Review: The Organic God by Margaret Feinberg

Spent some quality time with Margaret Feinberg’s The Organic God over the weekend.  If you’re unfamiliar with Feinberg, let’s just say…this is a writer you need to get to know.

I’ve been curious about her appeal for a couple years, after first hearing about her writing from Heather Zempel.  Since then, I’ve had a number of enthused fans tell me I was missing out.  Three chapters into The Organic God…I can tell you they were right.  There is some very thought-provoking stuff here.

The basic concept in The Organic God is that in the same way the person in the “middle of the city looking up at the sky doesn’t realize just how much their view and perceptions are altered by the smog (p. 19),” we’re probably unaware of the extent to which our understanding and perception of God is just as clouded.

What attracted me to this book initially was a picture on Feinberg’s website of what looks like a small group holding up their individual copies of the book.  Although not being marketed as small group curriculum, it fits the current grouplife trend of small group questions and experiences being integrated into books with spiritual formation themes.

I really do like the layout of The Organic God.  After introducing the idea of our clouded understanding and perception, Feinberg creatively works through a more natural, pure and and essential description of God as bighearted, breathtakingly beautiful, amazingly wise, surprisingly talkative, wildly infallible, outrageously generous, unbelievably stubborn, abundantly kind, and deeply mysterious.

Each of the chapters is supported with a set of questions and “dig deeper” scripture references.  Although not extensive, there is more than enough there to lay the groundwork for a group that is ready to explore God’s authentic character.

If you’re looking for a book that will capture the attention of your members while giving them an accurate picture of God’s character, you can’t go wrong with The Organic God.