More on PDL

Matt Harmless seemed to wonder in his response to yesterday's post just what I had against Purpose-Driven. I have to confess that I over-stepped one of my unwritten rules for Mr. Standfast, which is to remain encouraging and constructive at all times. My remarks yesterday indulged in the forbidden pleasure of sarcasm, which I really abhor. For this I apologize.

I really don't want to get into the whole PDL thing again. I'll just say that, while much of the praise that the book has received has been quite over-the-top, much of the criticism has been every bit as "hyper" as the praise. But see this interview with several level-headed Lutheran pastors for a "fair and balanced" response. By the way, I blogged at length on the subject back in early May: see for example this post, and this one, and this one, and even this one.

As I noted yesterday, I've been reading The Call, by Os Guinness, and I'm finding the book very engaging. So, recalling the famous C. S. Lewis maxim that any book worth reading once is worth reading again, I intend to go back to the start and work through it again, but this second time through summarizing it here at Mr. Standfast. The first time through a book, one's impression is more likely to be of the many trees than of "the forest." The goal of the second reading then is to see the individual parts as a whole; to see the forest, not just the trees. I plan to use this blog as a personal tool to achieve that purpose. And I invite you to come along for the ride.