comments on "Wisdom of the Sadhu"

The book is called Wisdom of the Sadhu: Teachings of Sundar Singh, (compiled and edited by Kim Comer, Plough Publishing House, 2000) and indeed it is filled with wisdom. Sundar Singh (1889-1929) was born in India to a family who practiced their ancestral Sikh faith. At the age of 15 he burned a Bible as a protest against Christianity. The following year, deep in despair, and feeling suicidal, he cried out, and experienced Yesu (Jesus) the Master. He converted to Christianity and was baptized on his 16^th birthday. His father disinherited him.

Within just a few weeks of his conversion he adopted the lifestyle of a sadhu: (a lifestyle marked by poverty, devotion and prayer). He was an itinerant preacher, and has been called India's most famous convert to Christianity, and a modern day St Francis.

This book is a compilation of Singh's teachings: parables and meditations. He presents the gospel in a fresh and startling different way to many western Christians, but he remains true to the gospel while interpreting it in the context and culture of his native India. (In that sense he was way ahead of his time, because today, culture and context are primary elements of an attempt to share the message)

Of particular interest to me was the  chapter "A Warning to the West". Although Singh's comments were made almost a century ago, they still apply, and his warning certainly seems to me to have been prophetic.  One would do well to return to the simplicity of Christianity that Jesus taught.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for the review.

4/5