Charles Colson and Harold Fickett. The Faith. Zondervan, 2008.
Chuck Colson (1931-2012) was one of the most effective and courageous Christian leaders in the United States of his generation. Best known for founding the very effective prison ministry Prison Fellowship, he understood Western culture and American politics as few have. The Faith, co-authored with the experienced Christian author Harold Fickett, appears as Colson’s Summa for this generation.
The authors divide The Faith into two parts. The first part, as many readers could guess from the title, describes the basics of the Christian faith. In some ways it could be compared to a catechism or an apologetics work like Lewis’s Mere Christianity. However, it written for our times.
The chapter titles of the first part give a hint of the book’s direction and logic: “Everywhere, Always, by All,” “God Is,” “He Has Spoken,” “Truth,” “What Went Right, What Went Wrong,” “The Invasion,” and “God Above, God Beside, God Within.”
The first chapter title reminds us of the passage in Romans 1:19-20:
For what can be known about God is plain to them [all people], because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Colson presents the idea that nature itself suggests or reveals a creator. So the second chapter gets into God’s eternal nature; the third, on the inspiration of Scripture; and the fourth, the idea that truth exists. His discussion on truth is very effective since it seems so many today in the West deny the existence of truth or, at best, believe it is subjective.
The last three chapters of the first part deal with the problem of sin—like truth, another word that seems to have little meaning to many today—the coming of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Anyone familiar with the doctrine of the Trinity can understand the gist of the last chapter’s title. These topics are all presented in a clear and careful way that make sense.
So the first part of The Faith deals with what the faith is, what Christians believe about God, life, and the world. The second part, then, tells the reader how the faith is lived out, or perhaps more precisely, how it is meant to be lived out. The first part is written for a general audience, the second part is written for the believer or for one thinking about becoming a believer.
No part of the book is mere dry doctrine or theology. Colson shares many personal observations and experiences, some from his life in politics, many from testimonies of prisoners and observations from his prison ministry.
It does sometimes make nonbelievers sound foolish. For example, a program that Prison Fellowship began in some American prisons has had a recidivism rate of 8%. That compares favorably to rehab or re-entry programs’ general rate of 24% and an overall recidivism rate (most of whom did not participate or finish any re-entry program) of 67%. Instead of being excited or grateful for such a program, the courts canceled it because it was “religious.” Ironically, the word penitentiary was coined and that type of prison promoted precisely because of instead of merely executing criminals of all types, such prison terms gave the perpetrators a chance to be penitent and regain a place in society.
Christians often hear today about the need for people who talk about Jesus to others to be winsome. Colson and Fickett understand that. The second part does make the Christian walk sound appealing—not easy, not simplistic, but honest and appealing. God is good. His plan for mankind through Jesus is good. Much of what we consider scientific and technological came from a Christian culture. The book winsomely takes on the two main challenges to Christianity in our culture: the Enlightenment and Islam.
The problem with the Enlightenment thinking which pervades much of Western worldview is that it took the scientific method, which was “discovered” and established by Christian believers, and separated it from morality and behavior. Islam, like Christianity, is monotheistic and has its roots in the Near East, but it all willful. There is no room for freedom and little for the creative variety among people that is manifested in God’s own creation.
A very moving story illustrates the problems of both. A popular Dutch filmmaker named Van Gogh (a distant cousin of the painter) typified the amoral but logic-based worldview of the Enlightenment and much of our postmodern culture. He was assassinated by a Muslim radical. As he was dying, he asked, “Can we talk?” He wanted to find out why he was being stabbed to death and if it were not possible to discuss their issues. The terrorist then cut off his head. No discussion. Neither logic alone not will alone are enough to give us hope. Only Jesus, as proven by His resurrection, can redeem both our reasoning and our wills. The Faith illustrates how in a most appealing and winsome way.