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Seeing God in the Ordinary: A Theology of the Everyday
Recipient of the 1999 Christian Book of the Year award in Australia, Seeing God in the Ordinary is an appeal to recover the place of the imagination in the Christian life, to rediscover the use of metaphor in a prose-flattened world, to see God in the ordinary. By a careful examination of film, literature, and other aspects of contemporary culture—as well as the Gospels—the author argues for a robust faith that embraces human experience in all its forms, that is open to the intuitive, and that has the capacity to fill us with wonder and astonishment. “This book helps us to hear God not so much in the whirlwind but in the still, small voice of the ordinary, everyday moments of our lives.”
—Ken Gire, author of Windows of the Soul, Moments with the Savior, and The Reflective Life “In the midst of the current flood of books on Christian spirituality, Frost explores the way in which the great themes of Christian faith are signaled and traced by specific reference points in culture. The outcome is a book not for a quick read, but for a slow, delighted pondering. Frost’s particular interest is in artistic expression in poetry, film, and narrative that opens the reader and ponderer to freshness. Who would have thought that Kafka, Keets, and Harvey Keitel could show up together, but they do here. Frost has produced a probe of a world ‘not-yet-holy,’ but being made so by the presence of God’s holiness in the day-to-dayness of our lives. A suggestive read!”
—Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, author of Finally Comes the Poet and The Psalms and the Life of Faith
—Ken Gire, author of Windows of the Soul, Moments with the Savior, and The Reflective Life “In the midst of the current flood of books on Christian spirituality, Frost explores the way in which the great themes of Christian faith are signaled and traced by specific reference points in culture. The outcome is a book not for a quick read, but for a slow, delighted pondering. Frost’s particular interest is in artistic expression in poetry, film, and narrative that opens the reader and ponderer to freshness. Who would have thought that Kafka, Keets, and Harvey Keitel could show up together, but they do here. Frost has produced a probe of a world ‘not-yet-holy,’ but being made so by the presence of God’s holiness in the day-to-dayness of our lives. A suggestive read!”
—Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, author of Finally Comes the Poet and The Psalms and the Life of Faith
203 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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49 people want to read
About the author
Michael Frost
61 books98 followersMichael Frost is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute at Morling College. He is an internationally recognised Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. His books are required reading in colleges and seminaries around the world and he is much sought after as an international conference speaker. Michael Frost blogs at mikefrost.net
See also other Michael Frosts.
See also other Michael Frosts.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 16, 2025
A THEOLOGY IN ‘NON-SPECTACULAR’ TERMS
Michael Frost is an Australian Baptist minister and theologian, who is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, and Australian study centre.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book, “This is essentially my very humble attempt at a theology of the ordinary, bearing in mind that nothing is ever as ordinary as it seems. I guess I’m concerned that in my travels, I see a growing interest in what God is doing and how God is revealing himself and his will that is always couched in spectacular terms. It’s as if we think God can operate only through dramatic displays of supernatural power. In many respects, I feel as though all these preachers and church leaders who are calling for us to stop limiting God and wake up and see God doing ‘a new thing’ are in fact limiting God themselves---to the extraordinary.” (Pg. 1)
He continues, “I do believe in the supernatural and its power. But I wonder whether we’re missing out on too much in pursuing only such expressions of the divine… Is God not to be seen in the crashing sea?... [or] in the innocence of a newborn baby’s eyes? Or in a rosebud or in a character in a film or a book, in a song or in the change of seasons? Can’t we hear God in the expressions of love of our friends? Or taste God in good food and conversation? God’s kingdom is extending itself throughout our world. Let’s open our eyes to the so-called mundane expressions of God’s grace as much as to the spectacular. You’ll find them just as breathtaking.” (Pg. 5)
