Searching for God Knows What

By: Donald Miller

Narrated by: Mark Smeby

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

With equal parts wit and wisdom, New York Times best-selling author Donald Miller invites you to reconnect with your faith. Miller shares what he's learned firsthand - that our relationship with God is designed to teach us about redemption, grace, healing, and so much more.

Searching for God Knows What weaves together timeless stories and fresh perspectives on the Bible to capture one man's journey to discover an authentic faith that's worth believing.

Along the way, Miller poses his own questions about faith, religion, and community, asking:

• What if the motive behind our theology was relational?
• What if our value exists because God takes pleasure in us?
• What if the gospel of Jesus is an invitation to know God?

Maybe you're a Christian wondering what faith you signed up for. Or maybe you don't believe anything and are daring someone to show you a genuine example of genuine faith. Somewhere beyond the self-help formulas, fancy marketing, and easy promises, there is a life-changing experience with God waiting for you - it just takes a little bit of searching.

Praise for Searching for God Knows What:

"Like a shaken snow globe, Donald Miller's newest collection of essays creates a swirl of ideas about the Christian life that eventually crystallize into a lovely landscape... [He] is one of the evangelical book market's most creative writers." (Christianity Today)

"If you have felt that Jesus is someone you respect and admire - but Christianity is something that repels you - Searching for God Knows What will give you hope that you still can follow Jesus and be part of a church without the trappings of organized religion." (Dan Kimball, author of The Emerging Church and pastor of Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, CA)

"For fans of Blue Like Jazz, I doubt you will be disappointed. Donald Miller writes with the wit and vulnerability that you expect. He perfectly illustrates important themes in a genuine and humorous manner.... For those who would be reading Miller for the first time, this would be a great start." (Relevant)

©2010 Donald Miller (P)2020 Thomas Nelson

Wish I had heard “lifeboat theory” in grade school

So true that we needlessly search for significance through affirmations of other people. This is a MUST read for young people. I think this is a GREAT read following “Blue Like Jazz”. Love Donald Miller’s writing! Also checkout “Through Painted Deserts”.. have to also say I much prefer his own narration to that from others.

Thought provoking and moving

(If you enjoy this title, check out Search for Significance by Robert McGee—another title that embraces a relational view of Christian faith.)

This is a special and important book with more dimensions than one review can cover. It’s a title I feel most Christians should read. It’s a bit too playful to be a timeless masterpiece, which is too bad, because it’s actually a serious, maybe transformative message for anyone who is disenchanted with the “religious” aspects of Christian faith. I suggest suspending your grown-up sensibilities and splashing right in.

The first chapter was a bit goofy—a confusing account of attending a writer’s conference. I found it difficult to tell if it was satire or exaggeration. But I’m glad I kept listening.

Miller’s main message is about experiencing Christian faith “relationally rather than propositionally.” He contrasts two versions of the Christian experience: the first defined by a theological and ecclesiastical model with enough structure to hold onto without relating to the person of Jesus at all (propositional); and the second defined by humanity’s broken love relationship with God, reconciled through relationship with Jesus and his active work in and through people on earth (relational).

Miller makes sense. His views resonate strongly with my own experience. He cuts right through the cloud of Christian religion to the core of the good news—Jesus—and seems unafraid of offending anyone in the process.

I would expect Christians who identify strongly with particular political or denominational affiliations to find Miller’s message especially challenging—either soul-searching or outright offensive. However, to throw the book down in disgust more or less makes Miller’s point: that propositional religion tends to be less interested in Jesus and more interested in maneuvering to establish self-worth and validity in the human sphere. (Because in the end all Miller really offers is the unfiltered Jesus. He was offensive to political and religious people in his own time too.)

I wish I could say more. Definitely worth reading.

Disappointing

Not as good as Blue Like Jazz. This book contains some good ideas but also attacks straw men and lacks some explanation.