Becoming Curious: A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions

by Casey Tygrett, James Bryan Smith (Foreword)

Curiosity is essential to growth. A little curiosity moves us deeper into the lives of the people around us. A little curiosity leads to opportunities we never knew existed. A little curiosity helps us understand our own strange emotions. A little curiosity, if focused on Jesus, will make us more like him. Pastor and spiritual director Casey Tygrett loves to ask questions. "There's a difficult line to walk between what we need to know and what falls into the realm of mystery," he writes. "Walking that line often wears on our nerves and causes incredible tension, and so we settle for easy answers. We stop asking questions. We give up. We begin to lose the one thing that fiercely energizes the transformation of our souls―something beautiful, poetic, joyful, and happily disruptive: curiosity .? When we make curiosity a spiritual practice, we open up to new ways of knowing God and knowing ourselves as well. Come and discover the power of asking questions.

Genres: Christian, Faith, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Christian Living

194 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2017

About the author

Casey Tygrett (DMin, Lincoln Christian Seminary) is theologian in residence at Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, Illinois. He also oversees spiritual direction for Soul Care (www.soulcare.com), an organization that helps leaders live from a place of soul health & flourishing.

He is the author of three books:
Becoming Curious: A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions (2017)

As I Recall: Discovering the Place of Memories In Our Spiritual Life (2019; 2020 Christianity Today Award of Merit In Spiritual Formation) RE-RELEASED as The Practice of Remembering: Uncovering the Place of Memories in Our Spiritual Life (2023).

The Gift of Restlessness: A Spirituality for Unsettled Seasons (2023)

@caseytygrett (IG)
@cktygrettauthor (FB)

Reviews

[Michele Morin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Spiritual Practice of Curiosity


Part of the delight of spending time with my tiny grandson is that he takes nothing for granted.
Nothing.
“Bam, why bubble pop?”
“Because you stood on it.”
“Why?”
Well, good question. Why indeed, but our conversations routinely run on in this vein of relentless curiosity. They move forward not because “Bam” comes up with anything like satisfactory answers, but because the two-year-old mind has jumped the rails to a new topic.

Historically, the church has an uneasy relationship with curiosity, beginning with the Son of God Himself receiving flack throughout His earthly ministry from the anti-questioning party in power at that time. Casey Tygrett invites Jesus’ present-day followers back into the spiritual practice of Becoming Curious, beckoning readers into the tension that holds opposing concepts in a space that waits for answers from all the multitude of possibilities.

Risk and Tension

Jesus, the “whole and beautiful,” jumped into the mess of a broken-down world and created tension galore, so it should not surprise us when our own risky ponderings lead us into uncomfortable territory. Jesus’ twelve “learners” were continually yanked into a right understanding of all they did not know by Jesus’ search-light words:

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Posed to James and John (Mark 10:35,36) when they were gunning for the corner office;
Posed to Bartimaeus (Mark 10:47-52) the blind beggar who made a ruckus and sought healing.
It’s startling to see the question posed in both settings (Had you noticed it before? I hadn’t.), but regardless of their initial intent in coming to Jesus, His unexpected question certainly let them know that they were in for more than they had expected.

The Critical Questions

Throughout the book, Casey Tygrett repeatedly argues for the utter necessity of curiosity for our spiritual formation. When Jesus probed the disciples (Mark 16:15) for their interpretation of His identity, it was certainly not because He was unclear on this point. The truth for 1st-century and for 21st-century learners is that our answer to the question “Who do you say that I am?” defines the core of who we believe ourselves to be.

“What practices, habits, attitudes, and realities are now possible because he is who he is, and therefore I can be the same?”
With so many cultural — and, face it, “religious” — influences seeking to name us against our will, a right understanding of our identity in Christ allows us to cling to our “real, God-engraved name.”

Hearing the Why

Pressing into a spiritual practice of asking questions holds the door open for those in the following life to move beyond the basics of what and how questions and to live our way into the world of why. It’s our motives that shape who we are, and rather than pasting a list of legal requirements to our exterior selves, Jesus challenges believers in the practice of becoming:
Become the kind of person who can forgive beyond the seventy time seven.
Become a lover of the neighbors who act in an unworthy and annoying way.

Failure as Spiritual Formation

Curious living extends two challenges in the uncomfortable realm of failure:

Learn to understand and embrace our failures as part of who we are;
Repent of our old ways of seeing failure.
In His recorded dealings with the failure of biblical characters, God goes on record as One who meets murderers and cheaters and weaklings of all types with grace and forgiveness. What if part of the “all things” in Romans 8:28 that God promises to use for our good and for the fulfillment of His holy purposes includes (gulp) our failures?

