Homelessness In America Review

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Homelessness In America ReviewHomelessness in America is a comprehensive resource that examines the issues and causes of homelessness in the U.S., from poverty to housing, substance abuse, mental illness, race, and more. Wonderful stats, studies, and insights. As an employee of a rescue mission, I found this book helpful in understanding the homeless people we serve and in educating the public about their plight.Homelessness In America Overview

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To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World Review

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To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World ReviewI appreciated much of Hunter's project and am intrigued by his assessment of three contemporary Christian styles of cultural engagement, but feel his conclusions are a bit thin. I'll try to explain...
One of his central theses is that "culture" is not usually changed in a populist-pietist-peripheral / bottoms-up manner. In fact, culture is generally most impacted by small networks of elites with central-symbolic power to create and change the institutions we all live within. I wholeheartedly agree with this and think that Christians in America need to wake up to this reality. I almost wish Hunter would have done more to illustrate this point in light of the fact that American Christianity has relegated itself to another populist movement on the peripheral margins - simply another subcultural ghetto among many. If his book would have simply stopped at this point I would have bought about 100 books and given a copy to every Christian I thought would read it.
What follows, however, is somewhat puzzling to me. After critiquing American conservatives, liberals, and Anabaptists, he concludes that each movement is over-politicized because each defines itself almost primarily through its relation to political power. Fair enough. This is a hugely important observation. He moves on to suggest that it might be wise for Christians to pull away from politics for a season to rediscover other ways of engaging the culture. One of the ways he builds this case is by conflating power and authority with "coercion." By doing so, he unwittingly adopts part of the Anabaptist view he was critiquing. Authority and power are not anti-Christian per se - and Hunter pays a certain amount of lip service to this truth. Nevertheless, I would contend that not all coercion is negative either. Coercion has a role to play in God's world. To negatively confuse these concepts with each other and with politics in general is too simplistic and unworthy of Hunter's erudition.
In light of Hunter's belief that Christians are over-politicized in their understanding of cultural engagement, he suggests a posture of "faithful presence." Christians must move beyond mere negation and should positively demonstrate / model the new creation within their vocational and institutional contexts. We must not engage in a shouting match over hot-button issues with a world that won't listen. Instead we should work as relatively quiet servants wherever we find ourselves in God's world, albeit with an eye towards institutions in place of mere pietism.
I am left with a few thoughts as I meditate on Hunter's rather vague conclusions about "faithful presence." First, he is a better sociologist than theologian. Second, he is a better sociologist than philosopher. Third, he is a better sociologist than historian.
As a theologian, his eschatology is either underdeveloped or he is not as self-aware of his convictions as he should be. He is implicitly dismissive of negative dispensationalism (thankfully), but embraces a brand of amillenialism that ends up being dispensationalism's kissing cousin. I won't take the time to exegete his book, but his conception of God's kingdom is largely future - with most of its manifestation only happening at the consummation of time. That is a very popular and valid point-of-view within Christianity, but to uncritically foist this on his thesis is hugely unhelpful, in my opinion. To portray more immanent understandings of the kingdom as "triumphalism" is totally inadequate for a work of this nature - and it certainly does no justice to the struggle the church universal has had for two millenia. His theological weakness hampers his ability to promote his thesis.
Second, at one point he states something along the lines of... the kingdom of God "is not about politics." I find such a statement utterly bewildering. Isn't the very word "kingdom" inherently political? The last time I checked, "polis" and "king" reside in the same conceptual category. Isn't this what makes the American constitutional experiment so interesting in light of history - that our founders would try to divorce the state from any specifically religious moorings or institutional relationships? Isn't it interesting that for most of world history, cultures have assumed that government and religion are absolutely intertwined? Are we so intellectually superior as post-Enlightenment people to assume that such a divorce is a philosophical given? If Hunter wants to get at the root of the conservative / liberal / Anbaptist orientation towards politics, he needed to go deeper into the relationship between church and state philosophically. But alas, he is not a political philosopher.
Finally, his historical treatment of "Constantianism" is just outright... Anabaptist. His handling of Calvin's Geneva and the execution of Servetus is nothing more than a superficial gloss. Even if one were to see this as a low-point in Calvin's Geneva, such an example goes to show that this work is not one of historical depth. At points, it reduces itself to thin rhetoric.
I think my two cups of coffee this morning may be manifesting a little too harshly. I'm thankful for this book. Hunter is a man who needs to be heard. There is some gold to mined here. Nevertheless, it should not be uncritically received. There are deeper issues theologically, philosophically, and historically that are missed and mishandled. The church cannot abandon its prophetic role and cannot assume that politics and the kingdom of God live in separate spheres. Yes, we live in a prescriptively pluralistic world, but it does not therefore follow that this should always be - or will always be the case. The church can confirm a descriptive pluralism that acknowledges and affirms differences without assuming that this is our destiny.To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World Overview