He observes, “Much of what passes for the gospel these days is not dramatic or artistic. It is bound by the reason of technique and overly concerned with concreteness. It seems stilted and mechanical. We hear it presented to us week in and week out and, by virtue of the very fact that we ARE believers, we put up with it. It is, indeed, a truth greatly reduced, and it calls forth from us at best a faith greatly reduced, also. By reducing the gospel to technical, manageable terms, we find ourselves in a time when, in the quest for mystery and spirituality, the typical seeker is gleefully bypassing the church and searching for enlightenment elsewhere.” (Pg. 7-8)
He suggests, “This world is two-dimensional and unrewarding---until such time as the sacred can be brought to bear on it. In other words, going to work, eating, sleeping, sport, leisure, literature, art, lawn-mowing, car-washing, and picking the kids up from school are religiously neutral experiences. The sacred exists above these things, and those of us who are Christians are to reach up, as it were, and call down the anointing or the blessing. Put another way, these ordinary things of life are of no concern to God until such time as we invite God’s blessing upon them.” (Pg. 13)
He states, “We have spent too many Sundays in our churches thinking we know it all. We rarely get provoked into searching. We don’t often feel at the end of a sermon or a service that we can have any questions. The culture of many churches is such that ‘making things clear,’ explaining away all mystery or doubt or uncertainty, is the order of the day. Church leaders are so afraid of employing metaphors and similes---mainly, I suppose, because they can be misunderstood by their hearers. A metaphor is open to interpretation. It evokes a response from the listener. There’s room to move within a metaphor and, therefore, room to ‘get it wrong.’” (Pg. 49)
He proposes, “I am not meaning to suggest we should all build cathedral-style buildings. We can have awesome experiences in less than awesome spaces. It’s just that too many church services don’t inspire reverence or awe. And so we turn elsewhere to encounter something awe-inspiring, something that puts us back into a truer perspective as creatures ourselves. In church we too often feel like the center of the event. Our needs are emphasized, our concerns are addressed, our feelings, moods, worries, and yearnings are the things that drive the agenda. And we’re sick of it! We desire a WORSHIP EXPERIENCE that takes our breath away, that leads us into the presence of the majestic and awesome God of creation… people are attracted to Pentecostal churches to meet their inner yearning for a transcendent experience that makes them feel small and God seem big.” (Pg. 71-72)
He says, “Sadly, ever since Sigmund Freud’s ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’… we have rejected the possibility of dreams being a reliable or even viable medium for divine revelation…. the practice of interpretation came to be seen as silly and superstitious. This is not the perspective offered by biblical writers. The earliest Christian valued dreams as a contact with another realm beyond the material-physical. To eliminate this idea is to strike at a fundamental Christian belief.” (Pg. 131-132)
He points out, “All too often, Jesus is presented to us in the form of white, middle-class, college-educated males. We are used to seeing him represented by articulate, handsome men, who are outspoken, goal-oriented, and effective… by being so seduced by these men as the ONLY way Christ is seen in human form these days, we miss out on too much.” (Pg. 145)
He argues, “we are rather enamored these days with the pragmatic disciplines. We’re more interested in ‘getting things done’ than in reflection and experience… The church has caught this cultural disease as well. Churches are more like corporations these days, attuned to mission statements, goal-setting, and annual results as the rest of society. And inadvertently the church… has also turned religious faith into a commodity… As a result, skill-based, outcome-driven churches have become places for ordinary people to be TRAINED in Christianity. In some places, faith has contracted to be a purely intellectual exercise. To be taken by wonder, to be truly astonished by truth and beauty, is too slippery and uncontrolled a discipline for many current ministers to cope with.” (Pg. 170)
He concludes, “The existence of God, like the air we breathe, need not be proven. It is more a question of developing good lungs to meet it correctly. It takes exercise and big deep breaths. There’s a simple prayer recorded in the gospels that goes like this: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. You should try it sometime---if you haven’t already.” (Pg. 189)
This book will appeal to Christians seeking new perspectives on the faith.
