What do you think?
Rate this book
The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-&-found of Church History
Where has the church been, and what has it become? According to Robert Farrar Capon, the answers to these questions are in many ways dispiriting. Although the church has done much good, it has also made numerous blunders in its checkered history. Chief among them is that it has lost its astonishment over the Good News of the gospel - the gift of salvation we receive from Christ. By taking readers on an illuminating ramble through the history of the church, Capon shows how we have lost this sense of astonishment by making Christianity into a religion that focuses on requirements and restrictions rather than on the Good News, and by turning the church, which should be a body of believers, into an institution that emphasizes its corporate functions to the detriment of its gospel message. After exploring all the ways in which the church has mis-embodied itself over the centuries, Capon explains how the church today might re-create itself. The key, according to Capon, is recovering the gift of astonishment with which it began. Capon is fully alert to both the tragedy and the comedy of church history, and he covers this uneven ground with great heart and great humor - and genuine hope for the future of the church.
132 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Robert Farrar Capon
42 books146 followersRobert Farrar Capon was a lifelong New Yorker and served for almost 30 years as a parish priest in the Episcopal Church. His first book, Bed and Board, was published in 1965 and by 1977 left full-time ministry to devote more time to writing books, though he continued to serve the church in various capacities such as assisting priest and Canon Theologian. He has written twenty books on theology, cooking and family life.
His lifelong interest in food intersected with his writing and led to his becoming food columnist for Newsday and The New York Times and also teaching cooking classes.
His lifelong interest in food intersected with his writing and led to his becoming food columnist for Newsday and The New York Times and also teaching cooking classes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 2, 2011
I picked up the book The Astonished Heart by Robert Capon at a book sale because I had heard many good things about The Supper of the Lamb by the same author. I was expecting a 5 star read on this one, so I was very surprised when this turned out to be a sad little book. Throughout the book Capon gives an overview of the "dismal swamp" (his words, not mine) that is Church History, and makes application to what we should do in our modern situation. Needless to say, the “dismal swamp” view of most of the history of Christianity is rather pessimistic, and I think that Capon views the Church this way because he misses the point of the big story in Scripture.
He starts the book with the common mantra that Christianity is not a religion. Capon simply assumes this to be true, and spends no time proving it from Scripture. In fact, he feels quite free to criticize structures put into place by God in Scripture (for example, the Davidic monarchy) when he feels that they move the people of God closer to the idea of religious institution. Based on this assumption he grades the people of God throughout history on three criteria. First, do they view their community as a religion? If so, they lose points in Capon’s book. Second, do they show signs of institutionalizing themselves: a hierarchy, officers, creeds and rules? If so, once again, they lose points. Third, do they maintain the catholicity of their faith?
Before I begin talking about all the things I found appalling about this book, I do want to be fair and talk about what I view as the strengths of this book. Despite the fact that I disagree with almost all of Capon’s conclusions, I understand the attitude behind them. He is very concerned that people see the special nature of the community of Christ’s body and not fall into the trap of viewing Christianity as one religion among many. He correctly dislikes the idea that Christianity is a philosophy centered on its ideas and doctrines rather than the redeemed people of God centered on the Eucharistic celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation. So far, I agree wholeheartedly. However, from this beginning, he concludes that the body of Christ, proclaiming the story of redemption should avoid stepping into the realms of politics, ethics and philosophy. These things, he believes, put the Church in the realm of religion and cause it to be intolerant of sinners rather than welcoming and open. He rightly sees that Jesus didn’t come to establish a new moral philosophy so that we can all be good little boys and girls, but he stops short of the true goal. The story of redemption is the story of the renewal of the entire creation. Jesus didn't come to propose a new philosophy, but He did come to establish a new society, the Church. And the Church is not only a new society, but a new humanity, the beginning of the eschatological state of the human race. As Peter Leithart writes in his book Against Christianity, "...the Church presented herself not as another 'sect' or cult that existed under the umbrella of the polis; she was an alternative governing body for the city and the beginning of a new city."
By refusing to allow the Church to develop along organizational lines, Capon denies the military mission of the Church, given it by Jesus Himself, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20, NASB) As we shall see, it appears that Capon has a particular problem with the “teaching them to observe” part of this commandment. In light of all this, Capon does not see the Church as the triumphant body of Christ which grows and matures in the world, conquering and filling the earth. Rather, he sees the Jerusalem church as a pretty good model and almost everything afterward as a mess.
