Joel Dorman - Westerhoff Book Critique (Module 2) | 1

Introduction

Often overlooked in the courses of study and disciplines for the pastor, spiritual

formation and a life of walking with God are generally assumed. These assumptions lead to

dangerous results: spiritually stagnant preachers and teachers attempting to unfold the active,

living Word of God without the pulse of that Word resonating in their own hearts. Westerhoff

attempts to change this assumption in his book Spiritual Life: The Foundation for Preaching and

Teaching. This critique, then, will evaluate the attempt through providing an overview,

strengths, weaknesses. Included throughout will be responses to the issues presented.

Overview

Having silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees asked Jesus a simple question: what is the

greatest commandment? Granted, this question was an attempt to trick Jesus but his response, as

Westerhoff asserts, is the foundation for spiritual life in general. Jesus answered them, “Lord the

Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and…love

your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39, NIV). Taking this is a foundation, Westerhoff

concludes “the spiritual life…and the moral life…are directly related. The spiritual life,

however, is prior to the moral life” (Westerhoff, 1). Through Scripture, experience, and

anecdote, the author proceeds through his foundation for the rest of the book.

Next, the author himself best summarizes his second chapter, “Preaching and Teaching in

a New Day” writing, “Few have questioned this approach [“back to basics” in Christian

education] and its potential to create magna cum laude atheists who know all about Christianity

but do not intend to be Christians or who become unthinking, unimaginative followers of

authority figures” (Westerhoff, 17). His emphasis, then, is that Christianity is not only data but

also a relationship to be experienced and enjoyed.

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Turning toward the key emphasis of his book, chapter three treats the subject of preachers

and teachers and their spirituality. Westerhoff asserts that preachers and teachers must “embrace

suffering”, entertain moments of “silence and solitude”, find awareness of the restlessness their

lives, and seek to provide a model of living in the “Image of Christ” (Westerhoff, 30-37). The

marks of spirituality, then, will infiltrate the entire existence of the preacher or teacher and allow

them to grow spiritually while genuinely leading others to do the same.

Focusing on the “Spirituality of Preaching and Teaching” in chapter four, Westerhoff

asserts, as Henri Nouwen did, there are “three foundational truths of all profound spiritual

teaching and learning: someone must be searching, someone must be…a resource…and if there

is any truth, it will break in from the outside” (Westerhoff, 41). In this chapter, the author

expounds through each of these three areas and how preaching and teaching, from the lives of

the preacher or teacher, aids others in spiritual development.

The book turns from the metaphysical and abstract to the empirical and concrete with the

turn of page in chapter five, “Various Ways of Living Spiritually”. In this chapter, the author

demonstrates how the four spirituality ideologies are in constant tension and how this tension

prevents each sphere from heretical practices. This chapter also presents, briefly, how one’s

personality influences in which sphere they would find themselves.

“A discipline,” Westerhoff writes, “is something we practice, an exercise” (Westerhoff,

65). This begins his penultimate chapter. This is the application section of the message he has

preached to the reader in his book. Here, Westerhoff stresses the following necessities for

successful spiritual disciple: time and place, preparation, presence, journaling, and spiritual

friends. He concludes this chapter with a suggested methodology for the actual time spent with
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God: lectio divina. Utilizing a four step approach (reading, meditation, prayer, and

contemplation), Westerhoff presents this discipline for establishing time with the Creator.

Westerhoff finishes his work with connecting the ending of his book to the beginning:

“preachers and teachers whose lives are centered in prayer, that is, whose relationship with God

comes first, will always communicate the gospel, because they have been enabled to reveal in

their personal lives its attractiveness and transforming power” (Westerhoff, 76). Connecting the

call of God with the need for spiritual discipline, Westerhoff finishes by reminding his readers of

the necessity of the personal experience with God so others may see this relationship (Westerhoff

78).

Strengths

This foundation serves as the book’s greatest strength; the ideology is based in Scripture.

Scripture teaches those who call Christ as Savior to “seek first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness” (Matthew 6:33a, NIV). The Scriptural foundation is critical to understanding the

heart behind what the author is stressing.

A second strength of Westerhoff’s offering is its necessity. The experience of this writer

has witnessed the dangers of growing cold in one’s walk with the Lord though others and

himself. To neglect one’s spirituality and then attempt to correct someone else’s quickly draws

the counsel of Scripture “you hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you

will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5, NIV). The dangers

of ignoring one’s spirituality cannot be overstated. A spiritually blind leader is only a detriment

to the Kingdom of God (cf. Matthew 23).

Last in this list of strengths is Spiritual Life’s practicality. Instead of merely “throwing

stones” at preachers and teachers whose spiritual lives are less than desirable, Westerhoff
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actually teaches of its importance and necessity. Furthermore, the author demonstrates the

process of spiritual discipline in tangible and repeatable ways. Chapters five and six are

principally useful as Westerhoff takes the reader through the process of self-analysis and

practical application through authentic demonstrations.

Weaknesses

For the wealth of practical advice Westerhoff provides, his book might oversimplify

spiritual growth. This is not to say the author never delves into harder issues. On the contrary,

he writes of “a willingness to embrace suffering” (Westerhoff, 30). While this writer appreciates

the practicality of lectio divina, for example, merely sitting and thinking good thoughts does

make one a better Christian. Granted, the Apostle Paul wrote, “be transformed by the renewing

of your mind” (Romans 12:2b, NIV) and as many Christians have rightly stated, “the mind is the

battlefield”, but this transformation is not brought about by merely positive perceptions or pious

pontifications. This transformation is an active rejection of darkness in favor of light.

This presents another, more serious, weakness. The advice to “empty your conscious,

controlling mind, give up control, wait patiently, and watch expectantly for God’s action in your

life” (Westerhoff, 74) seems, on the surface, as a good methodology for hearing God. Certainly,

Westerhoff has framed lectio divina in an arena that provides some safeguards, but the Christian

faith is not one of empty heads. While there are some advantages to the monastic theology of

lectio divina, the theological framework of monasticism, in which it was born, must be analyzed

carefully (Ferguson and Packer, 442). Christians are not called to retreat from the world, but to

engage the world. Called to be salt and light (cf. Matthew 5:13-16), Christians carry the message

of the Gospel to the world. Is this to say Christians should not have a time that resembles lectio

divina? That is not the assertion of this writer; however, it often proves very difficult to rewrite
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that which has hundreds of years of tradition and purpose behind it and whose traditions and

purposes resemble Gnostic meditation more than Scriptural meditation (cf. Philippians 4:8-9).

Conclusion

Westerhoff’s book, Spiritual Life: The Foundation for Preaching and Teaching, has a

very noble purpose. This writer acknowledges that without reservation. The necessity and

Scriptural framework needed for proving his thesis is adequately presented. Overall, however,

this writer would hesitate in suggesting this book to all but the most spiritually mature. This was

clearly not Westerhoff’s intention (cf. Westerhoff, xi); nevertheless, this writer cannot

recommend a book whose final chapter presents some questionable practices. The heart of this

work is not in question: Westerhoff appears to care about preachers, teachers and those they lead.

Christians at any level of spiritual growth, however, are required to apply the Scriptures into

their lives, not merely empty their heads and wait on a mystical experience. “Do not merely

listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves,” James writes, “Do what it says” (James 1:22,

NIV).
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Bibliography
Ferguson, Sinclair B. and J.I. Packer. 2000. New Dictionary of Theology. electronic ed. Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Westerhoff, John H. 1994. Spiritual Life: The Foundation for Preaching and Teaching.
Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press.