Redeeming the Routines: Bringing Theology to Life (Robert Banks, 2001)

When Redeeming the Routines was originally published in 1993, we called attention to it in these pages. It’s reappearance, after having gone out of print, is a chance to recommend it again. Dr. Banks is concerned with helping ordinary Christians think biblically about the ordinary stuff of life—all those routine things we seldom reflect on but that take up a great deal of time and energy. Things like shopping, waiting in line, hobbies, fitness, daily planners, leisure, sports, housework, gardening, dress and fashion, cars, even sleep. Banks raises questions rather than supplying all the answers since his desire is to equip us to flesh out our beliefs rather than provide a formula for life. You may not agree with every point (I don’t), but you will be challenged to see Christian faithfulness as extending to every square inch of life. Including all the square inches that seem so ordinary, so routine, so unspectacular that we rarely notice them—to say nothing of giving them careful thought.