I’m puzzled as to who his intended audience for this book is. Based on his comments about his ambivalence concerning his being called into ministry, his “religious tradition”, his reference to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (though I’ll give him credit for ultimately distancing himself from Dillard 
), it almost seems like Goetz was trying to write a “seeker-friendly” book. And I feel like his wit really gets in the way a lot of the time. But maybe that’s just me… And maybe it will get better by the time I finish the book 
I also got a vaguely Zen vibe from the book in the first couple of chapters….
I did like this from page 20, though: “Prayer is often a wonderful tactic to delay obedience.”
February 6, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I too found it difficult to determine the intended audience. Goetz almost seems to switch between writing for “seekers” and for evangelicals, but not intentionally or clearly. I thought that overall he favored the evangelical audience, based on his references to church trends. Plus, there is a study guide in the back! (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non-evangelical book with that kind of thing!) I think Goetz might say he was writing to the general suburban population (Christians of all stripes, seekers, etc). His message seems best fitted to those on the outer borders of evangelicalism…but will they read this book?
February 7, 2008 at 9:25 am
Good question. It seems unlikely that they would!