Tied to this problem is Capon’s view of Scripture. He states that the Scriptures are wholly inspired by God, and yet done in such a way that men simply wrote down what was in their heads, and by God’s providence it so worked out to be just what God wanted them to write. He makes a great point of saying that God’s sovereignty in these matters does not rule out human freedom. I also agree entirely with this. However, when he goes on to speak of Scripture, he seems to forget the providential part of this, and focuses wholly on the human side. So, while giving lip service to the doctrine of inspiration, Capon undermines this by making many liberal assumptions about the Scripture. He presents the Pentateuch as being put together during the Babylonian exile, rather than the Biblically attested Mosaic authorship. He claims that someone other than Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus as opposed to the Biblically attested Pauline authorship. He even criticizes many of the ideas in these later (in his view) epistles as showing evidence of growing institutionalization in the Church. Against all of these assumptions we must stand firm in our understanding of the nature of Scripture. Yes, Scripture came into being as men wrote the thoughts in their heads. However, because of God’s providential control, these words are also the very words of God, pure and simple. They are, as Paul tells Timothy, “god breathed.” Therefore, when we set ourselves up to criticize the statements of Scripture, we are criticizing God Himself and not merely the men who penned these words.
Next, because of his late view on the Pentateuch and the compilation of the Old Testament, Capon misunderstands the whole history of Israel. He considers the Exodus and Exile periods to be the high water marks and the Davidic monarchy the low point. Contrary to this, the Davidic monarchy is at the center of God’s plan for his people in the Old Testament. While there is no time for me to fully make this case in a book review, I will point out that the Old Testament passage most often quoted in the New Testament is Psalm 110, a kingship-oriented psalm. Christ as king and emperor is the most pervasive Christological image in the New Testament, and the proclamation of Jesus as King is at the heart of the gospel.
Naturally with this perspective, Capon views Constantine with disdain, and while recognizing the beauties and longevity of Christendom, considers the whole of Christianity in the Middle Ages to be fundamentally flawed. He traces this flaw throughout the Reformation to the corporate model of the Church adopted in the 19th century. He has a many actually good criticisms of the modern state of the Church, and I sympathize with his perspective just as I sympathize with the concerns that drove him to write this book. However, like his criteria in the beginning of his book, his offered solutions are misguided. He suggests two models which he terms the Alcoholics Anonymous church model and the Marginal-Church model. The ideal for him is a church with, “non established hierarchy, no ministerial offices, no budget, no local paid staff, no endowments, no governing boards, and no real estate. It meets other people’s buildings, uses other people’s coffeepots, and gets its own members to spring for the doughnuts.” In other words, he wants the Church to return to a state of infancy. However, though this may be possible in some cases, it will be impossible for the Church to stay here. If a church is serious about the teachings of Scripture and fulfilling the Great Commission, then the church will grow. If the Church grows it will need those in a teaching office. It will also develop needs among the people. In order to give the teachers the time to devote to the word, officers will have to be appointed to see that people’s needs are met. And so on through the development seen in the book of Acts and straight on up to Elders, Deacons, Bishops, etc. all over again. Growth and maturation is inevitable. I might think I want my kids to stay little forever, but that’s not the way God designed them. They will grow and change throughout their lives, and my relationship with them will change as well. This is not a lamentable state, either in my children or in the body of Christ. Rather, it is the way God designed things to work.
To conclude, it is odd that he praises the Exilic Jews for being “people of the book” while he often marginalizes or ignores the teaching of the Book himself. For example, he thinks that it would be great if churches expected their members to give a percentage of their income rather than just giving toward the budget goal. “Get people to compare what they’re now giving (usually one percent or less) with what they might give if they moved up into the vicinity of, say, five percent.” The Bible actually gives a good number to start with: a tithe of ten percent. As a deacon in our church I know that most of the people in our church do tithe faithfully, because it is taught from the pulpit and from the Bible. There’s no need for the false modesty of suggesting five percent, when God has already given a suggested minimum of ten percent.
