Review of "The Circle Maker"
Chapter 1 ~ The Legend of The Circle Maker
"The Circle Maker" is a 225 page hard cover book written by lead Pastor Mark Batterson of National Community Church in D.C. and is published by Zondervan. Zondervan publishing this book is no big surprise considering the liberal stands that they has taken in the recent years. In this first chapter entitled "The Legend of The Circle Maker" we are introduced to the legend of Honi , and his historical rain dance. So who is Honi and why would Batterson use him to base his book on when Honi isa first century (BC) Jewish scholar who came prior to the age of the Tannaim, the scholars from whose teachings the Mishnah was derived. As we can see the legend of Honi dates back before there was any reductive writings but only oral translations, which leaves a lot of chance for errors and poor interpretations of those oral stories. One way of looking at how Honi “The Circle Maker” legend was handed down is to compare to it a familiar childhood game of telephone. If you remember correctly in this game one person starts out telling another person a story and that person then tells another the story and so forth. By the time the original story is pasted on to the large enough group of people the story has totally changed from its original content and meaning. Much like the legend of Honi and its oral progression through time has changed. So again why would Mark Batterson base a new way or method of praying over what the Word of God teaches on prayer on the whimsical teachings of verbal story?
As I mentioned earlier the legend of Honi came before the Mishnah. If you are not familiar with the Mishnah it’s the first written Jewish redaction of the oral translations of Jewish teachings. It should be noted here that Honi is a legend along with his circle making event, there is no transcendent evidence for this event actually taking place in the manner it did beside in the writing of the Mishnah. It should also be dually noted that because the Mishnah is a redaction of oral translation it is not held in the same high regard as other Jewish writing such as the Torah. The Mishnah in the Jewish hierarchy of writings is regarded nothing more than a story book.
In this chapter Batterson proceeds to use the story of Honi as reasoning for his new revelation into prayer, not that we need a new revelation or a new way to pray. Jesus in the book of Matthew Chapter 6 verses 9-13 instructs us how to pray;
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:“‘Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come,your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
We are to pray to our Father in heaven, no where in Christ’s instruction on how to pray are we told to pray the way Honi prayed. Batterson on the other hand does not follow the instructions that Christ has given us on how to pray, instead he invents a new way to pray based on a non biblical Jewish dictated story figure. Batterson is basing his whole “new” concept of praying on something not even found in the Word of God, which is troublesome to say the very least. This is not away to start out a book about prayer basing it not on the Word of God but a story.
Sadly many people will read this first chapter of “The Circle Maker” and think that Honi and Batterson’s misrepresentation of this story is a solid biblical teaching. Moreover Batterson’s use of Honi as the center focal point for his teaching on how to pray is actually a vagrant disregard to the Word of God and Jesus Christ Himself. What Batterson is attempting to do here with his “new” way of praying is to rewrite the word of God. We will be talking about this more in review to follow on the other chapters.
As I mentioned earlier the legend of Honi came before the Mishnah. If you are not familiar with the Mishnah it’s the first written Jewish redaction of the oral translations of Jewish teachings. It should be noted here that Honi is a legend along with his circle making event, there is no transcendent evidence for this event actually taking place in the manner it did beside in the writing of the Mishnah. It should also be dually noted that because the Mishnah is a redaction of oral translation it is not held in the same high regard as other Jewish writing such as the Torah. The Mishnah in the Jewish hierarchy of writings is regarded nothing more than a story book.
In this chapter Batterson proceeds to use the story of Honi as reasoning for his new revelation into prayer, not that we need a new revelation or a new way to pray. Jesus in the book of Matthew Chapter 6 verses 9-13 instructs us how to pray;
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:“‘Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come,your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
We are to pray to our Father in heaven, no where in Christ’s instruction on how to pray are we told to pray the way Honi prayed. Batterson on the other hand does not follow the instructions that Christ has given us on how to pray, instead he invents a new way to pray based on a non biblical Jewish dictated story figure. Batterson is basing his whole “new” concept of praying on something not even found in the Word of God, which is troublesome to say the very least. This is not away to start out a book about prayer basing it not on the Word of God but a story.
Sadly many people will read this first chapter of “The Circle Maker” and think that Honi and Batterson’s misrepresentation of this story is a solid biblical teaching. Moreover Batterson’s use of Honi as the center focal point for his teaching on how to pray is actually a vagrant disregard to the Word of God and Jesus Christ Himself. What Batterson is attempting to do here with his “new” way of praying is to rewrite the word of God. We will be talking about this more in review to follow on the other chapters.
