Poetry, Parables, and Prose
The Unfinished Soul is an eclectic bag of goodies.
Reviewed by Cindy Crosby | posted 10/01/2004 12:00AM
Bestselling author Calvin Miller refers to this book as a collection of "bits and pieces of my life." As he implies, it's a mixed bag of goodies: ironic prose-poems, parables, and fairy tales with a twist populate the pages.
Some of the short fictional vignettes are chock-full of humor, such as the wife who discovers her husband is really the leotard-clad "Bible Man" (a superhero who hands out Scripture verses to those in crisis), or the Lutherans who turn into werewolves at the full moon and end up in the traps of Baptists.
Other pieces are more serious: He revisits the anonymous 16th-century hymn "Old 100th" and recasts a slice of C. S. Lewis's famous The Screwtape Letters. A few essays poke fun at contemporary culture, including a politically correct version of John 7:53 8:12 and "Frying Rabbits," about the secularization of Easter.
As enjoyable as these pieces are, one wonders about the inclusion of some others (about half of the book was previously published as An Owner's Manual for the Unfinished Soul). But, as Miller suggests, "Don't read this book to see how to do anything. Just sit with me and wonder at how closely our pilgrimages have passed."
Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today.Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
The Unfinished Soul is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.
More information is available from the publisher.
Calvin Miller's bio is available from the Beeson Divinity School's faculty page.
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October 2004, Vol. 48, No. 10
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