Deep Waters
God of the Depths
by Michael Howard
London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1999 (available to North
Americans through Amazon.co.uk)
(160 pages; £9.99, paper)
by Richard Kew
When my seminary contemporary, Michael Howard, said in his family Christmas letter that 1999 had seen the publication of his book God of the Depths, I decided that it was something I wanted to get hold of and to read. I am so glad that I did, because it is a book that has edified me enormously. Not long, 132 pages, it is well-written, pastoral, and above all, thoroughly theological.
In his foreword, Bishop Michael Marshall writes, “In an age when spirituality is the buzz word and is frequently marketed as the ‘feel good factor’ inviting us to escape from the hard realities of a universe compiled of conflicting and dark forces, here is a timely book in the midst of millennium hysteria that encourages a journey into God, inevitably involving a passage through the deep waters of our human crises.” Having read those words of endorsement of one old friend’s work by another, I plunged in with deepening interest.
Michael Howard is someone I haven’t seen for years. We talk on the phone occasionally and have kept in touch through writing. He was in the same class as me at seminary, a large, enthusiastic, intelligent man, with a love for fine music (especially Haydn), good literature, and geology—his discipline before heading off into the ordained life. All these interests, and others, are to be found in God of the Depths, used by him to interpret, in a mature and carefully reflective manner, the ways in which our humanness encounters the dark places.
Bishop Marshall also says in his foreword that Canon Howard introduces us to a multidimensional understanding of Christian discipleship “based not on the idolatry of slick certainties, but rather on a living faith, which is prepared to go through the deep waters of life with its problems, crises and challenges,” which is right on the button. The man who wrote this book is also prone to episodes of depression, which means the depths that he is seeking to understand have an inner component that makes them regular companions on his own journey.
Like so many clergy, I tend toward the depressive end of the spectrum myself, so I was eager to get into the book and see if he could help me get a better grasp of myself through thoughtful theological reflection on similar personal realities. I did not realize it at the time, but when I read Howard’s book, I was about to tumble into a period of inner turmoil, heart-searching, and despair. In the midst of all this, my mother died very suddenly and unexpectedly. Notions that this short book opened up have helped me maintain a modicum of equilibrium through disorienting times.
Over the last few years, Michael Howard, who pastors a small parish and is Bishop’s Officer for Mission, Ecumenism, and Parish Development in the Diocese of Rochester, England, has been involved with the churches in Estonia as they have emerged from what he calls “the Soviet deluge.” In his opening chapter he retells the story of the sinking of the Estline ferry, the Estonia, as it sailed with 989 people on board across the Gulf of Finland from Tallinn to Stockholm in September 1994, and the impact this disaster had upon Estonia and Sweden. This image of the depths breaking in upon the lives of hundreds of people, taking all but 137 of them, lingers in the background throughout the book, although its presence is more covert than overt.
This is Howard’s way of introducing us to the Hebrew perception of the sea, a perception that he then begins to unpack and interpret within its biblical context. He draws forth the manner in which biblical imagery speaks to the human condition and the topsy-turvy circumstances that have a habit of overwhelming our lives. He makes the point that the Scriptures, far from encouraging a gnostic avoidance of “the Deep,” beckon us on to discover how to walk with God and chart a way through the depths. “The implication is that chaos, emptiness and darkness are intimately linked in human experience with what we have identified as the depths. They are ‘non-being’ out of which, in God’s hands, things ‘become’” (page 31).
This book was written by a man who has immersed himself for much of his adult life in the message of the Scriptures and who, through them, has asked God the searching questions that come with the human experience, intensified by the call to pastoral ministry. As you read, you can hear him preaching, teaching, and counseling members of his congregation. As I read this book, I could see the full fruit of perceptions that had their beginning in his mind in the same classes and conversations we experienced together as seminarians in the 1960s.
Living as we do in a culture that has turned avoidance into an art form, I found myself being graciously challenged as I was asked to face up to the Deep and its consequences within my life. “If we are willing to live ‘on the edge,’ to accept challenges, to honestly face the murky deep within our innermost souls, we shall grow in character and maturity. Our lives will bear fruit and we may find God at the heart of all the upheaval” (page 45). Yes, life is punctuated, sometimes frequently, by chaotic waters, barren deserts, and periods of deep darkness, but far from characterizing them as disasters, Howard encourages us to see them as places of discovery and moments of adventure as we journey along with “the three-mile-an-hour God.”
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
27.3—May/June 2014
Facts versus Stereotypes About Love & Marriage in the Land of the Free by Allan C. Carlson
32.6—November/December 2019
An Open Letter to Christian Readers of Jordan Peterson & Roger Scruton by James Bryson
31.6—November/December 2018
on Futility & the Open Door to Deliverance by Patrick Henry Reardon
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
