‘Unleash the untamed faith within – The Barbarian Way’ by Erwin Raphael McManus.
Review
*please note: this review has recently been modified.
The primary concern with this book is about moving away from domesticated faith, which has been offered of late around the world, and seek to live life in such a way that can only be described as ‘barbaric’ – a way of life both full of energy and zeal and that which is more faithful to Jesus Christ than the domesticated safety zones we live in.
The blurb on the back of the book promised much, and whilst there were some points of agreement and truth I was generally disappointed with the end result.
Let me start with some of the more positive notes.
McManus is deeply troubled at the state of Christianity in the West (I presume, since his references to a ‘domesticated faith’ do not have any reference to any churches in particular). What he sees are people who live comfortably in their sheltered lives unable or unwilling to leave the comforts of their personal securities in order to live full lives of faith for Jesus Christ. It is a terrible indictment that many churches in the West have these hallmarks. It is something I see in some members of our own congregations.
So what’s the solution? To McManus, it’s the unleashing of the ‘Barbarian way’. Of faith which is so untamed that it can not help but be explosive and infectious. Of faith which risks all for Jesus and the growth of his kingdom.
But for all his positive intentions there is a great deal lacking in his argument.
For starters McManus’ use of scripture seems exegetically weak. A lot of his quotations from scripture seem mostly used as examples of his points. Rather than do the hard work of proper exegesis McManus searches scripture to back up his propositions. For instance: the opening lines in the book quote Judges 11:1-11 from the NKJV. The story is of Jephthah and particular emphasis is made out of the fact that worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. His point, which comes in a small paragraph at the end of his first chapter, is that, “this story reminds us that the very ones who are unwanted and driven from among us are the very ones we most need to lead in times of war.”
Neglecting to take the whole story of Jephthah into account is one thing, but twisting his story to suit the need of his proposition is another. Jephthah was no moral guide for Israel and serves as a reminder of how gracious God was during the time of Judges.
What’s more is that by the end of the book McManus requotes this section from Judges but changes the words slightly:
So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob where a group of adventurers gathered around him and followed him.
Using the NIV translation this time, McManus is able to twist the meaning of the words to suit his purposes – Jephthah was the leader, he had adventurers with him. Jesus is our leader, he wants adventurers alongside him. It’s bad exegesis.
Another example is found where McManus quotes Joel 2:28-29 and says of it, “To be filled with the Spirit of God is to be filled with dreams and visions that are too compelling to ignore. Live or die, succeed or fail, babarians must pursue and attempt such dreams and visions.” This is not what Joel is saying. This part of scripture finds its fulfilment in Pentecost (Acts 2:16). A point that McManus misses to the detriment of his point.
Probably the poorest example of the use of scripture comes in the chapter ‘The Barbarian Revolt’ under the subtitle ‘Primal Attire’. Here McManus shares an incident at a men’s church camp he was invited to speak at. McManus illustrated one point in one of his talks regarding the Barbarian Way about how the Celts use to paint themselves and go into battle naked. Then during a game of tug-of-war one of the participants showed up naked! His team mates joined in for moral support – but the ended up losing anyway.
But to justify this act of indecency McManus quotes from 2 Samuel 6 – David dancing naked in front of the Ark of the Covenant as it re-enters
These exegetical problems are just a few of the many which appear in the book.
But poor exegesis is not the only issue. There is too much rhetoric and little substance. In some ways McManus may be guilty of building up a straw man only to defeat it with his passionate words. For instance, when speaking about the ‘Dangerous Invitation’ McManus’ civilised good news goes like this: “Jesus died and rose from the dead so that you can live a life of endless comfort, security, and indulgence.” The only people I have heard preach this form of ‘gospel’ has been the more traditional forms of Charismatic’s – but even they have moved away from this style of message in recent years. I would have thought the larger problem in today’s church is ‘Assumed Evangelicalism’ but that’s for another day.
But McManus continues – usually the ‘good news’ sounds like this: “if you’ll simply confess that you’re a sinner and believe in Jesus, you’ll be saved from the torment of eternal hellfire, then go to heaven when you die.” He then goes on to suggest that Jesus’ call is more ‘barbaric’ than that. And in some ways, it is – but Jesus’ call certainly does not diminish this fundamental truth of the gospel, which McManus appears to do. The Apostle Paul spends a great deal of time in Romans explaining the nature of man and how we are under condemnation (Romans 1:1 – 3:20) before introducing the saving power of God through Jesus Christ. For Paul the topics of condemnation, judgement and wrath were never far from his lips whenever he preached the gospel – even to the gentile Greeks in
Another error in biblical understanding is displayed when McManus writes about how God works in the lives of individuals today – specifically, how God speaks to us today. His understanding of this topic seems to be the understanding of many Christians I know. The problem with this understanding is how ambiguous it is. McManus puts it like this: “the Scriptures are filled with stories of women and men who heard God speak and acted as if hearing Him were normal. Hearing God is not only to be normal, but also to be an essential proof of belonging to God.”
McManus then goes on to quote from Jeremiah 31:33-34 as well as Ezekiel 36:22-23, 26-28 as proofs that God will speak to us if we should listen. He then illustrates his point by sharing a conversation he had with his adolescent son about hearing God’s voice (in fact, a lot of his illustrations come from his family – a rather American-author quirk I have found). However his argument fails for lack of understanding how God speaks to us today.
In John 1:1 we read that the Word was with God and the Word was God. Then in verse 14 of the same chapter we read that the Word became flesh – that is, the incarnate second person of the Trinity came to earth in human form: Jesus. In Hebrews 1:1-2 the writer tells of how in the past God spoke through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken through his Son. Jesus Christ is the final word, the one whom the Prophets longed to know and understand (1 Peter 1:10-13). So if Jesus is the final word, then what we have recorded in our bibles is what God would speak to us today. (I admit that this is a very rudimentary argument in itself, I have kept it short primarily for clarity of argument – further blogging on this issue will come in future).
But probably the worst thing McManus says about ‘the barbarian way’ is found in his advice regarding children. He says, “If our children are going to walk away from Christ, we need to raise them in such a way that they understand that to walk away from Jesus is to walk away from a life of faith, risk and adventure and to choose a life that is boring, mundane and ordinary.” Maybe it’s just me, but I think this over simplifies the Christian faith to the point of actually not being Christian at all. The alternative to Jesus is not boredom – it’s everlasting separation from God.
If I sound harsh in this review, it’s primarily because the material in this book is not worth recommending. McManus may have his intentions right (his heart in the right place) but good intentions count for little if your words are ultimately not faithfully representing the Gospel or God’s Word.
Eugene Peterson (another author I am becoming rapidly familiar with) says that bad exegesis is ultimately lazy exegesis. For a pastor to not spend proper time plumbing the depths of God’s Word and then preaching/teaching it faithfully is, to his mind, a liable offence. Whilst I don’t necessarily agree that you should sue your pastor for botching up a sermon, I think it’s time that we Christians started equipping ourselves to be able to discern what is and isn’t faithful teaching of Scripture.
I’m reading another book at the moment called, “Awakening. The life and ministry of Robert Murray McChenyne.” Even though I have just started this book it already promises to deliver much more of the barbaric nature of faith that McManus has sought to write on – but missed terribly. A review on ‘Awakening’ will be up soon.
Comments are closed