Honestly, I was disappointed when I opened the package and found a book that nearly fit on the palm of my hand. For a book on orthodoxy, I expected something heavy, something long, with gilt edges glittering of gold leaf. I read it anyway, and I’m glad I did.
This book challenged me to reconsider, not what I believe, but how I hold what I believe. Josh lays it out in a neat grid in the study guide at the end of the book. Quadrant one is arrogant heterodoxy, or bad doctrine dispensed with bad behavior or attitude. The second and third quadrants are combinations of good and bad doctrine and behavior.
The fourth quadrant, the one Josh challenges us to live out, holds in balance good doctrine and a humble spirit. “Truth matters,” he writes, “but so does our attitude… we must care deeply about truth, and we must also defend and share this truth with compassion and humility.”
It’s a case hard to swallow for the pharisaical orthodox, those deeply committed to upholding the truth at all costs. But it is one equally difficult for those who prefer not to offend or frighten those who might disagree.
In my life and ministry I have known both. Perhaps at times I have been both. On the college campus I saw young believers trying to express and live out their newly discovered beliefs. And I have seen secularists equally committed to their atheistic ideals.
I think it’s fair to find a place in the middle, where truth is not compromised… but neither is love.
Local and interested in reading this book? Let me know, I’d be happy to lend it to you. Live farther away? Pick up a copy for yourself here.
Not sure yet? Read the first chapter for free.