Common Grace
How To Be A Person & Other
Spiritual Matters
(By
Anthony B. Robinson, Sasquatch Books; 1st edition, 2006)
Reviewed by Mary
Ethel Morton
This book is a series of essays on faith, on relationships and on society. Tony,
(I can call him Tony, because he asked me to when we met) is a storyteller with
a deep theological foundation. He is a pastor with the Congregational Church in
the U.S. and is a renowned author and speaker. One of his best-known books is “Transforming
Congregational Culture”.
In “Common Grace”, Tony talks about his belief in believing; his
definition of Grace –“God’s faith in us is grace. God’s actions on our behalf
are grace”. He is a storyteller –with all the personal anecdotes and biblical
references that I felt helped me to interpret some of the parables. I could
describe which ones, but I would prefer to let you read the book & see if you
come to the same conclusions. I particularly liked the chapter “A Person is a
Person Because of Other Persons” – how many of us remember significant people in
our lives, and how they have shaped our being –the very soul of who we are? A
lot of people at St. Mark’s have made my list!
In another chapter titled “Holy Stories”, Tony addresses the question “Are the
Bible’s stories true?” – it’s a question we have been talking about for years
now, and one quote that struck me was from Black Elk, a Native American teacher.
He said of the stories of his people, “Whether it happened so or not, I do
no know; but if you think about it you can see that it is true.”
One of the book’s reviewers commented –“These little essays are deeply felt,
quietly learned, and gracefully written.” I agree! The book was easy to
read and yet challenged my mind with the content.
