Blue Like Jazz - Review / Reflection

Like Donald Miller I used to not like Jazz, mainly due to an early introduction to Dixieland jazz which I still loath. Also like Donald I was once mesmerised (after my school formal) by a guy playing Jazz on a saxophone on the street. It looked like he was busking but there wasn't any one around for miles. However not until I borrowed "A Kind of Blue" from my local library did I fall in love with jazz and John Coltrane in particular.

"Blue Like Jazz" is very easy reading, it kind of reminded me of the Da Vinci Code the way it could be digested so quickly. Miller is honest and reflective and will be someone who I can imagine can relate to people from many parts of the Xn faith. My problem with Blue like Jazz is that like Jazz Miller has taken a standard chart (jazz speak) or formula and plays a good solo over the top, but none the less he has stuck to the formula. That formula being:

1. Realise you are a sinner and need forgiveness
2. Turn to God become a Xn

There is nothing wrong with this formula but it's not the way that everyone makes their initial connection with God. As a ten year old I had been a Xn for over a year before someone told me that I should prayer the "sinners prayer". It wasn't that I didn't think that I was a sinner, it's just that not how I initially connected with God, and it was the same for my wife. Unfortunately all of the characters in "Blue like Jazz" connectr with God via this same formula.

A smaller issue for me was that I'm not sure if Miller really gives enough respect or understanding of other belief systems. For example at one point in the book he presents Xy as unprovable and illogical but says it works but, he disses Buddhism for being the same (I guess as it didn't work for him).

I still have this strange tension about this book in my mind, that can be best explained by saying I'd give the book to my more conservative Xn friends but not my liberal Xn friends and not my non Xn friends. But don't hear me say the books bad, it was an autobiography that was enjoyable in the same way that a good airport novel is but also unsatisfying in the same way they are. It was really nice to near someone play the standard evangelical Xn chart or formula the way he does and his self deprecating attitude certainly is an asset. I think being a little more self deprecating about what he believes and a bit more research into and respect of what others believe will help him flourish into an interesting Xn author.