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Review Of Donald Miller 's ' Blue Like Jazz

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Kaelin Crim. Review of Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz: Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality (Nashville, Tennessee, Nelson Books, 2003) The book was a great explanation of what the Christian faith looked like from a brand new set of eyes. As Miller took us through his own life struggles, while at the same time explaining each incident in detail, it was clear that his faith was a new life entirely. He talks about his own spiritual journey in the form of a series of essays. The rich emotional impact of jazz was the arch metaphor that Miller came up with. It is shown as the deepest sort of intimacy. I never heard of the term “arch metaphor” before I read this book. The term isn’t listed in the dictionary either. In Chapter 20 he says, “The first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It is a music birthed out of freedom. And that is the closest thing I know to Christian spirituality. A music birthed out of freedom. Everybody sings their song the way they feel it, everybody closes their eyes and lifts up their hands”. This is an important idea to note because you could say that the title came from it. Comparing jazz music to Christian spirituality makes sense to me but it is uncommon just because of the fact that you don’t play or sing jazz when at church on Sundays. At the same time it does makes sense because when you think about jazz and Christian spirituality they both focus around feelings, which is important. I would say that it could be a metaphor and a

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