A Traveler's Guide to the Kingdom

Book Review – A Travel’s Guide to the Kingdom by James Emery White

You sit rapt in a story of history and intrigue and far-away places that you’ve never seen that we wrought with significance that you never realized existed. Now a great fictional story teller can paint imagery in your mind that make you feel you’re there and a great inspirational writer can stir feelings in you that make you want to pack your bags and head out on a mission.  What if you put those two together; What impact would it have on your life?

I have unashamedly been a fan of James White’s writings for years now, but admittedly they have grown more and more – shall we say – advanced in their context, vocabulary and ideology, that I’ve had a difficult time recommending them to all but the most stalwart of theological and philosophical readers. But in his newest book, A Traveler’s Guide to the Kingdom – Journeying through the Christian Life, White takes us on an expedition to the many places around the world that he’s visited and felt significant impact on the many take-aways we as Christians (and seekers) should be experiencing.

White, takes us to places like Oxford England to visit the Eagle and Child Pub where CS Lewis became one of the most prolific Christian writers of the modern era;  to Johannesburg South Africa to experience the Apartheid museum and the lessons of what Community can and should be;  to the Horrors of the mid-twentieth century Europe with a visit to the Boom Ten House in Haarlem Holland, where a young woman  named Corrie followed the greater Will of God and helped Jews escape the Nazis; and finally to Dachau Germany, where so many less fortunate were unable to escape the horror.

Each chapter begins which a virtual walk through of the environment of the locale, I could see the dark wood and smell the age and liquor of the Eagle & Child; I envisioned myself entering the small meditation rooms of the Iona Abby and the cells of the Monastery.  I could see the stained glass of Chartes and hear the voice of Billy Graham, and I felt the cold abandonment and stark fear for those who fled and faced death at the hands of the SS and Gestapo. His simple colorful style in describing architecture as well as the experience of arriving in the wrong town, made a connection and rivaled even the best travel guides Frommer’s or Fodor’s has to offer.  Moreover it drew me in and gave me a more personal connection to the messages.

I would recommend this particular book to anyone who already calls themselves a Christian, but it still leaves an open door and a welcoming hand to the spiritual seeker.