Saving Casper, by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper

A few years go, former pastor Jim Henderson recruited Matt Casper, a self-described atheist, to join him in visiting and reviewing churches.  The product of those visits, 2007's Jim and Casper Go to Church, offered some insightful and amusing reflections on church and why Christians do what they do.  Since the time of those visits and the publication of the book, Jim and Casper have been traveling to churches, colleges, and other venues, taking the "Christian and atheist" in dialogue show on the road.

Saving Casper: A Christian and an Atheist Talk about Why We Need to Change the Conversion Conversation captures some of those dialogues in book form, in a light-hearted but thoroughly challenging discussion of Christian approaches to evangelism.  The strongest theme of Saving Casper is the foundation of Jim and Matt's friendship.  Jim prays that Matt will become a Christian (spoiler: as of this publication, Matt is still an atheist).  Yet they continue to work together, continue to be friends, continue to love each other.

As they point out, too many times Christians' conversations and friendships with non-Christian people end if they reject the message of the gospel, making it seem that the goal is not friendship, but making a "sale."  When we view others as an objective in our quest to convert people, we don't value them as people, but merely look at them as potential trophies.  Jim reminds us to love people as people, not as targets.

As strong as this message is, many readers will be uncomfortable with a seeming willingness of Jim to leave theological questions unresolved.  Matt refers to himself as "currently" an atheist, which is refreshing, as he contrasts his position with the "fundamentalist atheism" or "anti-theism" that we have been hearing more about in recent atheist books and public statements.  But Jim leans toward embracing the "currently" label for himself.  Although I appreciate his intellectual humility--absolute certainty is a sure path to arrogance--I wish he would be a bit more certain about what defines Christian faith.

But that is really the point of the book.  It is not Jim's desire to simply tell Matt, or any other non-Christian, "This is what you must believe."  His desire, for himself and for the reader, is to enter into dialogue with others, listen to their stories and humbly tell your own.  Jesus did a lot of listening, loving, and serving.  Jim and Casper both endorse that sort of life.

Thanks to the Tyndale Blog Network for the complimentary review copy!