Knowing the Face of God

In a deeply honest book, Stafford (NIV Student Bible) acknowledges the great divide within evangelical Christianity between the idea of a personal relationship with God and the practice of such a relationship. Can God, in fact, be known as we know our family and friends? Stafford explores the dynamics of a variety of personal relationships from those of conversation and meals to those of family and work in order to demonstrate that a relationship with God can, indeed, be modeled on our daily human ones. In the end, however, he admits that, try as we might, our efforts to see the face of God in this world are always frustrated and incomplete. This conclusion, sober as it is, suggests that Stafford's book will be popular, in all probability, with Christians who are seeking alternatives to the more saccharine strands of New Age spirituality. (Mar.)