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Espresso
Christianity – Flavour without Froth: Acquiring and Applying Biblical
Discernment in a Culture Adrift
Don Capill, Outreach Press, 1999 100pp
Review by Rev. Steve Voorwinde
As Don Capill approaches the proverbial three score years and ten he has
done a great favour to family, friends and fellow believers. He has put
in writing his mature reflections on life and living.
A convert to Christ in the 1950’s Don has lived the Christian life in a
thoughtful manner in a variety of cultural contexts. Whether his calling
took him to Europe, Africa or Australasia he sought to view the
surrounding culture discerningly, from a distinctly Christian
perspective. In this booklet he has sought to do what ideally should be
done by many older and wiser Christians – he has encapsulated years of
thought and experience within the pages of a slender volume.
The book begins with a vivid description and perceptive analysis of the
popular film Dead Poets’ Society. Don points out that with all its
emphasis on creativity and joie de vivre the film nevertheless teaches
that the individual’s highest good is to follow one’s own desires. From
this vantage point he begins his exposé of the current culture with its
emphasis on feelings, autonomy and instant action. Like the film,
Western society today sees certain aspects of life as basically
irreconcilable: tradition and freedom, the objective and the subjective,
the older and the younger. Real life on the other hand demands that we
keep these opposites in tension.
Don’s response to these challenges of the new market place begins with a
discussion of the biblical view of the person. To ensure human dignity
due emphasis must be placed on man as the image of God. It is within
this framework that the Bible offers us a penetrating understanding of
the mind, heart and will. Because of who God made them to be, Christians
will strive for balance and wholeness in these major areas. Don is worth
quoting on this point:
God created us not only to think but also to feel. He made men and women
with the capacity to give and to receive emotional responses. An
unfeeling person is as incomplete as an unthinking, unreasonable person.
Christians, of all people, are called to be what God made them to be:
thoughtful and affectionate – capable of both reason and warmth of
affection.
It is this kind of integrity that leads to spiritual maturity. For such
maturity to be maintained, however, it must be well grounded in a
Christian world and life view. Only when the essential questions of
identity and destiny have been wrestled with and answered can one hope
to remain steadfast in spiritual warfare. In the chapter “Achieving
Victory” there is much practical advice on facing and overcoming
temptation. These pages of counsel obviously come from the pen of a
seasoned warrior.
The final chapter reads somewhat like the Book of Proverbs. It dips into
no less than thirty different areas of life. In a paragraph or two it
offers advice on subjects as diverse as friendship, suffering, blind
spots, respect, priorities and perseverance. Here the author becomes
quite personal. We hear him as a father speaking to his sons, or as a
teacher addressing his students. We can also listen to him as a mature
believer from whose experiences and insights much can be gained. Above
all – because this section is so personal – we should read it (and all
else) with the discernment for which Don has pleaded so earnestly in the
earlier part of this book.
Don Capill is, of course, well known to many readers of Trowel and
Sword, having taught Christian Education at the Reformed Theological
College from 1989 till 1993. Espresso Christianity is available for
$10.95 in Australia and $12.50 in New Zealand. Copies can be obtained
from:
Don Capill
Covenant College
Woodcock Drive
Gordon ACT 2906
Fax 02 6294 2456
Or:
Craig and Shelley Liken
37 Bainton Street
Christchurch 5
New Zealand
Email: liken@xtra.co.nz
Steven Voorwinde (Geelong Vic)
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