Book Review: ‘Lift Your Eyes. How to Live Outside Yourself’ by Joshua A. Pfeiffer

This review is part of the ‘Good Books’ series highlighting wonderful books which share God’s wisdom.

Pfeiffer outlines his task this way:

In this book, I use this spiritual posture of looking to explore the Christian life in the context of today’s world. While there are powerful forces at work encouraging us to look inward for hope, identity, purpose, and meaning – indeed, for life itself – Christians are fundamentally to look elsewhere, to lift our eyes from ourselves.   We look up to God in faith, and we look out to our neighbor in love.   Martin Luther was insistent on this point. God and neighbor. Faith and love. Looking up and looking out. When we get that right, we do truly look forward in joyful anticipation to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, and there is even a sense in which we can rightly look in at ourselves [i]. 

Lift Your Eyes winsomely fulfils the author’s intentions.

In Part 1 of Lift Your Eyes – Cultural and Theological Foundations – Pfeiffer draws on Charles Taylor’s analysis in A Secular Age, where he traces the history of our culture; ending up by describing our sad situation as ‘expressive individualism’. This is perfectly summarized in the chorus of a pop song:

‍The truth is only you can make you happy
‍The thing is you know what you want
Baby though, way deep down somewhere you’ve got all the answers
There’s something you need to know
Look inside yourself [ii]

This is the challenging context Christians live in today.

‍Pfeiffer’s laying of a cultural and theological foundation helps set the individualistic context he addresses in Part 2 – Christian Living as Lifting Our Eyes. However, it is in the six chapters in Part 2 that the book really excels. Here Pfeiffer weaves a number of strands together into a rich tapestry. These strands include a fundamental ‘biblical’ strand where scripture is simply and clearly interpretated to profound effect, e.g.:  

On the night before He died, our Lord Jesus famously gave His disciples a new commandment: “just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). The first part of the command is what makes it new – “just as I have loved you.” Jesus tells us to model our love on His. His sacrificial death is both the pattern for this love and the source of its power. On this night, Jesus is also creating a new community and thus offering a new context for this love. Because the disciples are the only people in the room when He speaks this word, “one another” most naturally refers to fellow disciples. This is confirmed by the very next verse, when Jesus says that this love is how all people will come to know that they are His disciples. The love between Christians is a sign to the world of those who belong to Christ. Somewhat mysteriously and even paradoxically, if we are concerned with reaching out to those outside the Christian community, we need to begin by loving those inside it [iii].   

Lift Your Eyes is richly scriptural.

It also has a richly personal strand, a strand where Pfeiffer shares telling anecdotes and reflections from life in his extended family and his experience as a pastor. Reading the book seems like receiving an enlightening and uplifting pastoral visit from Pfeiffer. At key points perceptive reflections drawn from the author’s lifelong participation in the liturgy provide rich insights that nourish our living of the faith and acting in love. For example:

Christians, though, need not avoid facing the reality of death. We have the dead body in a coffin in the church, and we stand next to that body and proclaim, “In the sure hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, we take the body of our brother/ sister in faith in Christ to its last resting place.” From a human point of view, this is an outrageous claim. Yet faith in Christ’s finished work and the firstfruits of His resurrection give His people a sure and certain hope. I believe Christians should make attendance at funerals a priority when possible, joining fellow Christians in boldly declaring our hope in the face off death. And we should take our kids too. This is a point at which the liturgy will teach and form the people of God in the posture of looking forward in hope [iv].

Similarly, Pfeiffer applies the Lutheran Confessions, especially the Small Catechism, and Martin Luther himself to wisely guide and teach readers.

The book is clearly published with a North American readership in view – mainly a Lutheran audience but also a wider Christian one. Yet its major significance could easily lie with a specific group in Australia. With its biblical, confessional and liturgical strands Lift Your Eyes could well be a key facilitator for the spiritual lives of members, families and congregations of Lutheran Mission-Australia – with its ‘Biblical. Confessional. Liturgical’ tagline. I believe Pfeiffer’s first book should be used as a key resource for LM-A members, families and congregations. All members of LM-A should be encouraged to read, inwardly digest and meditate on Lift Your Eyes. Doing so will lead to rich spiritual blessings.                   

In his conclusion, Pfeiffer says: I wrote this book especially with Christian laypeople in mind, as a means of providing some encouragement in navigating and living the life of faith in these confusing and disorienting times [v]. He has fulfilled his aim amazingly well – highly recommended.   

Review by Mervyn Wagner
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[i] P 13

[ii] Cited from the British band Hear’Say, p 34

[iii] P 92

[iv] P 146

[v] P 157

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