like philosophy and the end got a little too preachy/boring for me so I skimmed it. I’m sure it would be a great book for the correct audience, lol.

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