Through My Eyes
Growing together as sisters in Christ ... Sharing what God is doing in our lives ... Learning from one another on our individual life's journey. Articles can be found by individual writer or by subject ("Mothering is an Art Form", "Lessons from the Father", "Devotional Moments", Learning & Growing through Family", and "Finding Joy")
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Sacred Pathways, by Gary Thomas

A Book Review by Sherry Casella


From the title I thought this would be a book about prayer, but it's quite different. Think Myers-Briggs temperament analysis, Florence Littauer's Your Personality Tree, and Gary Chapman's The 5 Love Languages stirred together, with a liberal sprinkling of the audio/visual/kinesthetic learning styles, and you'll have an idea of what this book addresses.

First, this book does not explore the validity of various world religions; Thomas' approach is unabashedly Christian. But although there is one God from Genesis-Revelation, Thomas observes that believers through the ages have related to Him in different ways. From the pages of history, he traces these style preferences to movements and controversies within the church, and makes a pretty convincing case that although "it would be simplistic to suggest that such differences were the sole or even primary cause of many church splits and denominations... they did have some effect." Exploring historic church movements, personality temperaments, and a variety of biblical characters, he identifies an assortment of responses or "sacred pathways" in which individuals naturally relate to God.

Each of us has a heart response to God that feels more natural -- our "hardwiring," if you will. This response usually settles across 2 or 3 areas. Thomas' premise: by identifying our own spiritual temperaments, we can begin to understand ourselves (and each other) better and develop new ways to draw near to God.

In Part 2, he devotes one chapter to each of these nine pathways:
  • The Naturalist: Loving God Out-of-Doors
  • The Sensate: Loving God With the Senses
  • The Traditionalist: Loving God through Ritual and Symbol
  • The Ascetic: Loving God in Solitude and Simplicity
  • The Activist: Loving God through Action, even Confrontation
  • The Caregiver: Loving God by Loving Others
  • The Enthusiast: Loving God with Mystery and Celebration
  • The Contemplative: Loving God through Adoration
  • The Intellectual: Loving God with the Mind
Describing each pathway, he gives examples from everyday life, and identifies notable characters from Scripture (including Jesus!) who seem to relate to God in that way:
  • Abraham built altars
  • Elijah and Moses were confrontational activists
  • David demonstrated an enthusiastic, celebratory style of worship
  • Solomon built a beautiful temple and offered lavish sacrifices
  • Ezekiel and John describe loud, colorful images of God
  • Mordecai realized his calling by caring for orphaned Esther
  • Martha served
  • Mary adored
  • John the Baptist gives a glimpse of the ascetic lifestyle
Thomas then identifies each category's inherent risk for abuse and issues a warning. He wraps up each section with a 6-question assessment designed to help readers evaluate their natural tendencies on a scale of 1 to 5. We are encouraged to consider this profile in the aggregate and construct a comprehensive plan for spiritual growth by:
  • embracing our dominant pathways
  • not neglecting opportunities to develop our weaker ones
  • practicing non-judgmental tolerance of those whose temperaments may be vastly different from our own.
[I am almost convinced that many "worship wars" over the years could have been avoided if churches and their leaders had read this book!]

Weakness (actually this may be a strong point!): For packing in such a wealth of wisdom, this book is remarkably short at 271 pages. Some readers will be tempted to put on their "Now-WAIT-just-a-minute!" hats and begin picking apart some of the broader statements and descriptions. My advice: treat this book like a Reader's Digest Condensed Version, or like the Index to a set of encyclopedias. Rather than an exhaustive treatment of the subject, think of it as "a good introduction." (In other words, read it for what it does say, not for what it doesn't.)

Labels:

posted by gm @ 3:46 PM  
0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home
 
 
Previous Posts
Archives