Book Review: The Way of the Christian Samurai by Paul Nowak

This is the first in my 'Book a Week' resolution/challenge/whatever. Each week, I read a book and blog about it.

It was interesting looking around the internet and reading some of the responses to this book -- especially the negative ones. It's easy, I suppose, to go negative on a book that takes a new approach to something. It's easier than, say, actually admitting that you might be doing something wrong, or looking at something in the wrong way.

On Tuesday, I mentioned a negative review of this book. Well, it wasn't really a review, since I seriously doubt that the folks at Berean Call actually took time to read the book. And they'd probably take great pride in the fact that they haven't read it.

And that's a shame, because when you actually sit down and read the book, you understand where Nowak is coming from. You start to see what Christians can learn from looking around us, at people who don't serve God, and yet are doing tremendous things.

Samurai were servant-warriors. That's one thing that Nowak goes to great pains to show us -- they were servants. As Christians, we are also called to be servants; unfortunately, I think we've lost that idea, especially here in America. We're rugged individualists, after all, and we don't like the idea of subordinating our desires and plans to anyone else, not even God. We don't like a God that will cramp our style, and I think that's why the whole idea of non-religious 'spirituality' has grown so popular in the US. We make a God we're comfortable with, and we don't really have to change how we do things.

The historian in me was fascinated with Nowak's summary of samurai ideas and teachings, including quotes from many samurai throughout history. The important thing about the book, though, are the principles of the samurai that Christians would do well to learn, and cultivate in their own lives.

1. Service. Samurai lived in service to a feudal lord. Christians live in service to the Lord of Lords. We read of the commitment that samurai had to their lords, and we should be ashamed. We can't be bothered to go to church regularly, to spend an hour of our precious time in the presence of the God we claim to serve. We give up jobs at church because we're "burned out." We are wimps, and the samurai show us that.

2. Self Sacrifice and the Pursuit of Perfection. Samurai gave their lives for their lords. We don't want to give up our starting times, or our sports cars, or our luxury. We can't even be bothered to give a tenth of what we earn financially. For the samurai, a tenth would have been a mere pittance. Their lives were lived for their lords, and it was a high honor to die in that service. They were willing to lay it all on the line, as the early Christians were. We're comfortable, and we've lost that sense of sacrifice. Again, the samurai shame us.

The pursuit of perfection was, for the samurai, a lifetime of study and practice. Constant learning, constant striving to better oneself -- those were the hallmarks of the samurai life. And we Christians can't be bothered to read the Bible for fifteen minutes a day. We can't be bothered to study, to learn. We don't love God "with all your ... mind." And yet again, we are shamed.

3. Resolve. Single-mindedness. Determination. Focus. The samurai were certainly focused. Driven to the fulfillment of their objective. Their priorities came from their masters; our priorities are written for us in the Bible. We know what our job is. We know what we're supposed to be doing. And we fail, because we don't want people to make fun of us. We don't want them to think we're a bunch of religious nutjobs. We want people to like us. We've got no resolve.

If we had a fraction of the determination that the samurai had, we'd have won millions to Christ. Europe wouldn't be a bastion of secularism. America wouldn't be a society bent on rejecting God and celebrating sin and debauchery. Our world would be different, but we lack the drive. And yes, the samurai shame us once again.

It's no wonder that so many people want this book ignored. If the truth was heard, they'd have to recognize that they're not Christian samurai -- they fall far short of the mark established by God. We all fall short of what God expects of us. The sad thing is that we'd rather condemn a book out of hand than read it and recognize that it might just be right out us. We don't want to admit that about ourselves.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's not an academic theological text, it's not a devotional written by the latest thing in Christian books. But it's a little book with an important message for those who will hear.