Rituals, Routines, and Disciplines as Part of the Curious Life

Again, the important question in the following life is “Why?” If I’m doing something because I want to earn favor with God, or because I think I can control some outcome in my life by it, then it’s likely that a ritual or routine has become my master. God has ordained certain practices of godliness because He wants “to cut thick neural pathways in our minds that allow wisdom to flow continually.” We show up in front of an open Bible each day, not because it’s a lucky rabbit’s foot and “my day always goes better if I start with Scripture” like a multi-vitamin, but because this is the path of formation that makes me into the kind of person who is able to discern the voice of God from all the screaming banshees inside my head.

Casey invites readers to keep a Questions Journal as they read and provides prompts at the end of each chapter that prime the pump. I was surprised at what came bubbling to the surface as I scribbled questions into my notes, and I invite you to start reading Jesus’ biblical questions with a bit more involvement. What if you were face to face with Him over coffee, and He asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” What comes to mind first?

As we persist in our asking and in our listening, may we find that our questions become bolder and that we begin searching to know Him rather than merely to know about Him. The spiritual practice of becoming curious is God’s gift to His people, and He has equipped our souls to take the shape of an explorer into the deep things that will change our way of seeing the world. Are we curious enough to follow Him there?

This book was provided by the IVP Books, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, in exchange for my review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: Commends curiosity as essential to transformation and helps us cultivate the practice of asking questions as a spiritual practice.

Anyone who has been a parent knows there is a season of life where you probably answer a hundred questions a day from your growing child. As children grow and change by asking questions, we begin to settle into the role of being people who have life figured out enough to have "the answers." That settling can be dangerous, as we harden in attitudes and dispositions. We cease to grow.

Casey Tygrett thinks that curiosity isn't just for the young but rather an essential for growth and transformation at any age. He proposes that we need to become, not childish, but rather childlike, and that learning to ask questions, lots of questions, can be a spiritual practice that helps us cultivate curiosity, and that can be the doorway to change as we live with our questions before God.

His book is organized around different kinds of questions we might explore, and each chapter ends with a "questions journal exercise" that encourages us in this practice. Among the kinds of questions he explores is the searching question that Jesus asks both James and John, and the blind man: "What do you want me to do for you?" He encourages us to think of how we would answer, and what it would be like were Jesus to ask the question of us and what we would answer him. He considers questions of identity ("who do you say I am?"), questions of motivation (Why?), the question of the other, and what it means to love the other well ("Who is my neighbor?"), and the questions of failure (our own) and forgiveness (of ourselves and others). Finally he considers what is perhaps the hardest question, what it means to change, which often involves dying, resurrection, and ascension.

What impressed me so much about this book was how Tygrett comes at so many familiar passages with a fresh slant. Earlier, I wrote on his discussion of "repentance." There his question is, what if we thought of repentance as an invitation rather than a command? I found this fresh slant in the chapter on failure, where he observes that Jesus doesn't make Peter confess that he had denied the Lord, and that Jesus invites Peter to participate in his own reinstatement in responding to his questions "do you love me?"

This was most apparent in what he wrote on forgiveness:

"One of the reasons curiosity is so important to our growth and formation is that it's not enough to hear Jesus teaching 'forgive,' and then we do it.

     We need the second question--the curious question--How?

     When it comes to forgiveness, the how is not just an event. It's not just an action, an attitude, a prayer, or a gift given in hopes of burying a hatchet.

     Forgiveness is an address. It's a place where you live."

I've never heard it expressed like this but it so makes sense. It is like there are only two houses we can live in--a judgment world or a forgiveness world. We either live in a world of judging and being judged, or in forgiving and being forgiven.

My sense is that this freshness arises out of the author's own childlike curiosity. Perhaps one of the simple goodnesses of this book is the permission he gives to ask questions. Some of us may have gotten the mistaken notion that this is not permitted of "good" or "mature" or "orthodox" Christians. Far from being a problem or an apologetic challenge, he treats questions as an opportunity to be encountered by the God who is not put off by our questions but uses the questions we bring into God's presence as a means not simply to inform us but to change us--to transform us. 

