Rumors of God: Experience the Kind of Faith You´ve Only Heard About by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson is a thought provoking read. The authors discuss several attributes of the life of the Christian – broken down into separate chapters. I was first intrigued in their chapter about passion for God. When two young men from another country, who were passionate about their walk with God, came to America they were confronted with the apathetic nature of the church in America. These two friends purposed to keep their passion for God alive.In “Rumors of God” the authors break down several areas in which the church is faltering. The authors look at what the Bible says about each topic and compare the biblical ideal to where we are today as a church. Although I did not always agree with the authors’ interpretation of various scriptures or their definitions of Christian vocabulary, I was always brought to a place of thinking through each topic (or “rumor”) and evaluating what my own life displayed in each area. I was challenged to analyze my thoughts and attitudes regarding topics like passion for God, grace, justice, community, etc…
The authors presented historical background for several people groups and events in the Bible that I found very interesting and helpful. These historical explanations inspired me to research more of world history during biblical times in order to better understand what the thought processes and culture of the time would have been.
The one thing I found frustrating was the lack of scripture reference. When the authors quoted scripture they often did not include the book or chapter where the scripture was found. If you are not familiar with the Bible you would need to refer to the index in order to look up scriptures and read the passage for yourself. There were several passages the authors quoted that I wanted to read for myself in order to read the surrounding verses and get more of a feel for the context.
Overall, I enjoyed “Rumors of God”. It provided good insight as well as many opportunities for discussion with others.
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