A far more problematic example of rejecting the book is the fact that he laments that many churches would fire their pastor for committing adultery. Aren’t we all about forgiveness and restoration? Well, yes we are. And this pastor would be forgiven and welcomed as a member of the church. However, there are requirements for the office of pastor given by Paul in 1 Timothy 3. Of course, Capon believes this was not written by Paul and views it as part of the unfortunate development of “institutionalized religion” in the Church. This leads him also to give the example of the fictional Reverend Elizabeth Smathers, who becomes the pastor of Old First Steeple Church. She soon begins a love affair with the town librarian Ms. Winsome and moves her into the parsonage. After their relationship sours, Ms. Winsome sues Reverend Elizabeth for sexual harassment, and the church people, intolerant wretches, have the un-Christ like gall to remove poor Elizabeth from the office of minister. For shame!
I don’t even know where to begin with that example, but if I did, I’m sure that Robert Capon would accuse me of being moralizing and intolerant. Just like Paul, James and Peter. Yuck. It is true that the Church has many problems, and has had problems throughout history. However, these problems can never be solved by giving lip service to God’s word in every area that we like and rejecting anything in it that conflicts with our sensibilities. We can either stand in judgment over Scripture or allow Scripture to stand in judgment over us. The only thing is, if we choose to do the former, we will have to forgive the watching world when it doesn’t recognize us as being “people of the Book.”
1/5 stars
He starts the book with the common mantra that Christianity is not a religion. Capon simply assumes this to be true, and spends no time proving it from Scripture. In fact, he feels quite free to criticize structures put into place by God in Scripture (for example, the Davidic monarchy) when he feels that they move the people of God closer to the idea of religious institution. Based on this assumption he grades the people of God throughout history on three criteria. First, do they view their community as a religion? If so, they lose points in Capon’s book. Second, do they show signs of institutionalizing themselves: a hierarchy, officers, creeds and rules? If so, once again, they lose points. Third, do they maintain the catholicity of their faith?
Before I begin talking about all the things I found appalling about this book, I do want to be fair and talk about what I view as the strengths of this book. Despite the fact that I disagree with almost all of Capon’s conclusions, I understand the attitude behind them. He is very concerned that people see the special nature of the community of Christ’s body and not fall into the trap of viewing Christianity as one religion among many. He correctly dislikes the idea that Christianity is a philosophy centered on its ideas and doctrines rather than the redeemed people of God centered on the Eucharistic celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation. So far, I agree wholeheartedly. However, from this beginning, he concludes that the body of Christ, proclaiming the story of redemption should avoid stepping into the realms of politics, ethics and philosophy. These things, he believes, put the Church in the realm of religion and cause it to be intolerant of sinners rather than welcoming and open. He rightly sees that Jesus didn’t come to establish a new moral philosophy so that we can all be good little boys and girls, but he stops short of the true goal. The story of redemption is the story of the renewal of the entire creation. Jesus didn't come to propose a new philosophy, but He did come to establish a new society, the Church. And the Church is not only a new society, but a new humanity, the beginning of the eschatological state of the human race. As Peter Leithart writes in his book Against Christianity, "...the Church presented herself not as another 'sect' or cult that existed under the umbrella of the polis; she was an alternative governing body for the city and the beginning of a new city."
By refusing to allow the Church to develop along organizational lines, Capon denies the military mission of the Church, given it by Jesus Himself, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20, NASB) As we shall see, it appears that Capon has a particular problem with the “teaching them to observe” part of this commandment. In light of all this, Capon does not see the Church as the triumphant body of Christ which grows and matures in the world, conquering and filling the earth. Rather, he sees the Jerusalem church as a pretty good model and almost everything afterward as a mess.
Tied to this problem is Capon’s view of Scripture. He states that the Scriptures are wholly inspired by God, and yet done in such a way that men simply wrote down what was in their heads, and by God’s providence it so worked out to be just what God wanted them to write. He makes a great point of saying that God’s sovereignty in these matters does not rule out human freedom. I also agree entirely with this. However, when he goes on to speak of Scripture, he seems to forget the providential part of this, and focuses wholly on the human side. So, while giving lip service to the doctrine of inspiration, Capon undermines this by making many liberal assumptions about the Scripture. He presents the Pentateuch as being put together during the Babylonian exile, rather than the Biblically attested Mosaic authorship. He claims that someone other than Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus as opposed to the Biblically attested Pauline authorship. He even criticizes many of the ideas in these later (in his view) epistles as showing evidence of growing institutionalization in the Church. Against all of these assumptions we must stand firm in our understanding of the nature of Scripture. Yes, Scripture came into being as men wrote the thoughts in their heads. However, because of God’s providential control, these words are also the very words of God, pure and simple. They are, as Paul tells Timothy, “god breathed.” Therefore, when we set ourselves up to criticize the statements of Scripture, we are criticizing God Himself and not merely the men who penned these words.
