Book Review: Through the River

The content of this book is presented in a way that is easy to understand.  With terms that aren't commonly thrown around in everyday conversation, the two authors do a great job of presenting the material.  They focus primarly on three different truth lenses.  There are more 'truth lenses' but most are just slight variations of the three major ones.

The context of each of the three different truth lenses (Positivism, Instrumentalism, and Critical Realism) is told through an analogy of a place called River Town.  It's not hard to make connections to real life.  Rock Dwellers, Island Dwellers, and Valley Dwellers (Positivism, Instrumentalism, and Critical Realism) are all portrayed very accurately to the kind of people we all know.  It even helps you to understand why you view certain things the way you do depending on which you relate to the most.

It takes no real shots at either 'group' of people as it's written in a way that is respectful of whoever the reader may be.  It outlines the positives of each one and calls us to move forward and engage one another with love to truly advance the Gospel.  However, I have the same conclusion that many reviewers have already expressed.  Those who need to read the book the most will not be the ones who read it.

Some reservations:  It may come off as a 'dry read'.  It seems like it might be one of those books that many people will give up on after a chapter or two.  I admit, it was a struggle at times but it did challenge me to rethink how I engage people who have different world views/truth lenses/etc.