The Journey of God

The Journey of God, J. D. Lyonhart. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009246) 2025.

Summary: A re-telling of the Christian story in six movements, exploring questions seekers, skeptic, and believers ask.

“Tell me a story.” Isn’t that often the longing behind our trips to the bookstore. I wonder, though, if that is our thought when we attempt to read the Bible. Do we open the Bible looking for a story? Or are we just looking for a pick-me-up thought? Then again, maybe scripture just baffles us. What is this book all about?

The Journey of God is an exploration of the Christian story. J.D. Lyonhart, a theologian and philosopher believes we desperately need books like C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity that help people see the Christian story and think about it in a fresh way, whether they are a skeptic or a seasoned believer. It’s been nearly a century since Lewis wrote for a very different time and culture. He sets the ambitious goal to fill that gap.

His description of the process of arriving at a title and how this made sense of what he was trying to do will also give you a sense of his writing style: thoughtful, yet witty and a bit edgy.

“However, I’ve slowly warmed to this new title, for the beauty of a journey is that it doesn’t need to be just one thing but can be many things spread over time and over many legs of the adventure. A fight scene with knives and lovemaking can be followed up by a philosophical interlude over a pint. As such, I’ve allowed each chapter in the book to feel a little different from the last. I’ve tried to dance between philosophy, science, poetry, romance, violence, history, historical fiction, comedy, drama, dialogue, and death, weaving them through various genres and styles into one mostly coherent, occasionally bonkers journey–less Sunday school, more Pulp Fiction” (p. xi).

Lyonhart unfolds the journey as one of six movements, devoting two to six chapters to each:

• Movement I | Creation: Creation Begins • Creation is Not God • Creation is Good
• Movement II | Fall: Humanity in God’s Image • Humanity Gone Wild
• Movement III | Nation: Abraham Finds Faith • Moses Meets I Am • Goodness is Commanded • Beauty in the Promised Land • King David and His Boy • Justice Exiles the Nation
• Movement IV | Redemption: Jesus is Born • Jesus is Walking Around Saying Stuff • Jesus is Dying to Meet You
• Movement V | Church: The Spirit Arrives • The Church Begins • The Apostle Paul Converts • The Church Expands • The Church Today
• Movement VI | End: The End of the World as We Know It • Highway to Hell or Stairway to Heaven?

The chapters average around ten pages. Typically, he will move from biblical narrative, such as the “earthiness” of the birth of Jesus, the meatiness or fleshiness of the incarnation, to discussing a Brene’ Brown video, to a personal story or theological implication. Or he will move from the expansion of the early church to our quest for love, affirmation, and identity. But its never preachy and often interspersed with self-deprecating personal stories.

At times he will be provocative, such as when he asks, “Does God have a penis?” I can imagine a child asking this and learning about the questions you don’t ask in church. He uses the question to introduce a discussion of what it means that humanity is in “God’s image.” Considering that our sexuality is an aspect of that image, the question is not that far out.

One of the most telling chapters the one on the exile of Israel as the expression of God’s justice. We tend to want justice when it involves the other guy and mercy for ourselves. However, Lyonhart presses home the objective reality of God’s justice–something we both want and wrestle with as we consider ourselves objects of God’s justice.

In the course of the book, I found all the elements Lyonhart mentions in his introduction. This conveys how all of life is connected to the journey of God and our journey with God. He exemplifies his contention that all God has made is good, and that Christ redeems all things. So, I can easily recommend this book to all the audiences Lyonhart writes for. He unpacks God’s story and show how all of our stories connect. And he does this with clarity and wit that invites us all to enlarged perspectives. I know that was so for me.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.