____________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Erin Laramore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book on spiritual formation and the beauty of asking questions that help us to form a childlike faith. My favorite chapter was chapter 5. Having grown up entrenched in legalism, it was refreshing to see legalism for what it really is - the answering of the what and the how without the why. Curiously asking "why" brings a depth into why we're doing it and pulls us into relationship. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone seeking a more childlike faith and those interested in the steps of spiritual formation.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book helpful in moving past the death of church that did not allow questions, determining what I had been holding too tightly and needed to let go of.

For those who want to cultivate curiosity, practicing the discipline of asking beautiful questions on the journey of our faith, we will at some point have to enter mystery and remain there. We will need to disown one thing and stand empty handed for awhile. These are our little deaths, our little crucifixions.

[Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was raised to take scripture seriously as the Word of God, but when I simply didn't just take what I was being taught at face value, but had legitimate theological questions, I was made to feel ashamed of them. Questions sparked fear in my Sunday School teachers and in my parents. Questions created doubt within me. Doubt, not in God, but in myself; in that I was made to feel that to ask a question was somehow wrong. For years I suffered under that fear. I wish I had encountered a book like Casey Tygrett's Becoming Curious: A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions a long time ago.

As he writes, "Questions require us to see the kingdom of God as it is and as it can be in this moment, this time and this place in our story." Questions begin in curiosity. Curiosity and questions lead someone beyond their own limitations to the endless possibilities established by the creative act of grace. Questions don't necessarily lead to doubt but to deeper thinking.

Why do so many fear questions?

The author states, ". . . questions make us vulnerable, revealing that we don't know the answer, and not knowing the answer makes us feel weak. We begin to realize how truly unguarded and fragile we are when we ask our deepest questions." Yet Casey Tygrett shows how, in asking, we receive. Not always answers, because Christ came not to give us answers but himself.

This book offers followers of Christ the impetus to explore not only the questions that the author raises, but their own and to know that it is not only spiritually okay, it's desired by our Creator.

[Drew Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of years ago I was arrested by the statement, “love is curious” - which is just another way of saying, “love believes all things.” Love is never closed-minded. Such self-righteous certainty leads to judging. Not compassion. So, the title of this book intrigued me. I suppose that not only love is curious, but faith is too. Ann Lamott has said that the opposite of faith is certainty, not doubt. I assume Tygrett agrees. He writes, “I wonder if doubt is simply curiosity cast as a villain.” The premise of the book is that Christian communities tend to be allergic to curiosity (i.e. doubt), and that this is a bad thing. As one who struggles with doubt, or rather a person who is naturally curious, I appreciate the attempt to make room for asking questions. But doubt is a tricky thing. It can be a sign of deep faith or unbelief. At times, this book seems to intentionally ask questions of things that are clear in the Scriptures. That feels like willful skepticism, not playful curiosity. And that’s a bad thing. Still, much to appreciate in these pages. Particularly, the chapter on loving others (chapter 6). Also, the chapter on motivation (chapter 5).

[Carter Hemphill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about the book. I enjoyed the focus on Jesus and his engagement with others through asking questions, but I didn't think the author provided a compelling case in linking Jesus' questions to the need for us to be curious. At times I found the writing to be tedious and frustratingly abstract, lacking concrete examples for application. I likely would have gotten more out of the book if this was used in a group setting and had gone through the exercises at the end of the book. It's likely more effective as a spiritual handbook.

[Angela Ebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thoughtful read about practicing curiosity - with ourselves, with God, with others. Each chapter has some process questions and/or application as well. I enjoyed it, and think others will, too, though I have read a few other books lately that emphasize this practice that have impacted me more.

I appreciated the emphasis on a posture of humility as we approach God, others, and our own emotions and experiences. I also appreciated the focus on Jesus’ curiosity and questions and how often He approached others with a sincere humility.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

31 - "As we age, questions make us vulnerable, revealing that we don't know the answer, and not knowing the answer makes us feel weak. We begin to realize how truly unguarded and fragile we are when we ask our deepest questions. When we try, after a litany of experience and failures, to understand how God might love us and call us loved, we are mystified because we barely like ourselves - how can we be loved well in this state? How can we possibly approach that question?"

35 - Jesus invites us to repent and see through the eyes of a child, to see things again for the first time. Come and revisit your stories, your wounds, and your mysteries in the light of childlike trust that "things will be okay."

43 - The most encouraging thing to me about the colourful, gritty folks in the Scriptures is that they reveal how gifted Jesus is at shaping diamonds out of dust. The formation of James and John, and of you and me, always begins with our ragged edges exposed. It is where the fun and adventure of formation takes flight.

43- I often struggle with detaching from instant gratification, instead asking the question, What if fixing it now is cheap and worthless compared to the pain and growth of letting Jesus walk me toward the solution?"