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Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Review

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Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) ReviewReggie McNeal says that "the rise of the missional church is the single biggest development in Christianity since the Reformation." That's an extraordinary claim--and you should read his latest book to see if you agree.
Churches, he argues, can now be divided into two groups: those that get it (being missional) and those that don't. The typical clergyperson, McNeal writes, "Is groomed to do project management (yes, even the sermon is a project) and perform religious rites, not develop people." So he calls the church to a new role and a new scorecard:
* Ministry focus: from internal to external
* Core activity: from program development to people development
* Leadership agenda: from church-based to kingdom-based
The missional movement is not about "doing church" better. "It is not church growth in a new dress," or a hot new trend or fad. So what is it? McNeal says that "the missional church is the people of God partnering with God in his redemptive mission in the world." The focus is on the world, not a full calendar of church activities that are exhausting, not equipping, God's people.
The author/church consultant reports on many North American church leaders who have moved from a church-centric operation (come to our buildings) to a community focus (we go to you). Example: a senior pastor sent his staff into the community (malls, schools, stores, etc.) and asked them to observe people through God's eyes for one hour. Their conclusion: all the nifty programs back at the church were not now reaching nor would they ever reach those people. Then on a Sunday he sent the whole church into the community to observe. Bingo! The people got it--and it turned the church upside down by being outwardly focused.
McNeal adds, "We were told that if we built successful churches, people would come. We bought and paid for the lie that Six Flags over Jesus was what the world needed. We believed that if we built better churches, our cities would be better off. We telegraphed in dozens of ways the message that involvement in church life was the portal to fulfillment and the mark of an abundant life."
"The program-driven church has produced a brand of Christianity that is despised, not just ignored, by people outside the church." His solution? We need a new scorecard to measure what matters--not church attendance and a zillion sermons, but out-in-the-trenches life-on-life community engagement that produces life transformation.
McNeal then suggests how a church could reallocate resources and he gives more than 75 missional indicators that could be measured in six key areas: prayer, people (leaders and others), calendar (time), finances, facilities and technology. For example, he suggests you measure the number of schools that use the church's facilities. Another measurement: track the amount of time invested in leaders meetings that focus on the people development side.
If McNeal is right--that there is (or will soon be) a major chasm between those "doing church" versus those "being the church"--then this insight from Phil Cooke's newsletter, The Change Revolution, is noteworthy. Citing Alexander von Humboldt's "Three Stages of Scientific Discovery" (as referenced by Bill Bryson in his book, "A Short History of Nearly Everything") Cooke notes that there are five stages to innovation:
1. People deny that the innovation is required.
2. People deny that the innovation is effective.
3. People deny that the innovation is important.
4. People deny that the innovation will justify the effort required to adopt it.
5. People accept and adopt the innovation, enjoy its benefits, attribute it to people other than the innovator, and deny the existence of stages 1 to 4.
This is an important book--even if you don't "get it."Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Overview

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Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners, and Re-Aligners (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Review

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Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners, and Re-Aligners (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) ReviewMy family and I live in a city where the church cannot keep up with our life or our urban pace. This book addresses why so many outsiders see the church as a bounded institution and insiders feel over taxed and detached from the world. So much of our life and resources are drained by these struggling and demanding models. Could it be that much of our problem is in our design and the loss of our center? Linda and Allan make the case that we need to design unique models for cities, people groups, and so many new realities. The pages of this book are filled with theology, history and new metaphors to consider. There is no "how to" or "silver bullet", the authors call Pastors and leaders to invite designers and re aligners to the party if they are to transition existing churches and establish new churches that are fruit bearing and release the fragrance of Christ in this amazing new world. I believe this is a pioneer book, moving us away from the dissatisfied and narcissistic dialogues. It is not a fearful and deconstructive read but one filled with resolve and hope. The authors write from practice. They are friends and peers, but also unique in their exchange. Thank you Linda and Allen for inspiring the designer in me.Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners, and Re-Aligners (Jossey-Bass Leadership Network Series) Overview

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In the Beginning Was the Meal: Social Experimentation and Early Christian Identity Review

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In the Beginning Was the Meal: Social Experimentation and Early Christian Identity ReviewHal Tussig has made a great contribution to research on the early Christian house churches in this volume of scholarly research. Placing the Eucharist in the tradition of Graco-Roman festival meals, he examines both predictable and innovative ways that Christ-believers refashioned this tradition. This is not a "popular" book, but rather a "must read" for anyone researching the early movements that became Christianity.In the Beginning Was the Meal: Social Experimentation and Early Christian Identity Overview

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