A wise and learned man has written a good and useful book.
Pilgrim Letters: Instruction in The Basic Teaching of Christ is unique in my library, but not in his. Author, Minister, Professor, and Scholar Curtis W. Freeman has accumulated what few people have, a trove of Christian catechisms. This class of literature has been used for centuries to teach interested people the essentials of Christian faith and practice. Accordingly, Freeman goes way back and way out to gather material for this modern version of an ancient tool.
The shape of his catechism is credited to two famous English writers. The first is John Bunyon (1628-1688) whose narrative The Pilgrim’s Progress has been the most widely distributed and studied Christian book in the history of the movement. Freeman takes his title from this influential story of a man, Christian, traveling a journey from the the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. It is an allegory designed to interpret the Christian experience as a journey. I read it as a young adult and several times since.
Bunyon did not present his narrative as a series of letters as Freeman has and credit for that goes to the late, great C. S. Lewis (1898-1963). Lewis rose to fame (and the front cover of Time magazine) with the publication of The Screwtape Letters. This was a series of letters from a second-tier devil (Screwtape) to a tempter-in-training, ostensibly designed to coach the younger into the fine craft of pulling a Christian away from his/her new-found faith. So, Freeman took the letter idea from Lewis, the pilgrim idea from Bunyon, and the catechism idea from a score of traditions to produce this finely crafted presentation of what it means to live and think like a Christian today.
There is one more source that needs attention, Hebrews 6:1-2: “Therefore let us go on toward perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God, instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” From this text, he identifies six basic elements of our faith and practice and devotes a chapter (really, a letter) to each, framing them with an Introduction (which is largely a history of the use of catechisms) and a Conclusion (which is wholly an interpretation of the textual phrase “Therefore let us go on toward perfection”).
Freeman is not the first to take this text as a teaching platform but he is certainly in the minority. If I have ever heard a sermon (or series of sermons) on this passage, I do not remember; and if I have ever preached on this text (which I have) I am sure no one else remembers! It has not been and is not now one of the more popular texts for describing what it means to live as a Christ-follower. There are reasons for that: it omits much that is central to Christian faith and practice, such as love and hope, praying and singing, and the great triumvirate of the prophet Micah: justice, mercy, and humility. Repentance is mentioned but not forgiveness; dead works is listed but not good works; and God and Christ are mentioned but not the Spirit.
Freeman manages to range far and wide in his winsome exposition and in so doing incorporates all of these missing pieces into his religious puzzle. And it is this freedom that makes the book so very attractive, so very rich, so very useful to pastors and parents, teachers and students. I can foresee congregations distributing this book to many people to support a teaching series of a pastor. Such a group reading of this text will surely educated the people into the whole history of Christian thought: Augustine, Clarence Jordan, Dorothy Day, Tertullian, Martin Luther, William Carey, Jimmy Carter, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Rowan Williams, Henry Drummond, and Cyril of Jerusalem. Just bringing believers into conversation with this panoply of saints is worth the praise bestowed on this book.
Chief among those who influenced Freeman in his way of framing our faith is the late theologian James McClendon. He refers to McClendon as his “mentor.” I well might do the same, having been thoroughly converted to McClendon’s fresh and compelling way of talking about Jesus and his aftermath. Which explains why every time the word McClendon appears in the text it brought a smile to my face.
And those who hear me preach week after week will know, when they come to page 70 of the 108-page book (inclusive of notes, questions, and bibliography), why my heart is warmed by the writing of my long-time friend, Curtis Freeman. He mentions John Prine!! He quotes the song “Boundless Love” from Prine’s last CD entitled The Tree of Forgiveness, a song that can be heard and sung as either an appeal from one lover to another or as a prayer from any of us to the God who made us, loves us, and redeems us for time and eternity. The song ends with this double line: “I look below, and I look above; I’m surrounded by your boundless love.”
I love that song. I love this book. And because of both, I love Jesus all the more!
(January 2022)