Michael Frost is an Australian Baptist minister and theologian, who is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, and Australian study centre.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book, “This is essentially my very humble attempt at a theology of the ordinary, bearing in mind that nothing is ever as ordinary as it seems. I guess I’m concerned that in my travels, I see a growing interest in what God is doing and how God is revealing himself and his will that is always couched in spectacular terms. It’s as if we think God can operate only through dramatic displays of supernatural power. In many respects, I feel as though all these preachers and church leaders who are calling for us to stop limiting God and wake up and see God doing ‘a new thing’ are in fact limiting God themselves---to the extraordinary.” (Pg. 1)
He continues, “I do believe in the supernatural and its power. But I wonder whether we’re missing out on too much in pursuing only such expressions of the divine… Is God not to be seen in the crashing sea?... [or] in the innocence of a newborn baby’s eyes? Or in a rosebud or in a character in a film or a book, in a song or in the change of seasons? Can’t we hear God in the expressions of love of our friends? Or taste God in good food and conversation? God’s kingdom is extending itself throughout our world. Let’s open our eyes to the so-called mundane expressions of God’s grace as much as to the spectacular. You’ll find them just as breathtaking.” (Pg. 5)
He observes, “Much of what passes for the gospel these days is not dramatic or artistic. It is bound by the reason of technique and overly concerned with concreteness. It seems stilted and mechanical. We hear it presented to us week in and week out and, by virtue of the very fact that we ARE believers, we put up with it. It is, indeed, a truth greatly reduced, and it calls forth from us at best a faith greatly reduced, also. By reducing the gospel to technical, manageable terms, we find ourselves in a time when, in the quest for mystery and spirituality, the typical seeker is gleefully bypassing the church and searching for enlightenment elsewhere.” (Pg. 7-8)
He suggests, “This world is two-dimensional and unrewarding---until such time as the sacred can be brought to bear on it. In other words, going to work, eating, sleeping, sport, leisure, literature, art, lawn-mowing, car-washing, and picking the kids up from school are religiously neutral experiences. The sacred exists above these things, and those of us who are Christians are to reach up, as it were, and call down the anointing or the blessing. Put another way, these ordinary things of life are of no concern to God until such time as we invite God’s blessing upon them.” (Pg. 13)
He states, “We have spent too many Sundays in our churches thinking we know it all. We rarely get provoked into searching. We don’t often feel at the end of a sermon or a service that we can have any questions. The culture of many churches is such that ‘making things clear,’ explaining away all mystery or doubt or uncertainty, is the order of the day. Church leaders are so afraid of employing metaphors and similes---mainly, I suppose, because they can be misunderstood by their hearers. A metaphor is open to interpretation. It evokes a response from the listener. There’s room to move within a metaphor and, therefore, room to ‘get it wrong.’” (Pg. 49)
He proposes, “I am not meaning to suggest we should all build cathedral-style buildings. We can have awesome experiences in less than awesome spaces. It’s just that too many church services don’t inspire reverence or awe. And so we turn elsewhere to encounter something awe-inspiring, something that puts us back into a truer perspective as creatures ourselves. In church we too often feel like the center of the event. Our needs are emphasized, our concerns are addressed, our feelings, moods, worries, and yearnings are the things that drive the agenda. And we’re sick of it! We desire a WORSHIP EXPERIENCE that takes our breath away, that leads us into the presence of the majestic and awesome God of creation… people are attracted to Pentecostal churches to meet their inner yearning for a transcendent experience that makes them feel small and God seem big.” (Pg. 71-72)
He says, “Sadly, ever since Sigmund Freud’s ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’… we have rejected the possibility of dreams being a reliable or even viable medium for divine revelation…. the practice of interpretation came to be seen as silly and superstitious. This is not the perspective offered by biblical writers. The earliest Christian valued dreams as a contact with another realm beyond the material-physical. To eliminate this idea is to strike at a fundamental Christian belief.” (Pg. 131-132)
He points out, “All too often, Jesus is presented to us in the form of white, middle-class, college-educated males. We are used to seeing him represented by articulate, handsome men, who are outspoken, goal-oriented, and effective… by being so seduced by these men as the ONLY way Christ is seen in human form these days, we miss out on too much.” (Pg. 145)
He argues, “we are rather enamored these days with the pragmatic disciplines. We’re more interested in ‘getting things done’ than in reflection and experience… The church has caught this cultural disease as well. Churches are more like corporations these days, attuned to mission statements, goal-setting, and annual results as the rest of society. And inadvertently the church… has also turned religious faith into a commodity… As a result, skill-based, outcome-driven churches have become places for ordinary people to be TRAINED in Christianity. In some places, faith has contracted to be a purely intellectual exercise. To be taken by wonder, to be truly astonished by truth and beauty, is too slippery and uncontrolled a discipline for many current ministers to cope with.” (Pg. 170)
He concludes, “The existence of God, like the air we breathe, need not be proven. It is more a question of developing good lungs to meet it correctly. It takes exercise and big deep breaths. There’s a simple prayer recorded in the gospels that goes like this: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. You should try it sometime---if you haven’t already.” (Pg. 189)
This book will appeal to Christians seeking new perspectives on the faith.
