I loved reading Dug Down Deep (that’s an affiliate link) by Joshua Harris. Dug Down Deep communicates core truths of Christianity using biographical examples from Harris’s life.

It is one of the few books I would give a five-star rating if we had a rating system with stars set up. That doesn’t mean it was perfect; it means Harris combined spectacular writing with excellent content.

Minor Flaws

There were a few minor flaws that I wanted to mention, so I’ll get them out of the way here. The logic in the book wasn’t airtight; discussion of Lewis’s trilema beginning on page 74 particularly stood out as being less sound than I would have liked.

There were a few times where I think I agree with what Harris means, but I don’t think I quite agree with what he said. For example "one day in heaven there will be only one right person. . . It will be God. Everybody else in heaven will be wrong in a million different ways about a million different things" (page 227).

My biggest concern was his treatment of baptism. I actually agree with the little he said about baptism, but I was disappointed with how he handled credobaptism. He states "It occurs one time, when a person first believes" (page 204) without giving reason for holding his position. Furthermore, he doesn’t acknowledge that there are (and have historically been) many Christians who hold another position (paedobaptism).

Ok, back to this being a five star book.

Spectacular Writing

Beginning with "It’s strange to see an Amish girl drunk" (page 1), Dug Down Deep was full of great writing. The illustrations were both useful and interesting (a rare combination). It was full of humor. It was easy to understand; he explained concepts before giving the technical theological terms for them. The chapters averaged a little over 20 pages, but they were broken into more manageable sections (and chapters had great names like "God with a Bellybutton").

Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of "I Believe in the Holy Spirit" that I thought showed some of his fine writing:

I was seventeen when I learned about my parents’ secret life: they were closet charismatics. I suppose it could have been worse. I’ve heard of people who discovered that their parents were Nazis or in the Mafia. Still it surprised me. It wasn’t what I expected to hear the night I came home from the church I’d been visiting and boldly announced that I was now a Spirit-filled, tongue-talking charismatic.

I considered this shocking news. I expected sparks to fly. I imagined their eyes widening, jaws dropping. Maybe a lip trembling. I realize now that this was immature. But at the time, I had a mischievous delight in feeling that I was living on the edge spiritually and that my new "Holy Spirit experience" would slightly scandalize my comfortably evangelical dad and mom. Since I was a good, Christian, homeschooled kid, this was the closest I would ever come to announcing that I’d joined a biker gang and gotten a skull tattoed across my chest.

But Dad and Mom just smiled and said, "Oh, honey, that’s wonderful." page 175

Excellent Content

The content of this book was high quality. There weren’t new or novel ideas- which is a very good thing in a book about basic theology. It was true, steady stuff which (generally) unites Christians.

One thing I appreciated about the book, was the way Harris explained why theology is a good thing. Harris says "Doctrine can never take the place of Jesus himself, but we can’t know him and relate to him in the right way without doctrine" (page 31), "How we relate to Scripture reveals how we view God himself" (page 66), and "What we call God reveals how we think about him. And how we think about him shapes how we relate to him" (page 172). I love that Harris holds doctrine and relationship together.

Many books seem to start strong and decline; Dug Down Deep started strong and got better. I think the best chapter was the last, "Humble Orthodoxy." It would be worth getting the book to read that chapter. Harris encourages us to be humble and kind rather than arrogant jerks. He does so without diminishing the importance of theology. In fact he says "The solution to arrogant orthodoxy is not less orthodoxy; it’s more. If we truly know and embrace orthodoxy, it should humble us" (page 225). The chapter encourages both earthly application of truth and keeping an eternal perspective.

I checked out Dug Down Deep from the library, but I hope to add a copy to our bookshelves at some point. I recommend it highly to just about everybody. It is an approachable introduction to basic doctrines for those new to Christianity and a call to faithful humble orthodoxy appropriate for those who have been believers for decades.

You might enjoy Thabiti Anyabwile’s review or interview of Joshua Harris.