Book Review: The God Conversation

The God Conversation: Using Stories and Illustrations to Explain Your Faith
by J.P. Moreland and Tim Muehlhoff
(IVP Books, 11/30/2007)

We live in a society defined largely by postmodern thought. The enlightened minds of our day generally consider truth to be relative and discoverable based on an individualized meaning of things, and the masses have followed suit. A slew of contemporary Christian thinkers have recognized the change that this turn in thinking necessitates to the nature of the Christian apologetic—a shift from "rational" to "relational"—and Youth For Christ even formulated an entirely new and different way of looking at things (3Story) based on this concept of "relational evangelism." Initially, at least, this notion of sharing the gospel of Truth by showing how it affects our lives during the course of our everyday interactions and personal relationships seems very natural. It turns out, though, that most of us aren't very confident in our intrinsic abilities to do so, and so it has become the topic of a number of books.

One of the latest entries to the arena is The God Conversation by J.P. Moreland and Tim Muehlhoff, and the book utilizes a somewhat different approach than most of its kind. Rather than present a conceptual model for how to do this, or spend a lot of time providing Biblical basis for doing so, the authors seek to provide an overview of—as the subtitle of the book says—"using stories and illustrations to explain your faith." Moreland and Muehlhoff are doctors of philosophy and communication, respectively, and their areas of expertise make them well-qualified to carry out their stated task. In the foreword, author Lee Strobel recalls evangelist Paul Little's analogy of "'putting the cookies on the bottom shelf'—that is, making complex and controversial topics accessible through easy-to-remember nuggets of insight and wisdom." Indeed, listen to any effective preacher and you will discover that they are an expert in this area. They understand that illustrations are not only more practicable, but more memorable as well. Telling a story also sustains the interest of the listener while simultaneously allowing one to repeat a point by rephrasing it. Jesus' parables represent perhaps the best example of this method of teaching.

In The God Conversation, the authors address five of the major relevant issues that any contemporary Christian is likely to face in conversation, and the book is structured so as to allow two chapters for each of these questions. Moreland and Muehlhoff analyze the apparent contradiction of the existence of a good God and pain and suffering, the viability of Christianity as opposed to other religions, the possibility of the Resurrection, moral relativism and absolute Truth, and what the truth or fallacy of Evolution means in terms of Christian truth claims. Each chapter is divided into numerous sections; likewise, these issues will presumably be discussed over the course of a number of "real-life" conversations. For convenience, stories and anecdotal content are set off with a rule down the side of the page. Numerous sidebars give additional insights into the topics and, although I'm glad to have the supplementary information, I feel that this makes the pages seem a bit jumbled. I noticed at least a dozen typographical errors throughout, but this unjustified sloppiness didn't detract from the points the authors were making.

Moreland and Muehlhoff cite a host of the greatest Christian thinkers of the past century, including C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, William Lane Craig, Philip Yancey, Norman Geisler, Michael J. Behe. Having read many of the aforementioned authors, the rest of the material was nothing new to me, although the book certainly provided salutary advice for weaving these thoughts into conversations and making them accessible to those who lack a familiarity with the subjects at hand. The standout portion of the book is the section on moral relativism and absolute Truth, which I considered particularly useful because it adeptly explains how one can use real-life scenarios and examples to frame such a highly theoretical, philosophical issue in a way that can be easily understood.

While I question the applicability to my own daily interactions of all of the specific examples provided herein, I am quite certain that—at the very least—the authors have provided me with some good suggestions on how to structure my discussions, in general. We must recognize, of course, that the highly relational nature of our faith makes impossible a systematic or methodological approach to sharing, and simply glean what lessons and guidelines we can from the anecdotes presented within. That being said, the multitude of stories, analogies and illustrations that the authors include in this volume are certainly helpful and, if one takes their suggestion to heart and takes the time to commit some to memory, they will certainly be useful in future conversations.

The authors conclude with some final cautions, chief among these to avoid the temptation to attempt to get every point across—and use every story and example from the book—in a single conversation. The authors remind us of the critically important and Scripturally-rooted principle of genuinely listening to others before we try to give them the answers to life's questions:

If we want our friends and neighbors to listen to our story, then we must listen to theirs. If we want others to attend to our convictions, then we must first attend to theirs. If we desire for others to cultivate common ground with us, we must do so first. In doing so we will create a communication climate in which we can fulfill our deepest longing—having the God conversation with those who matter most.

This handily sums up the foundation of relational evangelism and a relational apologetic. With its question-and-answer approach and stated intent to address some of the most pressing issues that modern skeptics are likely to bring up, the book also serves as a very good primer to apologetics. Due to obvious limitations, the topics within are covered only cursorily, and the wise reader will certainly recognize that she would be well served by further investigation. Indeed, it is not at all the intention of the authors that The God Conversation be the furthest you delve into the topics. Knowledge comes through prayer, discipleship, and study, and these are the best way to prepare oneself for the conversations that they will actually have. Certainly, one should explore what others have written on the subject, from the titles conveniently listed in each section's "Further Reading" suggestions and beyond as well, but the journey shouldn't end there. Spiritual growth is ongoing, and we will communicate the Truth with increasing effectiveness as we gain better understanding of each of its many facets.