70 - The great call of our identity in Jesus is that we are "who we are" before we're asked to do a thing. We are invited to obey commands to love and justice, but not until we've been named as those God shows love and gives justice to. ... As Parker Palmer says, "I cannot give what I do not possess, so I need to know what gifts have grown up within me that are now ready to be harvested and shared... Like the fruit of a tree, the will replenish themselves in due season."

76 - Have we surrendered the pursuit of the best of God for the enough of God? I admit there are difficult seasons when we subsist on God, when we fight through the valley of the shadow of death with only the rumor of God being with us (see Psalm 23), but as with all season, if it never ends it isn't a season."

79 - Legalism occurs when what and how become strong than why. Which is problematic because what and how change, but why never does.

104 - What happens after our moments of failure? If we had oppourtunity to move toward a moment that might be uncomfortable or tense, what would drive us to swim toward it with reckless abandon? What quality would make us want to do that?

126 "Similar stories today are so many that it causes my stomach to turn: a man attends church every Sunday, gives when the offering plate goes by, even leads a small group, but when he goes home he beats his wife and children. He hates, actively, those of another race. Something isn't clicking. He is not being formed into Christ through his rituals: he is simply walking paths that mimic the genuine and authentic spiritual life that comes when Jesus is at the center.

166 - What would it mean, in the midst of the questions we've kindled through reading this book, for us to suddenly realize we have someone walking with us? What if we came to know that a calming beautiful presence was at our side on the road? Would the intensity of our need for answers relent? Would our breathing slow and our minds relax?

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book in an interesting read. While written by a seminary educated author, it is not written as an academic works and is easily understood by those in ministry (whether professional or lay) as well as those who are not in ministry. Even if one is not a Christian, this book is good for those who are wanting to improve their communication skills or even move ahead in their profession. I would encourage everyone to read it and take what works for you and leave the rest.

The author discusses what it means to be curious in our spiritual journey and begins by noting that "curiosity is essential to our lives," stating that "the point of Jesus’ questions was to stoke curiosity rather than seeing it as an obstacle or a problem." Curiosity is a gift. If we were not curious, we would stop learning and growing. In order to grow and continue learning, we need to remain curious and take risks by asking questions. In writing about asking questions, the author discusses how children are curious and ask questions, between "three hundred and four hundred questions per day."

In noting this, he invites us to be curious as well, writing that "questions take time, and the best ones are not easily resolved in a moment, if at all." As I think about my own spiritual journey and the mystery of God, I find this to be true. To be curious means to take risk. The first question that many people ask in their spiritual journey is who am I? As a Christian, this can only be answered in the light of Jesus. This causes us to begin to ask different questions. Often we ask how or what, but we need to start asking why. If we focus on what and how, we risk becoming legalistic. Whereas, Casey posits, "eternal life is the life of why—legalism is the life of what and how." This leads us to check our assumptions, especially about other people. When we examine our assumptions about others, we find that often times, they are based upon stereotypes that have been handed down to us. As we learn that these stereotypes as inaccurate, we begin to love others different. We begin to love them the way that God does. This in turn leads us to forgive ourselves and others.

As Jesus said, we are to be like little children (Matthew 18:2-4), which includes having their curiosity. When we are curious we ask questions.

[Carole Duff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and journaled my way through Casey Tygrett’s questions noted in Becoming Curious. After all, Jesus asked lots of questions. “The great grace of curiosity is that it allows us to enter difficult and unsteady rooms of life and find the centering, peaceful presence of Jesus inviting us to come deeper still,” Tygrett wrote. “Is there a way to move through change, loss, and pain with our souls intact? What tools, guidance, or insights on how to journey joyfully through change do we find in Jesus? What if, in fact, dying is not only the point, but it is truly the way to live?” (153) Change. Crucifixion, resurrection, ascension. A gentle form of dying so something deeper and stronger can rise in us.

[D.J. Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book back in March while taking a Listening Course. Only time and life events prevented me from finishing it. So, I started again, and I'm so glad I did. I'm glad I bought the book. Each chapter is set up with a quote, a question, a conversational / narrative style of writing, and finally with multiple questions for a journal exercise. I read it straight through and now I am eager to go back and do some journaling through the chapters. I recommend the book; I don't have any problems with Tygrett quoting Catholic Christ-followers, gay Christ-followers, egalitarian Christ-followers. I did see a lower star review from someone who did have issues with those Christ-followers.