July 29, 2017
I watched the movie Paterson last weekend. It was nearly perfect, easily the best movie I have seen this year. It featured a simple bus driver who possessed a marvelous contemplative awareness of the world and a gift for formulating his daily, ordinary experiences into poetry as he walked to and from work and drove his bus on the streets of Paterson, New Jersey.
The movie reminded me of this book that I had first read about six years ago. Paterson inspired me to pick up this book and re-read it this past week, to perhaps further rekindle my contemplative awareness of the world, and to see more of God in all the ordinary, wonderful revelations of each day.
Frost identifies some of the key obstacles for Christians, particularly of the fundamental evangelical persuasion, that sabotage this simple awareness. They include the tendency to separate the sacred and the profane, neglect the mundane while forever searching for the extraordinary, and losing a sense of awe and wonder along with our yearning for story (noting that the church has often been suspicious of metaphor and preferred simplistic formulas).
I imagine that this is what Jesus had in mind when he spoke about us having eyes to see and ears to hear. That our awareness would be heightened, not simply for his incarnation but also for all of the ordinary, mundane incarnations of God's beauty and love in our daily life.
The movie reminded me of this book that I had first read about six years ago. Paterson inspired me to pick up this book and re-read it this past week, to perhaps further rekindle my contemplative awareness of the world, and to see more of God in all the ordinary, wonderful revelations of each day.
Frost identifies some of the key obstacles for Christians, particularly of the fundamental evangelical persuasion, that sabotage this simple awareness. They include the tendency to separate the sacred and the profane, neglect the mundane while forever searching for the extraordinary, and losing a sense of awe and wonder along with our yearning for story (noting that the church has often been suspicious of metaphor and preferred simplistic formulas).
I imagine that this is what Jesus had in mind when he spoke about us having eyes to see and ears to hear. That our awareness would be heightened, not simply for his incarnation but also for all of the ordinary, mundane incarnations of God's beauty and love in our daily life.
April 14, 2017
I appreciated this book, which was a somewhat light and accessible treatment of a good topic, which can be found in the title.
Frost generally reacts against what he perceives to be forced and overly formalistic Christianity, instead advocating a more effortless, natural approach to spirituality.
He calls for Christian teaching to be more focused on discovery, rather than dogma. He argues for the importance of reverence and awe. He makes the case for using stories to educate and explore truth. He encourages us to look for God in creation, in serendipitous moments, in one another, and in art - not just the conventional forms.
All in all, some good thoughts, but it needs to get more specific from here.
Frost generally reacts against what he perceives to be forced and overly formalistic Christianity, instead advocating a more effortless, natural approach to spirituality.
He calls for Christian teaching to be more focused on discovery, rather than dogma. He argues for the importance of reverence and awe. He makes the case for using stories to educate and explore truth. He encourages us to look for God in creation, in serendipitous moments, in one another, and in art - not just the conventional forms.
All in all, some good thoughts, but it needs to get more specific from here.
December 25, 2012
Another book that helped me to see God outside the box of church and religious thinking.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews