(e)mergent Voyageurs

The Ooze Select Blogger Book Review:

"Static: Tune Out The 'Christian" Noise And Experience The Real Message Of Jesus"
by Ron Martoia (Tyndale House Publishers, 2007)

I'll be honest with you. When I first saw the cover of "Static", with its neon green splash and overly numerous font choices, I was reminded of my days in youth ministry. It caused me a moment of hesitation before cracking the cover, but I am glad I got past it. Havin spent the last several years teaching within YWAM on the topic of the Gospel, the Kingdom and salvation- about rediscovering their core meanings- this book was a brilliant find.

I was further encouraged to read the book on the endorsement of Scot McKnight, who was significant teacher and mentor in Martoia's life. Scot's back cover blurb says, "Ron takes biblical terms such as salvation and kingdom, dusts off the cobwebs of routine, and finds under them fresh expressions for a new day." The books publisher, Tyndale House, summarizes it:

"Words communicate. Christians often use words to communicate to others; however, these words aren’t understood by many of those outside the church. We can be so absorbed in our 'christianese' that we don’t realize others don’t understand the jargon and cannot figure out what it is we mean by what we are saying. Static readers will become aware of what we are saying so we can re-focus our thinking to communicate clearly to those outside the church."

Both of these quotes aptly lay out the core message and purpose of the book. What you discover when you read the book is a highly readable, engaging and generous approach to an important and sensitive reality facing the church today. From what I heard in The Ooze Podcast interview with Martoia recently, this book is the first in a series. If the first book is any indication, it promises to be a great set to read.

Reminisent of McLaren's dialogical approach in his "New Kind Of Christian" trilogy, Martoia intersperses (what I assume are) real life conversations he has with his friends, Jess & Phil, as they come to terms with the new ideas. This clever mix of explanation and story allows Martoia to slowly and carefully explore each issue without being condescending or tedious, but personally and compellingly. Further, by rooting the discussions in the real life situations, it pulls the content out of abstraction into the praxis of our lives.

Challenging the dearest held ideas and assumptions of the many Christians is not always a popular thing to do. Martoia, however, does not ruthlessly reject the beliefs of the church, but with generosity and understanding, gently guides readers to ask important questions. These questions, while demanding often painful possibilities, are filled with hope in their promise of something more, something truer.

If I had any criticism of the book it is that it could be, at times, somewhat redundant, going over similar content from different angles many times. However, I also realize that this book is written for people who are unfamiliar or new to these important idea. What for me might have seemed redundant would be for them an essentially thorough treatment of something that was asking them a costly paradigm shift. On this note, my initial surprise that this was a Tyndale title has lessened, seeing them as an ideal house given their regular readership.

In addition to those new to the idea, those of us more familiar with these ideas will also benefit from Martoia's generous approach at walking people through the material. Too often, in our excitement about our convictions we can forget how impacting such shifts can have on people's faith. We would do well to give Ron Martoia's approach some serious consideration.

"Does This Dress Make Me Look Fat? A Man's Guide To The Loaded Questions Women Ask"

"Yup. Nope. Maybe: A Woman's Guide To Getting More Out Of The Language Of Men"

by Stephen James & David Thomas (Tyndale House Publishers, 2007)

Emerging Church, Missional