Pastor Potter’s Points

Reviewed by:

G. Connor Salter, Professional Writing alumnus from Taylor University, Upland, IN.

Title:

Pastor Potter’s Points

Author:

Ellis Potter

Publisher:

Destinée Media

http://www.destineemedia.com/

Publication Date:

September 17, 2020

Format:

Paperback

Length:

112 pages

OVERVIEW

What does a pastor do when his church can’t open? For pastor and writer Ellis Potter, this led to writing a book. He wrote a series of emails to his church in Lausanne, Switzerland—each one a daily pastoral thought to go with a Bible reading.
Eventually, these messages developed into Pastor Potter’s Points: a collection of 100 thoughts, each 100 words long, on philosophical and religious subjects. Each chapter starts by summarizing its subject (Art, Doubt, Faith, etc.), and arguing for a particular view. While these thoughts are written to a Christian audience, they are not set up like a personal letter to a particular church. Instead, the 100 thoughts are wide-ranging ideas (from Singleness to Veganism, Worship to Abundant Life) that would interest many people. Each thought is set up “to be read like a prose poem or extended Haiku,” something for readers to meditate on.

Potter, the subject of an interview biography Staggering Along with God, has led an unusual life. He was a Zen Buddhist monk in the 1970s. During that decade, Potter visited Francis Schaeffer’s retreat center L’Abri in Switzerland with hopes of spreading Buddhism. Instead, he converted to Christianity, became a L’Abri staff member, and later founded a missionary organization specializing in the Eastern Bloc. Along the way, Potter has written several books that follow Schaeffer’s model of analyzing what presuppositions drive our views.

Like his earlier apologetics books (Three Theories of Everything, How Do You Know That?), Potter explores how our worldview follows from foundational ideas we may not have considered. Many chapters refer to philosophical concerns: One chapter defines what Art is. Another talks about Apologetics as Love. One of the more interesting chapters considers whether nature is art, or whether art is only something humans (the only creations in God’s image) do to emulate God’s image-making.

While Potter goes for clear writing and comprehension over style, that never makes the book dull. For one thing, he doesn’t have much space to be flashy. The 100-word limit means Potter can’t labor his ideas. He drills to the root concern, makes an argument that readers may never have seen before, and leaves them to consider its implications.

Thus, this book is both shorter than one would expect and more provocative than one would expect. It’s also a genre fusion—not quite a devotional book, not quite an apologetics book. However, that fusion creates something unique that will get readers thinkers.

A fun, unusual text whose sum is larger than its parts.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5 stars)

4.5 stars

Suggested Audience

Readers who enjoy Christian nonfiction books that emphasize reflecting on a particular idea.

Christian Impact

Potter addresses a wide range of religious ideas, always providing great insights. Some (such as chapters on Lust and Temptation) address particularly touchy topics, but he always focuses on the spiritual questions the subject raises, not the squeamish details.

NOTE: ECLA readers who enjoy this book may also enjoy this book about Potter:

Staggering Along with God: An Interview Biography

https://www.amazon.com/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/