[George Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read this year. Wonderfully conversational book about exactly what the title suggests - becoming curious. Tygrett suggests throughout that the thing we most need is not more answers, but better questions. He explores a variety of themes and biblical passages, sussing the out for the questions they raise and how asking those questions can stretch our spirituality. Can't recommend this book enough.

[Bruce Stopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look under the bed!

Ever read a Christian book and begin to wonder if it's taking you beyond a conservative faith to something unspoken? Halfway through this book I began to wonder about many of the quotations that supported Tygrett's points. I found a mix of progressive thinking, Catholic theologians, gay pastors, but hardly any conservative thinkers. I'm curious how spiritual practice is only supported by one viewpoint.

[Mike Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always struggled with the need to be right or accurate. I would correct others if their recollection did not mirror mine. Casey Tygrett gently challenges my assumptions through several stories and parables and allows others to gain a voice in my journey. I am thankful for friends who have remained while I learn valuable lessons as becoming curious.

[Jay A. George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thought provoking

I loved the idea of asking questions of the text? The author does a great job of taking familiar stories about Jesus and digging deep into what God really wants us to not only know but experience. Ultimately our experience will be of God himself.

[Momanyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really struggled through this book because I'm not good at asking questions. But that was the point of buying the book. The very idea of 'it's okay to ask questions' has been validated and affirmed within me. I hope I'm better. I hope I'll be better.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought-provoking book, with more questions than answers. We need to ask questions to learn more about Jesus.

[Douglas Widdowson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it wasn't what I expected - I really appreciated the insights that Casey provided

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey puts the cookies on the bottom shelf. His "what if" approach adds layers of depth to life in general, but especially to life as an apprentice of Jesus.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Tygrett’s words, “This book is meant to be a conversation, taking a look at the questions surrounding Jesus with an eye toward how they change us, shaping our souls for authentic living in a world where certainty comes and goes like the weather.” Jesus taught extensively by asking questions, often answering a question with another question. The author reflects on many of these and ends each chapter subsection with questions for further pondering: Why...? How...? What if...? He encourages readers to make a habit of jotting down curious questions of their own, adding “I hope this practice will get us into the habit of asking good and beautiful questions rather than passively settling for someone else’s certainty or faking our own certainty when it becomes a thin paper sheath over out hearts and minds.” How many of us ever stop to think that asking questions is a healthy spiritual exercise modeled by Jesus? While Becoming Curious didn’t meet all my expectations, it was probably due to my own hangups. I never liked putting my private thoughts on paper, so journaling was a chore that I finally gave up. But if you are unsure of the propriety of asking questions and sharing uncertainties in matters of faith, Tygrett gives you permission to question to your heart’s content, if not on paper, then in conversation. A leader’s guide for group study is included, and I think I would have gained more from this book, had I read it with a group.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a digital copy of the book from the publisher for review.

What an important book! How refreshing to be given permission, even welcomed, to ask questions about life and faith without judgement. This is just what the Christian culture needs.

I'm intrigued by the idea of a "question journal" and happy for the opportunity to travel along the questioning path using the helpful prompts at the end of each chapter.

Tygrett's gentle curiosity opens wide the door to those of us who have small or significant doubts about matters of faith, and lets us know we aren't alone and that it's okay and even normal to question.

For all the curious poking and prodding at major faith concepts in the book, I'm left feeling more grounded and secure at the end of it.

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Becoming Curious

A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions



by Casey Tygrett

InterVarsity Press

IVP Books



Christian , Religion & Spirituality

Pub Date 07 May 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Becoming Curious through Intervarsity Press and Netgalley:

In this book we are reminded that just as Christmas comes differently to children, with curiosity and wonder, we too should become more curious in our faith.

We are reminded that curiosity matters, that asking questions, and searching for the answers is okay.

The author goes on to ask this "What if repentance is an invitation to the forgiveness of our sins?"

Casey Tygrett goes on to point out that we can find Repentance through questions. She goes on to point out that in the gospels Jesus engages in nearly 183 questions.

The author goes on to point out that according to researchers children between the ages of three and five ask between three to five hundred questions a day. She points out that a lot of those questions are probably simply "Why?".

This book reminds us too that we can find joy in the extraordinary.

I give Becoming Curious five out of five stars.

Happy Reading.

[Brandon]

One of the best reads on the nature of human curiosity and how God uses it to discover him I have ever read. Each chapter spoke into my soul and invited me to invest in my curiosity in God and others. Well worth the time as this book helped me understand why certain ideas have captured my heart and mind.