Deep Calls Unto Deep

As a pastor and Secretary General of the Protestant Church of the Netherlands, Arjan Plaisier has a good observation point to observe the growing secularism of the Western world, including the widespread disenchantment with the church. Whatever the reason for this malaise, the individual without true religion is really standing on the edge of a spiritual abyss; such a life is one without purpose beyond the day-by-day episodes that constitute an amoral jaunt through the world. Thus, the church is the one institution everyone needs to take seriously. It is the institution that most effectively challenges the idols of our day, provides meaningful community, and urgently addresses the ultimate issues of life. God is the generous and ultimate source of truth, goodness, and beauty. God, in turn, pleads for a response from his creatures. Deep Calls Unto Deep is a book which, laced with creative metaphors, provides much practical wisdom for aligning our present lives with the larger purposes of God's great narrative. The decision to join this high drama, as Plaisier says, can lie as close as our front door. Steve J. Van der Weele is a retired professor of English at Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI). He has written many articles and reviews and is also the author of the books Literature and Religion as Amiable Companions: A Harvest of Essays and Reflections (2010) and Deep Wisdom from Shakespeare's Dreams, a translation of Arjan Plasier's Is Shakespeare ook onder de Profeten? Theologische meditaties bij zeven stukken van Shakespeare.