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Spirituality is dialectical: It denotes that which animates (enlivens the self), but also that which integrates (the self with others). Spirituality is about a closely examined life of faith. It is about the self, but it contains a check against self-absorption by calling the self into relationship with Christ and people.

Evangelicals who emphasize spirituality are recovering the classical roots not just of Christianity in general, but of evangelicalism in particular, a faith movement that is "at its core a spirituality movement," says Hindmarsh. "The historical roots of evangelicalism are about awakening to interiority." Hindmarsh's research has led him to the journals of Christians from the early modern period—both giants of the faith like George Whitefield and John Wesley and laypersons who are forgotten to history but whose journals recount their personal stories of faith. These accounts are "embodied theology," says Hindmarsh, "theology that is taken up into someone's life in real time."

Spirituality combines deep self-examination—;Who am I, and how am I living?—with a call to integrate with the world outside the self. True spirituality is never merely about the self, but about the experience of the self in the world with God.

This true spirituality is what readers respond to in Donald Miller. His essays are personal, yes, but not solipsistic. They may resolve too quickly, but to their credit, they often do so by calling readers to greater sympathy with others, deeper faith in the love of God, and more patience during trials of discipleship. They tell of the self in the interest of community concerns. They are ultra-casual in tone, filled with the clutter of informal conversation. But that very style and tone draws evangelicals who can relate to Miller's story of faith.

Miller's books describe the experience of being evangelical in a manner that echoes the feelings and thoughts of thousands of evangelicals today. And because he is careful not to reject the faith, he helps readers—especially culturally conflicted young evangelicals—recover it. His books encourage a certain amount of Christian navel-gazing, but only long enough to get the fuzz out.

Patton Dodd is Protestant editor for Beliefnet and a Ph.D. candidate at Boston University.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Donald Miller's sites include DonaldMillerWords.com, BlueLikeJazz.com, The Burnside Writers Collective, and DonMillerFans.net (a fan site where Miller answers questions).

More information about Miller and his books, as well as excerpts from Blue Like Jazz (chapter 1, another 11 pages) and Searching for God Knows What are available online.

Miller created the Belmont Foundation, which "seeks to effectively respond to the American crisis of fatherlessness by equipping the faith community."

Leadership Journal's Out of Ur and Relevant Magazine interviewed him.

Christianity Today articles by and about Donald Miller include:

Guys and Dads | Elephants in puberty are like men without fathers, says Donald Miller. (June 13, 2006)

Finding a Family | A man needs a dad. I found mine when I moved in with a friend. (Excerpt from To Own a Dragon, June 13, 2006)

The Campus Confession Booth | What I considered a horrible idea turned into a moment of transformation. (Leadership, July 1, 2005)

Learning to Love Moses | The difference between meaning and truth. (An excerpt from Searching for God Knows What, by Donald Miller, November 1, 2004)

The Dick Staub Interview: Why God Is Like Jazz | "Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, talks about why Christians need writers who honestly deal with their faults and why penguin sex is an apt metaphor for believing in Christ" (August 1, 2003)

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June 2007, Vol. 51, No. 6