Faith Without Illusions: Following Jesus as a Cynic-Saint

Author: Andrew Byers
Publisher: Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011; 211 pages.
Category: Church, Society

Synopsis: A cynical attitude toward the church is steadily growing in popularity and acceptance in the church today. This is because the church has, intentionally or unintentionally, really wounded people in various ways. However, the growing cynicism is also the result of letting these legitimate wounds fester in the heart of man. Andrew Byers attempts to dissect and separate the wounds from the sinful reactions to those wounds with the hope that people in the church will once again deal with the reality of life on this earth as a community of redeemed sinners without losing the hope of the coming restoration of God’s people.

Value: Cynicism often takes it start when a person goes to college and experiences a volley of challenges to traditional ideas and claims. While these challenges have their place, students can quickly lose sight of the difference between being constructively critical and being annoying for the sake of annoyance. Byers’ book provides helpful guards for the non-cynic who just wants the critics to be quiet and for the cynics who refuse to ever be silenced. Either you are or will be a cynic, or perhaps you will have to lead people one day who will display the symptoms of a cynical heart. In either case, Byers will challenge your motives with the light of Scripture, and that is a worthy reason to read this book.