Book Review: The Sacred Journey

The Sacred Journey
By Charles Foster
Thomas Nelson Publishers

"The penalty for wanting to be a settler is that you become one." –Charles Foster

That is one of the sentences in this book that could easily define its contents. The main focus of this book is that of our lives, as Christians, being on a moving journey, or "pilgrimage" as it's often described in this book. His writing was simple to follow, sometimes a little dry, and I didn't care for his style of humor. It took me nearly a year to read this book, mainly because it was difficult to read. I kept going back to books I was being pulled into because of their strong content and strong biblical references. This book lacked in this department, so the reason it took so long. It is my first book review with Thomas Nelson's "Book Sneeze" program and unfortunately it was a bad first choice.

Foster is an obviously educated and experienced person, albeit misguided. He makes a key point throughout this book that Jesus was a pilgrim. Jesus was not looking for a place to "settle" but was to move around assuming the role of a servant, spending his time with the unwashed travelers of the day. But that is exactly what I think, as Foster describes in this book, we as Christians should be. Unfortunately, Foster refers to many other "wonderful" religious practices of Buddhists, Muslims or Hindus among others. He spends a lot of time injecting his strange take on Scripture but not including much Scripture at all.

The very clear message of this book, which was made in a 'round about way, is to trust in God. What we NEED will be provided to us, not necessarily what we WANT. Bigger does NOT mean better. It is the distractions of this world that keep us from following Jesus on the true journey of life, the pilgrimage. As Christians, are we better off to be moving around or be settled in one place? On this point I do not quite agree with Foster as I believe everyone has a different "calling" to be wherever the Lord wills. That could be "settled" in a suburbia America, or in my case, could mean to go to a foreign country to share Christ with those who have not heard of Him. In either case, Foster seems to have it "out" for city living indicating that God was always punishing those in the cities. What? His theology is interesting to say the least.

The bottom line of this book is that Foster is trying to take something that is more metaphorical (pilgrims in a strange land) and make it literal (we must all literally be strangers and not settle). It doesn't take "long walks" or a literal journey to find God. That is the stuff all the other world religions are made of. God will never leave me or forsake me. God is wherever I go, and yes, there are times when I hear more clearly from him out in the country. But I hear Him just as often in the city when I seek Him.

I do not recommend this book and will probably throw it away as there are enough heretical statements in this book that I wouldn't want anyone seeking growth in their Christian walk to read it.

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