Book Talk

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     Habitation of Dragons is the title of a new book written by Keith Miller, the author of two bestsellers in the religious field, The Taste of New Wine and A Second Touch. The new volume is called a "book of hope about living as a Christian." The title is taken from Isaiah 35:5-8. "In the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness.

     The author looks upon himself as a "habitation of dragons" such as loneliness, a sense of insecurity, frustration, anxiety, guilt feelings, fear, resentment, critical attitudes, prejudice, mixed motives, and dishonesty in relationships. His thesis is that surrender to Christ will make it possible for God to build the way of holiness through the human heart where once the dragons lay and thrived. He says, "This book is not meant to be a substitute for your own prayers and thoughts but only some footprints of a Christian wanderer on the inner journey who is finding tremendous hope in the midst of life."

     The format is different. Miller affirms that there are four ways by which Christians have sought to determine God's will for their lives: In the scriptures; through prayer; in the lives and writings of other men and through personal experience. He has divided the book into 42 chapters, one of which is to be read each day. In each of these he has described a personal problem, related it to the thought of an outstanding writer, prayed about the situation, and set down the scriptural passages which he feels are relevant.

     Those who have read his previous works know that Keith Miller is almost distressingly frank as he discusses such problems as dishonesty. Readers will find themselves described in such chapters as "A View from Loner's Peak," and "Confessions of a False Prophet." There are very practical chapters such as the one titled "A Widow's 'Might'" in which a description is given of a little old retired nurse who felt called of God to "go around among the poor and bedridden of the town and give a fantastic number of enemas for Christ's sake." The quotation choice for this one from William Barclay's "Turning to God" is also a little fantastic. There will be a lot of quotes you will want to use.

     Most of the brethren who read the book will be quite skeptical about such chapters as the one titled, "The Short Unusual Witness of Bennie Abernathy" but a lot of brethren are skeptical about everything. I am not attempting to judge the value of the book in advance of your reading it. I suspect that if you read it carefully and prayerfully you may never be quite what you were before. Whether that is really good or bad may depend to a great extent on what you were before. Regardless of how you look at it I think that Keith Miller has another bestseller going. The cost of the new book, which is very attractive is $4.95 per copy, and that's not too high the way books sell these days.