Accidental Pharisees is
a pretty clever name for an important topic.
The premise of this book is a discussion of overzealous faith and how to
avoid it. By using the Pharisees and
their lack of understanding about the spirit behind doctrinal laws, author
Larry Osborne tries to show Christians that overzealous faith runs counter to
what Christ calls us to do. And he does
this in an easy-to-read way that promotes further discussion or study if the
reader so chooses.
The point that Osborne tries to make is a good one. It's that whole "you're not the boss of
me" mentality that we remember from childhood. "Bossing" each other didn't work
then, and it doesn't work now. He
identifies the major ways in which he feels Christians have this attitude: pride, exclusivity, legalism, idolizing the
past, uniformity, and gift projection onto others.
I think that the fundamental message that we can take from
this book is this - each individual Christian has his or her own legitimate calling
from God. Nothing another person can do
should be able to reject or minimize that calling. To that end, I feel that this book is
successful.
There is a caveat that I attach to this review. Osborne seems to be influenced by life experiences
with exclusivity - and the book reflects that.
There is a negative attitude about several different kinds of churches,
and Osborne tends to generalize. He
makes it seem as if almost any style of church other than his suffers from exclusivity. I wish he had recognized that not every
church with a given label behaves in an exclusive manner. Sure, some do, but many don't. And that's not reflected in this book. I would hate for someone to shy away from a
church because of it.
I can recommend this book for solo reading or group
discussion, but keep an open, prayerful mind.
I found it best to apply this book to my own individual circumstances,
and ignore the comments that were made about church styles.
Disclaimer: I was
provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Three out of Five Stars
Good review. I just finished this book and had a similar reaction. There were certainly points in which I felt like Larry was gnawing on some sour grapes about a few of his own experiences (probably the very experiences that gave him the idea for this book). He seemed to really have a hard time with the group that, in the final chapter, he labels "the money police," who are, I assume, people who like Shane Claiborne. There were several points in the book that he seemed to be grinding an axe against this particular group.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem I had with the book is that, for a book that tries to be argumentative, it comes off as pretty bland. Other than the aforementioned "money police" and a few other non-Osborne followers from groups different than his own, I doubt anybody's going to have any problems with this book; everybody is going to think Larry is describing somebody that isn't them.
Like you said, the book was fine and achieved the goal of articulating the need for grace in regard to the individual callings of others. Otherwise, I felt that it was mostly forgettable.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Rob. I especially agree that many people will think Osborne is describing someone other than them. And that's really too bad, because his message that we need to be careful about judging others is a good one.
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