Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

chief role of a Christian is to turn the world to Jesus for their salvation from sin. But, as we’ve seen with
Rob Bell, one needs to look closely at what Miller is saying to see that he really isn’t saying anything radical
at all. Miller’s most recent book, A Thousand Miles in a Million Years, published in 2009, takes the Christian
narrative idea to the next level when he was asked to turn his bestselling book, Blue Like Jazz, into a movie.
Miller finds himself editing his own life for the big screen and in doing so, finds that the story in which he is
living is not interesting enough for people to want to watch. What may intrigue some readers is the overt
lack of scripture usage in this “Christian” book. In an interview with Christianity Today, Miller unfolds his
(very postmodern) opinion about his work. Interviewer Sarah Pulliam Bailey asks Miller if “writing better
stories for ourselves” is a Christian idea (Bailey 1). Miller replies no, that his book is about how living a
better story can affect the lives of people universally, not just Christians, and goes on to emphasize that it is
“okay” for Christians to read books that don’t have an overt Christian message to them (Bailey 1). In saying
this, Miller is harkening to the postmodern idea that truth can be found in many places, not just scripture,
and perhaps goes further to say that sometimes we aren’t looking for truth, sometimes we are just looking
to make our lives better. To illustrate this point, Miller uses the example in Bailey’s interview that
sometimes a person just needs to read a television repair manual, and adding scripture to it would be
irrelevant if not frustrating. This flies in the face of Christian authors who, in Miller’s view, try to overspiritualize
the mundane.
In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Miller takes part in several non-religious activities that add
meaning to his life, like hiking the Inca trail (A Million 135-144) and riding his bike across the country for
safe drinking water in Africa. Though both stories are told in light of his idea of living in a Christian
narrative, he would not go so far as to say that living a good story is unique to Christians. Later in Bailey’s
interview, Miller defensively states:
Christians might say that you can't live a more meaningful life without Jesus. Well, that's
absolutely not true. You can. You can enjoy a sunrise whether you know Jesus or not. It's
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