Called to Be Human: Letters to My Children on Living a Christian Life

by Michael Jinkins

In this manual for living the Christian ― and therefore a truly human ― life, Michael Jinkins explores so-called Big Questions that challenge people of all What is it to be human? Why am I here? What can I believe in? How should I invest my life? / Readers will find here arresting insights illuminating our contemporary human experience. Through these letters written to his own adult children, Jinkins converses with a startling range of thinkers and writers ― from Calvin to Rumi ― and offers searching, loving testimony to his own faith. In doing so, he is critical not only of “religion” and the church but also of mere vapid “spirituality.” Frank, pungent, and at times humorous, Called to Be Human offers vital food for thought ― and for authentic Christian living. / “Have you ever seen faith get passed from one generation to the next? I have. Here. In this book ― this edgy, honest, makes-you-cry-because-it’s-so-true book ― Michael Jinkins passes his Christian faith along to his children, Jeremy and Jessica. Thank God, he’s allowed us to look over their shoulders and read along. Called to Be Human confirms the stature of Michael Jinkins as the C. S. Lewis of our time.”― Scott Black Johnston / Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York / “In Called to Be Human Michael Jinkins wrangles with profound questions that so many young adults face ― the terrifying beauty of death, the staggering complexities of evil, and the bewildering pursuit of vocation. Yet what makes this book so wise and powerful is not just its subject matter but, even more, that these words are wrapped in the unmistakable affection of a father who loves deeply.”― Carol Howard Merritt / Western Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.

Genres: Theology

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this thin volume by chance while browsing in the library. And I'm glad I did! I couldn't put it down, and I finished it in two sittings. The book is a series of letters from a pastor/theologian father to his two adult children, Jeremy and Jessica. Jeremy is struggling with his vocation and what to do with his life, and Jessica is wrestling with her faith and what it means to believe in God.

I'd give this book to Christians as it's filled with lots of Christian humanist wisdom (more on the humanism part shortly). And I'd give this book to non-Christians who are interested in seeing from the inside what it's like to live, think, struggle and question as a Christian.

Some thoughts:
-The book is reminiscent of C.S. Lewis's A Grief Observed, Letters to Malcolm on Prayer, and Eugene Peterson.

-I liked the book's emphasis that "The purpose of Christian faith is for us to become human." If I remember correctly, C.S. Lewis also held to this theme. I believe this happens through the image of God being restored and the dead being brought back to life. Also, since Christ was the most human of any person, then if we are joined to Him, we share and partake of his human nature.

-Good reminder: no experience is a waste in the providence of God.

-On the fear of dying. "And, I think, for both of us the fear of dying has nothing to do with either 'faith' or 'religion.' Maybe it has something to do with what Miguel de Unamuno said: 'As human beings we live together, but each of us dies alone, and death is the most extreme solitude.' Maybe this is why we both needed to hold on to one another just a little longer. And maybe that's why families and friends gather together after a death even when they don't know what to say to each other, even when all they can do is stare at each other, or crack bad jokes, or drink and eat and stay up too late. We just need to be together to endure the sense of this 'most extreme solitude.'" (100-101).

-On making use of non-Christian thinkers:
1. Calvin dismantles the wall between sacred and secular. How? "He writes in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, 'Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves,' and this wisdom, true and sound, is 'joined by many bonds.'"
2. All truth is God's truth so all wisdom, no matter what the source, is within the bounds for Christians.
3. Reading literature from other traditions and faiths connects one "with the deep streams of our common humanity." This is the true meaning of Christian humanism. "As a minister, as a Christian, as a human being, I want to connect with the deep streams of our common humanity. Jesus Christ is not only Lord of the Church; Jesus Christ is Lord of all creation. The Word through whom all creation was brought into existence speaks still through all of life. Thus wisdom, "sound and true," is sound and true wherever we find it, because all wisdom originates in God. [That's another way of expressing the doctrine of common grace.:]

-I love this point about paradox. Christians err when they favor consistency over truth. The more Christian perspective is to affirm two doctrines that seem to be apparent contradictions, e.g., free will and predestination. "A person of faith, Chesterton seems to say, should be possessed of the simple sanity that, because it is sane, is also mystical. ... 'He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but ... free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. ... It is exactly this balance of apparent contradictions that has been the whole buoyancy of the healthy man. The whole secret of mysticism is this; that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand." (130).

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this book is a mixed basket. I love the premise of a father's letters to his children, and he does say some good and wise things. . .But Jinkins leaves me not quite sure on which side of the "all roads lead to heaven" vs. "I am the way, the truth, and the life" fence he is on. (Admittedly, this may be a very thin fence, but an important one.) And some of the things he says just don't ring true.

For example--

Liked: "We take the mysteries of existence and the wonders of God for granted, and spend an astonishing amount of our energy complaining that the plane is thirty minutes late when the marvel is that human beings can fly. I want to warn you against the sin of taking God's world and the God and the wonders and the graces (small and large) of your life for granted. To be grateful is just about the least we can do in the face of existence, and to be ungrateful is not only a sin, it's just plain tacky."

Disliked: "At the core of the universe, there beats a human heart: the heart of God."

Okay, so maybe he doesn't literally mean God's heart is exactly the same as a human heart (which is deceitful above all things, remember) but in any case, it's a sloppy sort of idea.

[Laila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful, engaging letters on God, Jesus, and life's questions from a father to his twenty-something children.