In Dr. Craig C. Hazen's Five Sacred Crossings, A Novel Approach to Reasonable Faith, Vietnam veteran and Buddhism expert Michael Jernigan is a last minute substitute to teach "Religious Studies" at Laguna Community College when the regular teacher goes out on maternity leave. He still suffers from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and when a terrorist cell accidentally blows up their rented storage facility near his home, the nightmares return.
As students react to the fact that the main suspects are fellow classmates at Laguna C.C., Jernigan leads them on a spiritual quest relating stories of his CIA experience with a remote tribe in Cambodia. His CIA experience propels him right to the center of the FBI investigation into the terrorists.
New Approach to Christian Apologetics
Hazen does a nice job mixing an entertaining, real world drama with a very systematic look at the reasons for his faith in Biblical Christianity. His protagonist is a nonjudgmental and rather “un-perfect” example of a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.
Jernigan’s attitude toward people of other beliefs mirrors Jesus own and creates a character to which people outside the Christian faith can relate. His choice of students in the Religious Studies class also run the gamut of those who might oppose traditional Christian beliefs, from a rather intelligent “surfer dude” who feigns a simple mind to another students Buddhist spiritual advisor named Gyandev Rose and even a Mega-Church pastor’s questioning daughter.
Questioning Christian Beliefs in Five Sacred Crossings
In Five Sacred Crossings, A Novel Approach to Reasonable Faith, the author also uses the religious search of remote tribal village in Cambodia as a jumping off point to compare the world’s religions.
In their quest, the “Cardamon” people, led by Master Nuth, are searching for the path to truth. Their ancient tribal leaders have given them a pathway to test religious truth to authenticate its veracity. There are five crossings over a river that will bring them from a “dark, ominous jungle where confusion and danger reign” to a place "where peace, refuge, safety, harmony and balance abound.”
These “crossings” are philosophical principles that will lead them to the true path. Hazen illustrates how these seemingly foggy clues actually clearly point the Cardamon people to Jesus.
Redemption and Sacrificial Love
Dr. Hazen weaves a story that illustrates the veracity of the Christian faith while emphasizing in the persons of Master Nuth and Michael Jernigan the true love that is the foundation of Jesus teaching.
Along the way, he is able to illustrate five classic arguments that all renown Christian Apologists use to defend their faith but he does it in a way that those of us without PHD’s can understand. He illustrates very wonderfully the fact that faith is not just a matter of the heart but that it is a valid intellectual process as well.
Source:
Five Sacred Crossings, A Novel Approach to a Reasonable Faith by Craig J. Hazen, Harvest House Publishers, 2008.
Dr. Craig C. Hazen is an Associate Professor of Comparative Religion and Apologetics and the Director of the M.A. Program in Christian Apologetics at Biola University.
Roger Saunders - Roger Saunders is a 9th generation American. On his father’s side, his 6th Great Grandfather came to Fairfax Co. VA in the Early ...
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