Book offers mixed bag for spiritual seekers

On the one hand, you might want to use this book for a Bible study with a seeker.

On the other hand, you might not.

Brad East. “Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry.” Eerdmans. 2024. 288 pages. $24.99.

Brad East, an associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University, has a personal practice of writing spiritually encouraging notes to young family members.

He has continued his “habit of writing short, accessible letters to young people about the hope we share in Christ,” and thus, his epistolary book “Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry” was born.

He is so serious about Christians counting the cost before enlisting their lives in service that he opens and closes the book with scenes of martyrdom. Many of his examples and images are of Catholic saints, martyrs and other figures.

East’s prose is warm and comforting (think C.S. Lewis), and his arguments for the cause of Christ are compelling.

The book is a collection of letters organized into twelve sections telling God’s story and purpose.

East presents a logically ordered walk through the Bible with headings from “God Brings Life through Death” and “God Calls a Special People” to “God Becomes a Human Being” and, finally, “God Makes All Things New.”

However, some of the paths he takes to get to his destination are trails I would not recommend to a seeker. Prayer beads, profanity and Presbyterian infant baptism are not condoned in the Scriptures but are included in this book.

East does not take the creation account of Genesis literally but does believe God raised Jesus from the dead.

Listen to Brad East discuss his book on Episode 103 of The Christian Chronicle Podcast.

East writes knowledgeably about fasting and self-denial. He supports a solid doctrinal position with Scripture but gushes about monastic life.

To say that this book is “ecumenical” is an understatement, and there, I think, is its power, but also its weakness.

I was hopeful that the supersized, universal Christian umbrella East was holding would bring everyone under its considerable shelter, while funneling down to a strong, single handle of scriptural truth. It was not so.

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As he writes in closing, he has “not sought to tell the reader which tradition, movement, or denomination is the right one.”

An interesting exercise with this book would be to see whom East cites more frequently: Jesus and the Bible, or writers such as C.S. Lewis, Julian of Norwich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine and more.

All are fascinating and valuable reading, to be sure. However, for the purpose of guiding a seeker to truth, I would focus on the Bible.

“I could view the book almost as a survey of Christianity. But as a guide to finding the Jesus of the New Testament, it misses the mark.”

At the beginning, East stated the purpose for his correspondence was “to teach you what Christianity is, what Christians believe, and what it means to live as a Christian.”

If East instead had written “to teach you what some people believe Christianity is,” I could view the book almost as a survey of Christianity. But as a guide to finding the Jesus of the New Testament, it misses the mark.

LISA BREWER worships at the Wilkesboro Church of Christ in North Carolina, where her husband, Greg, serves as a deacon. She is the executive director of the Carolina Bible Camp Bluegrass Festival, an annual fundraising event scheduled this year for Sept. 13.

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