Tuesday Tome - Francis Spufford is Unapologetic

Francis Spufford's Unapologetic was a terrific read. He is bold about his faith, but delivers that boldness with a winsome humility and honesty. He is progressive and post-modern, yet essentially orthodox and committed to Christian community. He is profound and profane, sometimes at the same time.

Spufford voices a perspective that resonates with my own heart and mind in many ways. Over and over, while reading, I found myself thinking, "Yes, that's what I've been trying to say."

This book isn't for everyone (you certainly won't ever see it in a "christian" bookstore), but it's exactly what some of us have been hoping someone would write, and we couldn't have asked for a better writer.

To learn more about Unapologetic, I'd recommend the following links. The first is an interview Spufford did with the New York Times. The second is a review by Bible scholar, Scot McKnight, which appeared on his Jesus Creed Blog.

NYT - Despite Everything: Francis Spufford Talks about Unapologetic

"I was in a church-going family, and at thirteen or fourteen I started caring a lot more about sex, music and politics than I did about God — and the box of symbolism and stories I’d left behind seemed to shrink as I moved away from it, until it was impossible to imagine ever fitting inside again. In fact I made the classic mistake of thinking faith was childish when I only meant that I’d been a child the last time I took it seriously. I was never argued out of faith, it was much more passive than that — and I wasn’t argued back in, either."

JESUS CREED BLOG - Scot McKnight Reviews Unapologetic 

"A delightful read, mostly because Spufford’s entire vision of our faith is through the lens of our utter sinfulness and the need for God’s redeeming (but not yet perfecting) grace."

BUY THE BOOK:
Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Still Makes Surprising Emotional Sense.