Book Review: The Fine Line by Kary Oberbrunner
September 21, 2009 by kristinemac
Filed under Book/DVD Reviews
I've recently finished reading a book which is truly a must read for any Christian desiring to live authentically for Jesus Christ. The Fine Line: Re-envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture by Kary Oberbrunner, is engaging, thought provoking, and informative.
First learning about The Fine Line after it was referenced in an article by Kary which I ran across on Charisma Mag.com; my husband and I had been talking about the issues raised by the article. I wanted to learn more. After some brief communication with Kary…gotta love the internet…he asked if I'd like to review The Fine Line. Obviously I was thrilled by the opportunity!
The Fine Line: Re-Envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture is a book which helps the Christian reader take a look at how we are called to be "in the world, but not of the world". We discover how the church has lost it's relevancy within culture in recent years, and why it's so important to engage our world for Christ.
As defined by The Fine Line, there are two "irrelevant" camps within Christianity making a lot of noise. Indeed, they are fueling the current trend of disillusionment of non believers toward the church. However, there is a third group of Christians who are attempting to live out the balance of being "in the world, but not of it". As the reader progresses through the book, we learn how these groups interact within the church, culture, and what it all means in regard to our ability to be relevant in the lives of our neighbors.
Kary is a seminary trained pastor with solid writing skills, using stories and humor to hammer the salient points home. Discussion questions available at the end of the book encourage a dialogue, and believe me…you'll want to talk to other Christians about this book! Timely written, The Fine Line is honest, gritty, biblical, and holds no punches. All the while expressing the truth with love, and always pointing the reader to a deeper walk with Christ.
Get a copy of The Fine Line: Re-Envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture and start reading it today. Examine yourself to see what "irrelevant group" of Christians you probably lean toward ( I tend to be a "Seperatist"). Is that position where you truly belong? Gather a group of friends. Discuss the questions the book raises. You may just find yourself moving out of your spiritual comfort zone, and becoming more like "salt and light" to this world than you've ever been before.
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OCTOBER CONTEST: You could win ONE of three copies being given away of Kary Oberbrunner's excellent book, The Fine Line!
To Be Eligible:
Post a comment on this page answering this question:
In The Fine Line, Kary define's two "irrelevant" groups within the church: Seperatists (those who seek to cut themselves off from the world) and Conformists (those who give in to the pull of society). Which group do you most identify with…and why?
Three winners will be chosen by random drawing on October 23rd.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO: Laurin J, Jim, and Tom E.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Zondervan as part of their Blogger Review 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.”
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I fear both extremes have their 'issues'. I would say you could put me in the separatist. I have found that to vear into the 'unknown' or liberal views only leads to subjecting myself to ideas that I may need to confess at a later time. Perhaps it is my own spiritual immaturity. Still, for my own safety, I shun such. Still, there is a part of me that leans to the progressive.
I tend to respond easier to those teachers and leaders whose lives are disciplined and understand the importance of living 'above reproach' or at least doing the very best they can.
I probably best identify with the separatist group and that is mostly due to the Christian training/background I have. I grew in a very strict church … no drinking, smoking, or running with girls that do. You were/are supposed to only have Christian friends because those who are not will lead you back toward the path of Satan and not God. Also, because of the job I have I spend a lot of time alone and that certainly lends itself to a life of separation.
on the 2 different groups in The Fine LIne, for a long time I was part of the Seperatist group but never really fit or agreed with a lot of it. I began to question and read and now try to be in the middle. I got saved at 25 and my husband's home church's former pastor, who we went to work for, was definetly a seperatists which led to us conforming. Raising 4 teenage boys caused myself and my husband to question, search for some answers. Our boys have had a large impact on our growing, reading.
I think that I've been on a pendulum through both camps. Early on, I was definitely a separatist. Being cut off from the world allowed me to cut out distractions and focus on my relationship with God (or at least that’s what I told myself). What I found was that was stagnating: cutting out the world also cut out other people, whose opinions and thoughts have come to matter a great deal to me. It also cut out seeing many of the everyday miracles of God’s hand at work. So I think I’m now more of a conformist. Although I don’t think of myself as giving into the pull of society, I like to be consciously aware of what those pulls are, and how God can speak to me and others in those arenas.
I most identify with the conformist…i grew up in a non-christian home and was saved at 18… discipled through Young Life. I've been the separtist. But there's a balance between antinomiansm and legalism…according to Galatians 5.
I, too, have ridden the pendulum from one extreme to the other. As a student at a college then rated the school "most likely to ignore God," I was so terrified by my peers' overt hedonism and rejection of Christianity that I cowered in the "separatist" camp for a good long time. As I learned to celebrate and recognize God's real and beautiful presence even out in "the world," I've sometimes erred on the "conformist" side. I think we will all still fall into one ditch or the other from time to time until we reach the Kingdom.
I think I too have been through both sides.In fact,unless we set aside the opinions of a lot of people around us,we will never break out of the conformist.When we worry if our witnessing might embarrass us,we must learn to live as a conformist.Only recently (the last 6 yrs or so) have a taken a more conscious look at the difference and started living more as a seperatist.Just as the disciples were challenged to set aside their worldly ways,so must we as modern day disciples.