theology for real life

The Noticer by Andy Andrews is a collection of folk wisdom, life skills and strategies, and common sense wrapped around an interesting character named Jones (no Mr.). If you have read Gary Chapman, Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, et al, you will recognize some of the sources of Jones’ wisdom (though Andrews offers no references). Through a series of loosely connected vignettes, Jones dispenses his perspective to the people of a Gulf Coast community who are most in need of some intervening help. There are two things I like about this book and three things I don’t like.

Positives

1. The Noticer brings the aforementioned wisdom/common sense/life skills teaching in a very accessible format. Not everyone will read those classic tomes, and some of those who need it most (I’m looking at you teens/twenties) may find this sort of book the perfect spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down.
2. I like Jones as a role model for those who have read and tried to implement the various life lessons contained in those classic works. How many of us regard all that knowledge as personal, for our own benefit, and how many of us take the time to share it with others and help bring them along. For the most part, the people Jones touches are facing very ordinary life crises. Many of us would do well to be noticers – as vocal and active as Jones, instead of the too-quiet observers we tend to be. The last chapter makes this point beautifully; the metaphor Andrews paints there is worth the whole read (no, I’m not going to spoil it for you).

Negatives

1. As the story progresses, Jones takes on more ‘supernatural tendencies.’ He appears and disappears from scenes instantly, he has more intimate knowledge of people than any amount of noticing can explain, he can perhaps morph his visage, and what he shares leads to more than one instantaneous, almost miraculous, transformation (more on this in a moment). This works against the Jones-as-role-model positive, as it implies that the work Jones does requires some special skill or secret power. Those not in possession of secret powers could let themselves off the hook here. It would have been more compelling if Jones had remained altogether human. Besides, it’s more than a little confusing. Is he an angel? Jesus? I found this a distraction and a detraction from one of the book’s main points (the one made at the end – again, great analogy there).
2. With regard to those instantaneous transformations, I felt it created unrealistic expectations, the sort that can lead to hope-shattering let downs. The life principles Jones shares take time to cultivate and put into practice. Many have more preventative power than restorative power. Only with the landscape company owner did we get any hint that putting these things into practice might be hard work or not yield immediate positive results. This can be discouraging for the person trying to put these things into practice and also for the person attempting to fill the role of Jones. I would like to have seen some of the characters put up more resistance to Jones. Old, homeless men aren’t often accepted, respected, and heeded as easily as Jones is. Nor are well-meaning friends who try to instill wisdom in a wayward life.
3. While I agree with much of the life application teaching that Jones shares, none of it is necessarily tied to the teachings of Jesus. Life coaches are fine and all, but this book belongs on the self-help (or others-help?) shelf, not on the Christian Studies or theology shelf. What books like this fail to acknowledge is that the teachings and ethic of Jesus are so often at odds with the common sense or folk wisdom that we think leads to success. This is in part because Jesus defines success so differently than we do and in part because we fail to recognize how the universe was designed to work, which Jesus never does (since he created it). As a review, this is not the place to expound further, but suffice it to say that Jones’ wisdom is thoroughly pedestrian; Jesus’ wisdom is so radical it appears as foolishness to those who think they are wise.