This book is for people prepared to think about their lives. It is an account of Christian spirituality, a conversation in which the author does all the talking as he leads the reader along a serious consideration of what a spiritual Christian really is. Clapp is editorial director of Brazos Press and writes in a refreshing way. He shows that Christians are human being’s who are whole, not to be split up into the outward man and the inward with the former being the enemy of the latter. We are all aware of a tension present in some ideas of Christian life and that tension hinges on a subtly dualistic view of man foreign to the Bible and most of the ancient fathers of the church too. This book restates the orthodox Christian view but does so in a sophisticated and earthy way. These two words sound contradictory but are in fact the truth. The author writes of Elvis Presley and his music, is not afraid to write about sexual matters, quotes the early church fathers and Augustine frequently and succeeds well in carrying the reader along into a healthy spiritual view of what it means to be a Christian. The book is divided into two halves the first of which introduces classical Christian spirituality affirming the necessity of the body, the place of sex, the social body of humanity and the place of baptism and communion (which he intentionally calls sacraments). The second half applies these things to the twenty-first century, being truly spiritual in a Christian way in the light and darkness of our day. The emphasis is very much on the physical side of being spiritual, a necessary repudiation of the rather Gnostic form of belief prevalent (usually in ignorance) in the minds of many in the churches. This book is entertaining to read, it is thoroughly interesting and readers will find their understanding of God and His ways and purpose for mankind expanded. It appears to me that there is a clear and certain sound in this book; in a kind, witty and educated way it calls us back to the roots of true Christianity and as it does so it exposes the way this present world climate is affecting Christian life adversely. There is a fine balance between insight into popular culture and orthodox theology here and it calls us back to true incarnational living.