Next, because of his late view on the Pentateuch and the compilation of the Old Testament, Capon misunderstands the whole history of Israel. He considers the Exodus and Exile periods to be the high water marks and the Davidic monarchy the low point. Contrary to this, the Davidic monarchy is at the center of God’s plan for his people in the Old Testament. While there is no time for me to fully make this case in a book review, I will point out that the Old Testament passage most often quoted in the New Testament is Psalm 110, a kingship-oriented psalm. Christ as king and emperor is the most pervasive Christological image in the New Testament, and the proclamation of Jesus as King is at the heart of the gospel.
Naturally with this perspective, Capon views Constantine with disdain, and while recognizing the beauties and longevity of Christendom, considers the whole of Christianity in the Middle Ages to be fundamentally flawed. He traces this flaw throughout the Reformation to the corporate model of the Church adopted in the 19th century. He has a many actually good criticisms of the modern state of the Church, and I sympathize with his perspective just as I sympathize with the concerns that drove him to write this book. However, like his criteria in the beginning of his book, his offered solutions are misguided. He suggests two models which he terms the Alcoholics Anonymous church model and the Marginal-Church model. The ideal for him is a church with, “non established hierarchy, no ministerial offices, no budget, no local paid staff, no endowments, no governing boards, and no real estate. It meets other people’s buildings, uses other people’s coffeepots, and gets its own members to spring for the doughnuts.” In other words, he wants the Church to return to a state of infancy. However, though this may be possible in some cases, it will be impossible for the Church to stay here. If a church is serious about the teachings of Scripture and fulfilling the Great Commission, then the church will grow. If the Church grows it will need those in a teaching office. It will also develop needs among the people. In order to give the teachers the time to devote to the word, officers will have to be appointed to see that people’s needs are met. And so on through the development seen in the book of Acts and straight on up to Elders, Deacons, Bishops, etc. all over again. Growth and maturation is inevitable. I might think I want my kids to stay little forever, but that’s not the way God designed them. They will grow and change throughout their lives, and my relationship with them will change as well. This is not a lamentable state, either in my children or in the body of Christ. Rather, it is the way God designed things to work.
To conclude, it is odd that he praises the Exilic Jews for being “people of the book” while he often marginalizes or ignores the teaching of the Book himself. For example, he thinks that it would be great if churches expected their members to give a percentage of their income rather than just giving toward the budget goal. “Get people to compare what they’re now giving (usually one percent or less) with what they might give if they moved up into the vicinity of, say, five percent.” The Bible actually gives a good number to start with: a tithe of ten percent. As a deacon in our church I know that most of the people in our church do tithe faithfully, because it is taught from the pulpit and from the Bible. There’s no need for the false modesty of suggesting five percent, when God has already given a suggested minimum of ten percent.
A far more problematic example of rejecting the book is the fact that he laments that many churches would fire their pastor for committing adultery. Aren’t we all about forgiveness and restoration? Well, yes we are. And this pastor would be forgiven and welcomed as a member of the church. However, there are requirements for the office of pastor given by Paul in 1 Timothy 3. Of course, Capon believes this was not written by Paul and views it as part of the unfortunate development of “institutionalized religion” in the Church. This leads him also to give the example of the fictional Reverend Elizabeth Smathers, who becomes the pastor of Old First Steeple Church. She soon begins a love affair with the town librarian Ms. Winsome and moves her into the parsonage. After their relationship sours, Ms. Winsome sues Reverend Elizabeth for sexual harassment, and the church people, intolerant wretches, have the un-Christ like gall to remove poor Elizabeth from the office of minister. For shame!
I don’t even know where to begin with that example, but if I did, I’m sure that Robert Capon would accuse me of being moralizing and intolerant. Just like Paul, James and Peter. Yuck. It is true that the Church has many problems, and has had problems throughout history. However, these problems can never be solved by giving lip service to God’s word in every area that we like and rejecting anything in it that conflicts with our sensibilities. We can either stand in judgment over Scripture or allow Scripture to stand in judgment over us. The only thing is, if we choose to do the former, we will have to forgive the watching world when it doesn’t recognize us as being “people of the Book.”
