When I first heard Lars Walker had another book coming out, I was very excited. When I read it, I was overwhelmed. You can always tell what’s important to a writer in his work. For Mr. Walker, two things that I determined were important from his other works were the fact he is of Viking descent and that he is a Christian. After reading this one, I know that it is not enough to say he is a Christian—he is a pietist, one who believes in living the Christian life vigorously. Yet “vigorously” doesn’t mean “in your face.”
Pietism was one Christian tradition that I hadn’t researched in my studies of church history. I need to correct that oversight. The pietists who populate this book exemplify the best and worst of that tradition. Some like Bestefar are quiet in their walk but make huge impacts in the lives of people around them. Then there is Signe, who is very outspoken about being a Christian but by her actions has negative impact for the Kingdom. Very happily, the cliché of hypocritical preacher was avoided.
