Why a Manger? by Bodie and Brock Thoene (2006)

Posted on 2020-12-17 by thelittleman
Knowing God
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It’s Christmas season once more, and as I’ve done the past few years, I’m trying to read up on whatever Christmas-themed books I can find within reach. We’re staying at a friend’s house this week, and I found this short little book on their shelf and had at it.

I don’t know anything about married authors Bodie and Brock Thoene, besides what’s written in the book, but it seems like they’re prolific authors in the Christian-fiction world. I’m generally not too keen on Christian fiction—and for the same reason I don’t watch the Hallmark Channel—so don’t be surprised at my ignorance. This book gives me a taste of their fiction, as it quotes a number of scenes from their Nativity Trilogy, yet it doesn’t whet my appetite. I’m really not into that kind of writing, and my critical review here probably stems from that fact.

Why a Manger? is essentially an 83-page Gospel tract, so it’s a bit hard to be critical of something that serves as a container for the most important message in the world. Still, I can share a few things that came to mind as I read that might encourage you to find a better container for your unsaved friend this holiday season.

First, the style of writing feels a bit convoluted. The chapters are bookended by two personal stories from one of the Thoenes (it’s not clear which), and the chapters themselves cover important aspects of the Christmas story (Jesus, Baby, Mary, Joseph, Bethlehem, and Manger), yet their connections are a bit sloppy. One minute, they’re writing to the reader, the next they’re quoting one of their books, then a Bible verse, then a Christmas hymn…it’s all kind of a mess, and there’s rarely a definitive challenge to the reader about what this means for them until the very end, when the Gospel is finally presented in a clear way. I feel like the preparation of this book involved a lot of copy-paste action, and when that’s palpable, it ain’t good.

Second, I was thrown by the blurb on the back that reads:

Why a Manger? provides historical insight that will leave you saying, “I only thought I knew the Christmas story.”

Now, I understand the purpose of a book’s backmatter, to draw readers in or to incite prospective customers to buy, but the publishers ought to be a bit more honest than they were in writing this. This book shares historical conjectures more than insights, and the authors/editors ought to be honest about that fact. They’re supposedly well-known for their fiction, after all, so in publishing a non-fiction book that shares the Gospel, they need to be extremely careful to separate fact from fiction, Scripture from speculation.

Finally, they titled the final chapter in which they clearly share the Gospel, “It All about You!” Nothing grates me more than the human-centered, self-loving angle people use in viewing God’s redemptive plan. It reminds me of that catchy and popular worship song, “All in All,” in which Jesus on the cross “thought of me above all.” What arrogance! What in the world is wrong with acknowledging that both Christmas and the cross are about the glory of God, and that we sinful humans can benefit from it? Why must we place ourselves in such a position of prominence? It’s not all about me. Jesus most certainly did not “think of me above all” as he bled and died on the cross. It’s not that our selfie-society needs to “put Christ back into Christmas,” but that we need to take ourselves out of God’s place in the story.

I love Christmas. I love Christ more. I can’t say the same for this book.

©2020 E.T.

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