BORDERLANDS
Navigating the adventure of spiritual growth
By Mark Brickman
IVP. 252 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 783 596 607
If your liminal zones have been troubling you, this book might be for you.
Liminal zones are places of transition, in-between spaces, the ‘borderlands’ of the title. According to the author, they are those spiritual territories into which we can drift or be driven, where we have little control, in which bewilderment becomes fruitfulness. His thesis is that the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost were just such a period of seminal development for Christ’s disciples, moving from distress to confidence. While it would be hard to deny that there is some truth in this, I found it difficult to connect with Brickman’s handling of the topic.
Going mystic
Concerning substance, despite assertions of biblical faithfulness, there is an unsettling profusion of mysticism, literary studies and psychology in the material. Assumptions and statements are made that I think need to be justified, not least about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. At one point, the author’s alleged spiritual experience is made to trump any concern or question that might be raised. The names of C.S. Lewis, Nouwen, Finney, Spurgeon, Stott, Brainerd, Gipsy Smith, Smith Wigglesworth, Barth, Ravenhill, Anaïs Nin and a couple of popes, jostle among others for attention. You need not recognise every name to appreciate the unhealthy smorgasbord of conviction (some of it not remotely evangelical, or even vaguely Christian), often without any distinction made among them.
Concerning style, it might cut some mustard among Oxford’s gleaming spires, but the prose is ripe to the point of extravagance. I wondered who the intended audience might be, as many readers will probably get lost in labyrinthine sentences and insubstantial paragraphs. Jargon drawn unfiltered from various disciplines offers neither clarity nor profundity. I was left reaching for something weighty and definite.
Subjective not objective
Borderlands feels more about the reader’s subjective experience than the gospel’s objective realities, more about my sense of the journey than becoming anchored at the destination. The central theme promises much, but I was left wondering if this was a modern pilgrimage to find oneself rather than a scriptural journey to find Christ.
