Forgive the pseudonym -- online habit. I finished reading Five Sacred Crossings yesterday, and thought highly enough of it to seek out a forum for commenting on it. I admit to being shocked and surprised at how much I liked it. I'm a Christian, but often find myself feeling critical when reading books by fellow Christians -- not uncommonly, they are theologically innovative. That is, they skirt the coast of spiritual presumption or biblical over-interpretation, so that I fear a non-Christian or new Christian reader could mistake the new or unorthodox for what's settled and scripturally fundamental to the faith. I was also a literature major in college, and sometimes -- I feel badly for saying it -- cringe at Christian writers' amateurish writing, born from (often) holding ourselves to a lesser standard of excellence than our counterparts in secular publishing, perhaps because we're so used to forgiveness. It seemed to me, after a friend gave me a copy of Five Sacred Crossings, that a Christian novelist -- with all the creative liberties fiction allows -- might indeed write on the fringe of theology; and when I learned that Craig Hazen doesn't consider himself primarily a novelist, I thought, uh-oh, amateurish writing ahead. I was wrong on both counts. Theologically, I think any Christian on the spectrum would agree that Hazen has given us universally accepted theology here, so that none of us -- solemn conservative, "Jesus freak," social liberal, "word of faith" charismatic, or any other form of Christian -- need be worried about this novel being "out there in the world" representing our views. Hazen sticks to sound apologetics. [POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD] Simultaneously, though, he is gutsy enough to let his main sympathetic character be a chain smoker, as well as have other "character flaws" that could make the more earthly-minded among us recoil, but that in fact are no more deleterious to the true follower of Christ than the wrong haircut. I liked that reality check. Stylistically, only in the first half of the novel, and rarely and mildly, did I see anything that as an editor I might have suggested he rewrite -- a too-artificial occasion to make a certain point, for example, or a mildly cliche characterization. By the book's second half, Hazen seems to more than hit his stride -- the (often surprising) plot twists feel natural and real, the theology transcends mere classroom debate, and even some of the cliche characterizations are (unexpectedly!) dismantled and turned on their heads. Very rewarding. So much for my presuppositions. I even felt convinced by the premise (I believe fictional, as I couldn't find anything about the Cardamom, except that it's the name of some remote mountains in Cambodia) of an Eastern philosophy by an isolated tribe being compatible with, and even archetypal of, Christ and Christianity, though I think Hazen's point here is more generally that (a) Christian thought is accessible to even the most "exotic" of cultures, and (b) there are creative modes of evangelism that may be outside the current box of thinking. Special note on the ending: unlike in many secular novels I've read that -- because they're secular -- stand a stronger chance of being played up by the critics, the ending of Five Sacred Crossings really blew me away. Especially for the powerful metaphors it paints. I found myself smiling, muttering "Wow" under my breath, and nodding in assent, which, for an otherwise inanimate reader like me, is the highest possible praise. For me, the novel was engaging, compelling, fun, entertaining, gripping, thought-provoking (sometimes deeply), and even emotional. I can highly recommend it. EJS