A Place at the Table : A Journey to Redicover the Real Jesus with Guidance of Various Teachers, from Billy Graham to Deepak Chopra

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and thought provoking
Review: Even if you don't agree with everything that is written in this book you can appreciate the quest of the author who is trying to answer his questions about religion and Jesus. There are so many different points of view expressed - it creates an unobtrusive and honest reflection about Christianity. Bill's personal commentary is also amusing and is a great enhancement to this wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Several books in one
Review: Perhaps first and foremost, this is a collection of interviews about Jesus with a variety of famous people--writers, preachers, scholars. Interviewees include Christians from the liberal (eg. John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg) to the conservative (eg. Jerry Falwell, J. I. Packer), as well as those outside the Christian tradition (eg. Rabbi Harold Kushner, Deepak Chopra). Almost every interview is worth reading and has interesting, insightful things to say. No matter what your own views on Jesus are, you'll find things you agree with and things you don't, and probably some food for thought.

All the interviewees are answering the same questions, which gets a bit monotonous after a while, but fortunately, we get more than the interviews themselves. We get to know something of the interviewer, of the interviewees, and of the process of tracking them down. The book is part spiritual autobiography, part travel memoir, and partly the story of the author's attempts, successful and unsuccessful, to get his interviews and write his book. It's a bit of a jumble, but it works, and turns out to be quite readable. Elliott is an appealing guy, sincere, open-minded yet opinionated, unpretentious; and it's a pleasure to spend time in his company as he tries to learn more about Jesus and about how different people view Jesus.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly successful examination...
Review: William Elliott's "A Place at the Table" is a mostly successful attempt to present the many faces of Christian spirituality in America today. To do this, the author set out on a cross country journey to interview many religious and spiritual leaders on their beliefs about Jesus and the Bible, everyone from Marianne Williamson to Jerry Falwell. The author's approach is inquisative without being didactic, and his more open minded approach makes this a vastly better book than Lee Strobel's similar "A Case for Faith". His struggle to get the project financed is inspiring, and his folksy musings on the road are a breath of fresh air amongst the more serious theological interviews.

The book is not without its problems, though. For one, the interviews have a ring of similarity to them, since all the interviewees are answering from a boilerplate. For another, the folksy musings between the interviews create a tone that at times is hard to pin down. I suspect the author is sincere, but some of these scenes -- like the one where images on a Last Supper painting are speaking to him -- seem unintentionally comic. It's as if he has temporarily detoured into Hunter S. Thompson's Las Vegas.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for spiritual seekers. It has some insights, and an ultimately peaceful message, that will inspire and stimulate.