1/5 stars
April 2, 2023
Two seems too low. Three too high.
Not one of Capon's better works, but still has zingers of sweltering grace that RFC is known for.
A critical romp through church history and various church paradigms and a call for the church to recuperate an illicit astonishment of the gospel.
You'll read some uncooked slop to spit out across the table and enjoy a gourmet feast.
Kind of like all his books.
A hell of an author that could use a bit more brimstone.
Not one of Capon's better works, but still has zingers of sweltering grace that RFC is known for.
A critical romp through church history and various church paradigms and a call for the church to recuperate an illicit astonishment of the gospel.
You'll read some uncooked slop to spit out across the table and enjoy a gourmet feast.
Kind of like all his books.
A hell of an author that could use a bit more brimstone.
July 11, 2020
“Despite the disasters of all our models so far, the church will always be the sacrament of the mystery of Christ. And even if it hides that mystery under bushel after bushel of forms that do its witness no favors, it will always have the Gospel to rediscover and proclaim. The Mystery of Christ in the church is God’s mystery, not ours. We may give ourselves problems with it; he has none.”
A light, charming review of the pitfalls of church, written with Capon’s characteristic verve and irreverence.
“Old patterns die hard, of course: even now, considerable efforts are being made to act as if America is, or at least should be, a ‘Christian nation.’ But it never was one; and unless it goes back on its original charter, it never can be. The church in the United States has always been ‘the churches.’ For practical purposes, from the Constitution to the present day, it has been little more than a clowder of sectarian cats competing over religion.”
October 27, 2019
A challenging little book filled with fantastic writing, I enjoyed it but do not necessarily agree with 100% of it. What cannot be denied is that Capon is a talented wordsmith and many of his observations are spot-on, such as: "We took a liberated community of believers living in the freedom of unqualified grace and converted it into a navel-watching institution dedicated, inevitably, to the preservation of its own structure."
November 19, 2024
I really like Capon, but this book was-- for him, startlingly-- kind of dull. It's full of abstractions about church history, and difficult metaphors about the 'models' of the church that we can find there. Too much grumping, too little grace for the difficult act of being the Body of Christ, and too little on the Astonishment of the title, which, when he does get to it, is excellent-- but only for a few pages at the end. He's done better things.
September 21, 2024
Capon, as always, does an exemplary job of pointing out the church's foibles with humor, with, and love. He reviews the various ages of the church, and points us toward a future where the institutional religion model dies it's death to reveal the kingdom of God in Jesus.
January 28, 2018
Fantastic and illuminating book, even to a theologically conservative reader of Church history like myself.
August 28, 2019
A sobering yet amusing romp through church history and our silly attempts to set rules on, block entry to, and suck the joy out of Christian belief.
June 29, 2014
Another great work by Robert Farrar Capon. But, you will say, if you think it's great? Why then only four stars? Why not five? Well ... it's also a bit slight. Capon takes the reader on a whirlwind tour through 2000 years of church history (and more), all in 120 pages. That doesn't really give him room to build his argument. I really appreciated his thesis in this book, but then I had already read a lot of his earlier works (he often refers to those), and I already was one of the converted. But I can imagine if this would be the first work by Capon you read, this would not be that convincing. This only works if you already buy his main point, which is that life comes only to us if we are content to be dead - it's all resurrection with Capon, left handed power (the weakness that cannot guarantee any result, but at least does not prevent love) instead of bullying right handed power, inclusiveness instead of exclusiveness. I think, as he does, that this is the gospel. And that this message has often become buried in our instutionalisation of the christian faith. I appreciated the way Capon deals with the bible and seperating main themes from minor themes, and how he grades even the new testament church critically. He is a courageous author! And then there is his focus on the sacramental nature of church: it was not supposed to be a religion for a few who believe the right thing, the church was supposed to be a sacrament of the truth of the gospel that is true for everyone, whether he believes the right thing or no. Wow! It's true. And at the end Capon writes beautifully that our need is to be astonished again, to witness the sacraments and let them do their work on us, seeing as if for the first time the disturbing (in a good way) truth of the gospel. Powerful writing! But first read his other works like 'Kingdom, Grace, Judgment', or 'The Romance of the Word', and then to remind you of this truth, read this. It will reinforce the message of grace even more.
January 21, 2009
Atrocious but fun.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews