What is the difference between a good book and an important book?

Good books provide a quality of art, meaning, and significance that has universal application and appeal. Good books transcend time and endure. Good books lift the spirit and have the power to change lives. Important books are books that need to be read -- for a wide variety of reasons. Good books are always important. Important books don't have to be good.

The latter is certainly the case with Gary Zukav's, The Seat of the Soul. While not very good, it is a critically important book for all leaders of The United Methodist Church to read and reflect upon. This international bestseller is being embraced as a guidebook by hundreds of thousands of spiritual seekers at the end of the twentieth century. It contains a hodgepodge of religious, philosophical, scientific, and psychological "factoids," arranged in a variety of creative -- and incomplete -- ways. Grasping bits from Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, the new physics, Jung, behaviorists, and New Age thinkers, Zukav manufactures a pastiche spirituality du jour that allows people to be comfortable believing just about anything. The implied message is that the conglomeration of unrelated beliefs and ideas is somehow greater than the sum of the parts. However, this is like saying that if you take all the component parts of a Thanksgiving feast (turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie) and place them in a blender and hit puree, then the resulting goo would somehow be preferable to the individual parts. This confuses integration with dedifferentiation. While finding and understanding the commonalities among religion, philosophy, psychology, and science is important, saying that they all fit together seamlessly -- by ignoring some aspects, rejecting others, and mangling still others -- dishonors them all.

So, how is this an important book? It is important because it is what people today are reading. It rests atop the New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. It reflects the cultural hunger for, and acceptance of, any new spiritual concept that comes along. It is a keen example of the postmodern approach to religion that says the only portions of a faith that are important are the ones that make sense and are relevant to me. In short, The Seat of the Soul represents the spiritual seekers who are entering our church doors looking for discussion and dialogue about life's deepest issues.

Dialogue requires that both sides be able to speak not only their own language clearly, but to interpret and understand the other side as well. Leaders in our churches can gain insight into the ever-shifting spiritual language of modern American culture by reading books such as The Seat of the Soul. The question is not whether or not we should read this book. The question is, how can we possibly engage today's spiritual seekers without reading it?

(October 11, 1999)

    Text Only Version